---

Monday - 01 October 2001

IZ. This one is for local readers. The Mountain Apple Company recently released a collection of songs from the late Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole. Some of the 13 songs are unreleased and some are alternate versions of previously released material.

For those who appreciate the music of Bruddah IZ, this is worth a listen. I picked up my copy from Costco this past weekend for $11.99. I think it's also available at Longs. I checked Amazon/Borders but I couldn't find it yet, although they did have five of his earlier works.

For those on the mainland, you may have already heard some of his music in:

• Meet Joe Black
• etoys.com
• Finding Forester

In December 2000, national best-selling author Dean Koontz honored Israel in the front page of his new book "From The Corner of His Eye". Koontz's quote pays tribute to IZ's music:

"As I wrote this book, the singular and beautiful music of the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole was always playing. I hope that the reader finds pleasure in my story equal to the joy and consolation that I found in the voice, the spirit, and the heart of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole."

As usual, Mondays are extra busy for me. Especially today since I have a paper due. So I'll leave you with Microsoft's new answer on their technical support line: "Hello, and thank you for calling Microsoft technical support. May I ask what version of Code Red your server is running?"

Aloha!

Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday

---

Tuesday - 02 October 2001

Can't Get There from Here. If you think your Internet access via modem/xDSL/cable modem/satellite is bad, and that by getting a T-1, things will be much better, well, I'm here to tell you it ain't necessarily so. We have constant problems with reliability and speed. The Judiciary is working on bringing in a second T-1 as well as moving our web server to a different location to solve these two problems but that doesn't mean we'll have five-nine reliability. Especially as we are reliant on Verizon, hawk, spit. So this update gets there when it gets there.

It's the Economy, Lolo. The site Economy.com did a forecast of what cities would be affected, economy wise, by the September 11 attack. The top four are (other than NY - ed.) Las Vegas, Orlando, Fort Worth, and Honolulu. I can see all except Forth Worth, since the others depend on tourism, which in large part (or 100 percent in the case of Honolulu) depend on air travel to get people in.

The site estimates Honolulu will lose approximately $500 million USD through the end of this calendar year. I assume we will all need to scale back revenue estimates and implement cost containment strategies in the near future.

One Flight Away. If the economic problems weren't enough trouble for us, the island of Mau'i is being hit with an outbreak of dengue fever. The disease symptoms include a high fever, severe headache, and eye pain and is sometimes fatal. It is spread by infected mosquitos, which apparently came on a plane from Tahiti or Samoa last month as the disease is not endemic to Hawai'i. Until now.

Once again, we are reminded that with modern transportation systems, we live in a global village. One in which any disease anywhere on the planet is but a plane ride away from any other location. So far, there are 19 confirmed cases and another 100 still to be determined. As of now, there have been no fatalities.

Federal Budget Process Reform. If you have any interest in the various types of budget processes that have been used by the federal government over the last 35 years, feel free to follow this link here. It leads to a copy of the short, five page paper I did for my class last night. Note, since it is a short paper, there isn't a lot of deep insight, just a really brief introduction into the various type of reform: PPBS, MBO, ZBB, and GPRA.

Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday

---

Hump Day Wednesday - 03 October 2001

Better Never Late. Sorry for the lateness of this post. I had to work on something as soon as I got in and haven't had the time to do a regular post.

Ban MS Outlook. At least one other Daynoter is looking to replace MS Outlook as his default mail client. And you should be too. Here's why.

For MS, functionality, not security, is the Prime Directive. But in order to have functionality, their programmers allow access to services. It is this access to services that allows hackers to do their thing.

Presently, MS sees this access to services as a competitive advantage, and to a certain extent, they are right. People love all the bells and whistles built into Outlook, even as these features are used to open the door to the kingdom. So it is difficult to fault MS on offering so much functionality since they are giving people what they want.

But I think it fair to fault MS on not paying more attention to security. Having said that, some would say (see this article here) that it is impossible to secure Outlook because the hooks to services are buried too deep and spread too wide. That even if you could patch these areas, the basic functionality of Outlook would no longer exist.

And he'd be right. So switch to something else, like Pegasus Mail. Do it now, or wait for the next version (4.0, out Real Soon Now), but do it.

Aloha!

Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday

---

Thursday - 04 October 2001

On Their Way. No, not a load of GBU-24 Paveways. Rather, the LCD flat panel monitors from Dell that we ordered. According to the FedEx tracking site, the six boxes are at their Ontario, California facility. I can't wait to open the boxes and get one setup and running. They should be here sometime early next week, if not earlier.

Depending on Yourself. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that the number of local people buying arms to protect themselves has risen sharply. The MorningPaper(tm) reports sales booming, as it were, after the attack on September 11th. If it weren't for the strictest anti-gun laws in the Unites States, the sales would probably be even higher.

Speaking of Responsibility. The debate continues as to whether, or how much, responsibility the US must take regarding the attack. I offer a hypothetical for your consideration.

Your 9 year-old daughter is walking down the street when she is attacked, raped, and killed by a 14 year-old "freedom fighter". After the attack, a crowd of people gathers 'round and some begin to say she must have brought it on herself. Surely, had she not been walking on that street the attacker would not have been tempted to act. Surely, had she been wrapped in sheets from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet her attacker could have resisted the "natural" urge to rape her. Surely, the attacker could not be expected to control himself. How could he, after the years of oppression by the western infidels who sought to enslave his mind with dangerous, pluralistic ideas? Anyone raised under the same conditions would do the same. Right?

So I say again, if we are all free agents, that is, if we have the ability to choose between right and wrong, then how can we blame the victim of the attack? Did not the attacker have to choose to attack? Did not the attacker have to choose to rape? Did not the attacker have to choose to kill? Think about it.

Aloha!

Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday

---

Aloha Friday - 05 October 2001

It's Friday!

Almost Here. The FedEx site says our LCD monitors arrived at the Honolulu Ramp yesterday at 15:46. They will probably be delivered here sometime this morning. Yee Haw!

Waikiki Ho'olaulea. The Aloha Festivals Ho'olaulea was postponed, but not canceled. So, She Who Must Be Obeyed and I will go down to Waikiki and eat the food, listen to the music, and shop the native crafts. Our President ordered us to do it <G>

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

---

Last Week    Mon    Tues    Wed    Thurs    Fri    Next Week
Diary Index   Link to the Daynotes Gang

© 2001 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved.