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August 24, 2002 - Saturday
Several items in the news this week with a
familiar ring. From the IFRA
Trend Report dated August 21, 2002:
Web Can Be Hazardous To Careers
(USA) -- Two American journalists have lost their
jobs because of information they published on personal
Web sites. In Texas, Houston Chronicle reporter Steve
Olafson was fired when his editors found out he
published a site under a fictitious name on which he
was personally critical of local politicians that he
also covered as a reporter for the newspaper. A
competing newspaper revealed Olafson as the site
operator, saying the Chronicle reporter "had a public
trust as a journalist, and he violated that trust."
Olafson said his Chronicle editor apparently agreed,
telling him, "I'm running a mainstream American
newspaper. There's no place here for gonzo
journalism," and ordering him to take the site down.
Olafson said he started the site as a creative outlet.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, California, radio reporter
Ron Fineman says he was fired because he posted an
e-mail on his news and gossip site from a staff member
of KCBS-TV that was critical about that television
station. The same company owns KNX and KCBS. Officials
at the stations declined to comment.
(Houston
Press 8 Aug. 2002)
(Los
Angeles Times 16 Aug. 2002)
Then came a 9th
Circuit Court ruling yesterday in the case of a
Hawaiian Airlines pilot caught in similar circumstances.
I haven't read the decision yet this morning, but last
night's news reports indicated that the court found
several possible rationales for protecting such
individual web expressions.
Staffers at our closest Safeway store say a strike
could be near. Bargaining resumes on September 11, but
they say things at this point don't look promising for a
new contract agreement. Any strike would affect all
Safeway stores in Hawaii.
I'll save the cat news for tomorrow.
August 23, 2002 - Friday
I should have looked a bit closer before
commenting on the Star-Bulletin's online
subscription form a couple of days ago.
A reader noted the error:
Ian...You compared the Advertiser & S-B
circulation websites recently. Unfortunately, there's
little comparison. The S-B's is badly neglected. I
believe the prices on the site haven't changed since
the March 2001 startup, even though the real
subscription prices have (the Sunday rate finally
dropped about 3 months after the newsstand price
dropped to 75 cents). Another example, click on
subscription problems and you'll read about the March
2001 startup problems:
I've e-mailed them a few times urging an
update...to no avail.
Unfortunately, he's absolutely correct. The prices
shown predate the Sunday edition, which appeared almost a
year and a half ago. This certainly gives little
confidence that the form even works at all. I'm
embarrassed to have missed it on my quick Wednesday
morning check, and folks at the S-B should be even more
embarrassed to have it online for the world to chuckle
over.
For cat people only: the deed is done. Our cats are
very happy, but we're still depressed by the whole
episode. I sat down yesterday, after the fact, and wrote
this yellow cat
lament.
August 22, 2002 - Thursday
No media news today, except that legendary
Washington reporter Helen Thomas is now scheduled to make
several public appearances in Honolulu in late September,
courtesy of the University of Hawaii and a few
cosponsoring organizations.
The baited trap has been on our deck for the past 24
hours, but Mr. yellow cat has been wary, and apparently
not hungry enough to try for the dish of waiting food.
Last night we watched as he stood next to the cage,
giving it a few long glances but mainly focused on the
cat door, which was in "no entry" mode. I went out a few
minutes ago and added some leftover salmon, which adds
quite an aroma. How can he resist? We'll see. Meanwhile,
our cats have been trapped inside, released only on a
strict "need to go" basis. They fuss for a while, then go
to sleep, then fuss a bit more later.
And our cycads got a good spray with an oil mixture
yesterday afternoon, the second part of our attack on the
deadly scale that's afflicting them. I also cut back
several of them, and now have the disposal problem of
what to do with these palm leaves covered with the white
scale? I've been laboriously cutting up and bagging them,
but it takes a long time. I still had several large piles
to cut and bag at the end of the afternoon yesterday, and
I'm not sure whether I can get back to them before the
weekend.
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I added another round of Kaaawa's Morning
Dogs yesterday, so click on Ms. Hoku, or on the
"Morning' Dogs" banner, to check out the
photos.
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Ms.
Hoku
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August 21, 2002 -
Wednesday
I got a telemarketer's call this week pitching a
3-month subscription to the Advertiser. This guy was
really pushing. I don't recall the exact rate he offered,
and my notes are in my office, but it was approximately
the same as $2.26 per week offered on the Advertiser's
web site. It cost a buck more per week to get home
delivery in Kaaawa, or so the caller said.
One claim: The Advertiser is much better than the
Star-Bulletin because the Bulletin's ink will smear when
you use it to wash windows. I haven't tested this info,
but why say this as part of your subscription pitch?
When I checked the Advertiser this morning, I notice
that their online subscription form displays an
introductory promotional rate good for 12 weeks, but
doesn't provide any information on what happens to the
rate after the 12 weeks. It's not misleading, just
incomplete. The Star-Bulletin's online subscription page
displays its regular full-price subscription rate. No
giveaways or promotions are listed, and the small print
says "Payment is required before the subscription
starts."
Thanks to those who wrote with advice about our
handling of the yellow cat. It doesn't make it any
easier, but it is good to know that we're taking
necessary action.
August 20, 2002 - Tuesday
Burl Burlingame's chronicle of the Honolulu
Newspaper War site is on a "forced hiatus."
"Just to let you know i haven't dropped out
of sight. Or site. The home computer is in the shop
and I can't update Honolulu Newspaper War just yet."
Whew. When Burl goes silent, there's reason to worry,
so I was glad to get that explanation.
A somber mood prevails in our part of Kaaawa over the
fate of the stray yellow cat. For the first time in our
decades of cat ownership, we're facing the necessity of
trapping and removing a cat. It is a very disturbing
situation.
Yellow cat appeared several months ago in this end of
the neighborhood. Several people reported seeing him
around their houses. He is a large, intact male, pretty
war scarred.
At some point early on, he explored our deck and found
the cat door, probably guided by the smell of cat food
inside. We discovered that he was coming through the door
and eating his fill. He's not the first stray cat who has
done just that, but he's the only one who has not
adjusted to being around our cats.
Since he already knew the cat door, I tried putting
food out for him on the deck so that yellow cat wouldn't
come into the house. In the process, I've been trying
without success to tame him a bit. Former stray cats have
been some of our best cats, but this guy is just too wary
of people. But that's a problem we could deal with. We
can't deal with the fighting.
There was an initial round of fighting, which was
upsetting but acceptable with the introduction of a new
male. Ms. Kili got an abscess on her head. Wally got
kicked around. Lindsey was scratched up. And Leo, poor
Mr. Leo, apparently got into repeated scraps. This has
also happened before, although perhaps never quite to
this degree.
But the fighting has continued, and Mr. yellow cat
goes into overdrive when he sees our cats. He wants to
attack. On Sunday he ran from the yard onto the front
deck and jumped onto poor 15-year old Miki, who was no
threat. Then he went after Harry before I was able to
intervene.
So we've had to lock the cat door and keep most of our
cats inside. When the confined cats get too crazy, we
selectively let them out under supervision, hoping that
there will be warning yowls before any fight. We're
afraid to let Duke outside, so he and Cybelle are
trapped.
And we've slowly realized this can't continue
indefinitely. If yellow cat were younger, I would have
some hope that neutering would bring a behavior change.
But he's old enough to have habits, not simply
drives.
So yesterday afternoon I went to the Humane Society
and picked up a trap. It's still sitting in the car as I
work myself around to accepting responsibility for
dealing with the situation. It's definitely
depressing.
August 19, 2002 - Monday
I noticed several Star-Bulletin stories
yesterday that didn't include the address or location in
the report of an incident.
Take the prominent story of a man credited with saving
a stranger from an apartment fire. Down in the story, we
learn the apartment building is somewhere on Kaiulani
Avenue. I had to check the Advertiser to learn the fire
was in apartment 204 in the Darlani Apartments at 254
Kaiulani Ave.
Brief items in the S-B's column on police, fire, and
courts also lacked specifics. A brawl in which several
people were injured occurred in an unidentified bar on
Kohou Street. And an armed robbery in a McCully residence
was somewhere on Lime Street.
Are the missing details important? Probably. Is their
absence a matter of S-B policy? I doubt it, but I don't
know.
Over the weekend, I did find information about my
cycad problem. It's called the
cycad aulacaspis scale, a native of Thailand which
appeared in Florida and made its way here several years
ago.
I hear that the same thing is slowly killing the
cycads and sago palms in gardens at Honolulu Airport, but
airport employees are ignoring the situation or
apparently have no idea what to do about it. They could
contact the folks at UH for help, or do a little research
on the problem, but that apparently hasn't occurred to
anyone in DOT. Maybe a few calls from a reporter could
wake them up out there.
August 18, 2002 - Sunday
There's a great story
by Patrick Tyler in today's New York Times describing
U.S. acceptance of Iraq's chemical warfare when we were
aiding Iraq in its war with Iran in the early 1980's. It
is an important story which undercuts the president's
rhetorical case for military intervention against Iraq
based on the "evil" of its weapons of mass destruction.
George and Lucy, two of our dog friends who we see
almost every morning, are "expecting". The Shih Tsu pups
are due in just a couple of weeks.
It's Lucy's second litter. She was just a puppy
herself the first time around, and her puppies were just
too small and none survived. This time around, Lucy's
grown up--well, about as grown up as a small dog is going
to get--and seems better prepared for the experience.
Lucy's proud people took her for an ultrasound, and
there are four puppies.
It's Sunday, and that reminds me that the
Star-Bulletin has added an insers from Home Depot and
Sears for several weeks. It's both a breakthrough of
sorts and another bit of incremental progress in building
the advertising base of their Sunday edition.
I also enjoyed Kalani
Simpson's column this week describing the University
of Hawaii's new chancellor at the Manoa campus, who moved
into a dorm to find out about conditions there and
discovered that the football team was moving into the
building with him.
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