On vacation

No post today. See below.

People First

So the great Hawai'i Democratic Party convention is pau [that's Hawaiian for finished or over - ed.]. The convention ran from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning.

On Friday, we got registered at the convention site, the Sheraton Waikiki hotel a little after 2:00pm. We then checked into the room, which had a partial ocean view at around 2:30pm. We like the Sheraton, it is located, as the name implies in Waikiki and is sited right on the beach. The only thing is it's getting a little old and needs to be renovated. The furniture is getting a little banged up, the ceiling had a few hairline cracks, the tiles on the lanai were worn as were the tiles in the bathroom. Having said that, the view is spectacular. We were facing Diamond Head and could see almost the entire crescent that is Waikiki all the way to the tip of Diamond Head.

At 5:00pm there was the Governor's reception on the grounds of the hotel. There was Hawaiian entertainment in the form of music and hula. And the food reflected the ethnic diversity of these islands. We had spring rolls, teriyaki chicken, sushi, and turkey. SHMBO also had the crab.

The various committees met at 7:00pm to discuss the resolutions that applied to their topics. I was on the environment committee and we discussed and decided upon about ten different resolutions. These included a master plan for the astronomical observatories atop Mauna Kea. There is a certain amount of conflict between native Hawaiians, who consider Mauna Kea sacred land, and the various consortia that run the world class telescopes sited there. Basically, the resolution would request that no additional telescopes be added. This means as the current facilities age, they would need to be torn down before a newer one could be placed there. Right now, this seems to be acceptable to all parties.

One resolution that brought a lot of debate was the "pure water" reso. What it said was that nothing should be added to drinking water that was not there to make it safe to drink. It didn't take long for most people to understand that it was a thinly veiled attempt to stop fluoridation of water. Hawaii is one of the few states that does not fluoridate it's water. Perhaps it is not a coincidence then that we also have the worst child dental health of all the states. Unfortunately, this issue gets framed in all kinds of emotional ways, none of which are rational. This makes debating this subject awfully difficult. In fact, the committee vote was something like 10 against and 14 for. Thus the resolution banning fluoridation made it to the convention floor. Fortunately, once there, it was separated out from the package and voted down. Thank goodness.

We started early Saturday morning with the floor debates over the resolutions that had made it past the committee meetings the previous night. This is probably my fourth convention that I've been to and I was surprised just how little dissent there was. Many times I've seen the convention tied up in knots over the littlest things. But for the most part, this one went very smoothly and we ended the session hours early.

The afternoon session consisted of speeches by the individuals running for Governor. I won't bore you with the details but the run for Governor is made very interesting by the leading candidate having dropped out of the race a day before the beginning of the convention. The remaining candidates will have a lot of work to do between now and the primary in September.

The evening was taken up going to the various hospitality suites. We first went to the congressional suite and met with US Congressman Neil Abercrombie. Congressman Abercrombie is a personal, charming, and when needed, fiery speaker. I like him personally and have campaigned for him several times. Not there, unfortunately, was Senator Inouye. I had wanted to speak with him about his co-sponsorship of legislation. But since he was not there I was unable to do so.

We moved on to gubernatorial candidate Ed Case. I need to disclose that we are distantly related. Having said that, I admire his single-minded determination and focus. However, I don't necessarily agree with his proposed policies to roll back years of hard fought for gains in civil service rules.

Next stop was the Governors suite. I don't remember him ever renting the Presidential suite before, but he did this year and the view is magnificent. It's over 30 floors above the beach and gives you unobstructed views of almost 180 degrees.

The last stop had the best food of the night. The Oahu County Committee had the best local kine grinds. There was chicken, mahi mahi, sushi, teriyaki meatballs, and fried noodles. I'm glad we stopped here, otherwise we would have had to go some place to buy dinner.

The Sunday morning speeches were from the congressional delegation. Senators Akaka and Inouye; and Congressman Abercrombie and Congresswoman Mink spoke. The general theme was unity through diversity, and that the difference between Republican and Democrats is that we but "People First." If only this were true in all cases we would have no problems winning every race. But it isn't always true and we do sometimes sweep our problems under the rug, which only makes things worse when the rug is pulled out from under our feet [there he goes, mixing metaphors again - ed.].

But all in all, I think the convention ended on a very positive note and that people are energized and united in purpose. Since most people in Hawaii identify themselves more with Democrats then Republicans (who are anti-Hawaiian sovereignty, anti-choice, and just anti-common people) all we have to do is to remind them of why this is so and get them to the polls in November.

Sunday afternoon was spent shopping and then hitting the beach to get some sun and swimming in. While the beach certainly was crowded, you won't find better sand or water anywhere. Sunset found us at a steakhouse on the beach. I had the teriyaki sirloin and SWMBO had the steak (New York) and lobster. As we ate, we listened to the contemporary Hawaiian sounds of Henry Kapono Ka'aihue.

After breakfast Monday morning, we packed up and left for home. Back to the real world.

Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not themselves. - US President Abraham Lincoln, April 1856 - Aloha!

And So It Goes

There are old laws still on the books in many states that seem pretty outdated. And while they may have made sense at one time, they have long since outlived any usefulness. And yet, it may be instructive to look at one of these laws. Specifically, it's illegal for people of Asian backgrounds to inherit land in the state of Florida. Several other states had similar provisions but have repealed them or are in the process of doing so. This leaves Florida as the sole state that would discriminate based on race as far as land ownership. And Florida apparently sees no reason to repeal the law.

It is sad that these kinds of laws came about in the first place. Especially in states where supposedly free trade is touted as being a big deal. Where laws controlling business dealings are banned or so weak as to be useless. Obviously, some people say laws are bad only if they negatively affect themselves (i.e., those in power). Laws are good when they keep out competition and consolidate power in the hands of those who already have power. At least, that's the way it seems in the great state of Florida. See the story here.

Strange But True

The US Patent and Trademark Office has taken a few hits giving out patents in the web arena that should never have been given out. So it should not be a surprise that the Patent Office is reviewing an application to patent the pop-under ad (see the story from c|net here). Now, if this meant there would be fewer, or even no, pop-under ads I would be rejoicing. But the implications are broader than that. If you can patent code to do a pop-under ad, you can patent code that does hyperlinks. And if you can do that, you can kill the web.

It is sad that the Patent Office has not caught up with the 20th century, much less moved into the 21st, but there you go.

F-15s Break Up Riot

It seems gang violence is everywhere. And sometimes, you need to bring out the big iron to stop it. It seems there was a gang shooting in a Torrance, California park over the Memorial Day weekend. The Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs were called in and they apprehended a suspect and accomplice. However, the friends and family of the victim decided to take justice into their own hands and began to assault the suspects and the deputies. The deputies called for help and over 40 law enforcement personnel responded to the call. If anything, this seemed to made an already bad situation even worse.

At the same time, there was a Memorial Day parade going on nearby. As part of the parade, now don't get ahead of the story, was the scheduled fly-by of a pair of Air Force F-15 Eagle tactical fighters. As the fighters roared over the park, the participants in the riot stopped to look up. When the two F-15s came back for another pass, the rioters scattered and ran - perhaps thinking the jets had been called in as backup for homeland security. See the full story here from the Air Force.

Time In a Bottle

I guess some people just love testing theories. So it should come as no surprise that there will be several experiments on the International Space Station to test Einstein's theory of relativity as it relates to time. I can't go in to all the technical stuff here, but you can if you want by reading the story there.

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. -- James Madison - Aloha!

If It Wasn't So Sad

It would be funny. But it isn't. Perhaps the greatest impediment against school reform are the teachers themselves - followed only by parents and students. In this case, over 50 percent of the teachers need technical assistance when using computers. Assistance they get from the students they are supposed to be teaching. See the story here from the Chicago Sun-Times. Clearly, teachers are ill prepared to use or teach technology and even more clearly, most don't want to learn about it.

Conservatives for Big Government

I've often wondered how some people, who call themselves conservatives, can square their hate of intrusive big government regulations, while at the same time supporting the ultimate governmental intrusion - the death penalty. While I don't agree with all of the arguments of the author of this Fox News article here, I think the basic point is made:

The fallibility of capital punishment has nothing to do with the deservedness of capital punishment in particular cases. But it has everything to do with the incompetence of government bureaucracy and why a government with too many powers is dangerous. Conservatives who stand as the guardian against this danger should want to rid government of a power that has possibly resulted in the execution of 78 innocent people.

G'day, Krispy Kreme

While our state will have to wait another three-to-five years for our first Krispy Kreme doughnut shop, it seems Australia and New Zealand may have their own soon. For our Down Unda' mates who have never had a fresh out of the oven Krispy Kreme doughnut, run, don't walk to the first store that opens and have one. Heck, have a dozen. See the story from the Charlotte Observer here.

Our dignity as persons is wrapped up in our autonomy and our ability to control who has access to us, whether physical contact or video surveillance. If we cannot live our daily lives without our every innocent and trivial movement being recorded and analyzed by government agents, then we have lost something significant. To the extent that the government spies on us, it can control us. - InfoWorld's Carlton Vogt - Aloha!

It's Friday!

Roll Your Own

eWeek Magazine recently did a comparison review (see it here) of Red Hat 7.3, SuSE 8.0, and Mandrake 8.2. The executive summary version of the review is:

SuSE usability, especially in system configuration is tops.

Mankdrake also has great configuration tools but lacks the "friendliness and and wide scope of SuSE."

Red Hat is much less user friendly but this may be because its focus is more towards servers than the desktop.

Cyced Out

Can you program a computer to have common sense? Cycorp believes it can (see an article here). [Is it just me, or does their name have a creepy connection to the PsyCorp of Babylon 5? - ed.]

Day after day since 1984, teams of programmers, linguists, theologians, mathematicians and philosophers have plugged away at a $60 million project they hope will transform human existence: teaching a computer common sense.

Sci-Tech Web Awards

Scientific American online has the their second annual Sci-Tech Awards listed here. They have 10 categories and five winners within each category. The categories are: archeology/paleontology, astronomy/astrophysics, biology, chemistry, computer science, earth/environment, engineering/technology, mathematics, medicine, and physics. They somehow missed my site. Perhaps next year.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone! - Aloha!