Anyone else having a power outage at this time?

Beach or lava rock read.
Tuck it inside a magazine so you don’t get protested (military, lava eruption, might it even contain … diversion?)

Michael Crichton & James Patterson
Eruption

The biggest thriller of the year: A history-making eruption is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii. But a secret held for decades by the US military is far more terrifying than any volcano.

“The book is a classic summer beach read...Eruption will revive the art of speed-reading...told with a singular voice that is a compelling amalgam of the two writers.”

Next weekend we are meeting some dear friends of ours from the mainland in Oahu. It's their first time to Hawaii and they asked us to take them to a real Hawaiian Luau.

Of course, in Oahu, "Germaine's Luau" is the go-to place!

It reminded me of the bit Gabriel Iglesias (Fluffy) did back in 2013 during his Aloha Fluffy Tour.

Maybe you've seen it, maybe not. It is funny as all heck and - rings so very true!

ENJOY! (Does include mild adult "Hawaiian" language that may not be suitable for young children)

My wife's birthday is tomorrow and she loves Margarita's and Mexican food in that order. So I wanted to take her to the best restaurant on the island for Mexican food that makes "real" Margarita's ( with lime juice...not that high fructose syrup mix,  and served in a Margarita glass...not a plastic cup or a water glass).  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The mural on the outside of the Pahoa Library has been hit by graffiti.
 
Having been a resident who has used the library for over 40 years, I hope this is an opportunity to have it removed and replaced.  The theme of the  panels of the art piece is 'Nuclear Annihilation' ( named by the artist ).
 
I know that several of the previous librarians have tried to have the murals replaced as being inappropriate for a public/school library, but have always been rebuffed by the state Art Council,  which had it placed there originally .

Please let your wishes/hopes be known that Pahoa deserves a better vision for the future.


2 things:

 - I have poor connectivity , and haven't been able to post either photos or a link, but will keep trying.

 - Several attempts have been made to have the murals replaced by art that is either locally generated ( like the mural on the Pahoa HS building fronting Main Street ), or at least the bare minimum of a positive message to all users of the public/school library.  From my understanding, the state Art Council response has been " We paid big bucks for that mural, so it stays'.

I've seen a lot of strange things at government auction, but dogs is a new one

https://www.gsaauctions.gov/auctions/auc...anced=true

I'll try archiving the page since auction pages are dynamic:

https://web.archive.org/web/202406041846...anced=true

Use 6/4/2024 08:48 AM snapshot if you are viewing this in the future and it asks which snapshot you want to see.

"1 ea. Treewalker Hound/Dog, Name: Delaney

“There have been a fair amount of negative stories about Hawaii not wanting more visitors."
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/05/3...i-tourism/

Visitors arrivals, spending down in April as summer cooldown looms for Hawaii tourism
By Allison Schaefers|May. 31st, 2024
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Buckle up.
Visitors to Hawaii and their daily spending fell more sharply in April than they had in any month since the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires — an indication that even the peak summer season could prove soft.
Jeffrey Eslinger, senior director, market insights, for the Hawai‘i Visitors &Convention Bureau, said that overall, “summer is softer than it is typically.”
Eslinger said Oahu and Kauai will perform better this summer than the rest of the state, where dampening is apparent in the TravelClick report for the week ended May 19. The report compares total hotel room nights sold for the year ahead with what was on the books for the same time in 2023.
Eslinger said summer arrivals to Oahu will be bolstered by the 13th annual Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, Thursday through June 16, and the 29th annual Rim of the Pacific military exercise, June 26-Aug. 2.
He said Oahu also will see some gains from the Hawai‘i Convention Center summer business, including the National Conference on Race &Ethnicity in Higher Education, Tuesday to Saturday, which has brought roughly 5,000 delegates to Hawaii, as well as several other citywide conferences that will bring another 5,000 delegates later in the summer.
However, Eslinger said West Maui is leading the summer doldrums with a 23.3% drop in bookings for June, a 21.3% drop for July and a 26.9% drop for August with losses widening until January. TravelClick statewide data shows a 1.8% decline in June, a 0.4% decrease in July and a 1.5% decrease in August.
Keith Vieira, principal of KV &Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said the summer malaise is carrying over into fall, which has even steeper drops.
TravelClick data shows statewide hotel bookings sliding 12.2% in September, 9.7% in October, 8.7% in November and 1.5% in December, which generally gets a boost from the festive season.
The softness that has been present in Hawaii’s visitor industry since the Maui wildfires deepened in the spring. On any given day in April, the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism reported, there were 207,827 visitors in the Hawaiian Islands, down 12.2% from April 2023.
In April, DBEDT reported, arrivals to the state dropped 8.9% year over year to 753,551 visitors. Visitor arrivals in April were 88.7% of the pre-pandemic April 2019 level.
Visitor arrivals in April fell for Hawaii’s core U.S. West and U.S. East markets, as well as for Canada and the category called “all others,” which includes international markets outside of Japan and Canada. Arrivals rose from cruise ships and from Japan, which was Hawaii’s top international market before the pandemic.
Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars in April was $1.5 billion, a drop of 12.6% compared with April 2023. However, total visitor spending was 14.3% higher than in April 2019, when nominal spending was about $1.3 billion.
Spending fell for the U.S. West, U.S. East and Canada and for the “all others” category.
Results were mixed across the islands and markets.
DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said in a statement, “This is the first month that arrivals to Oahu decreased since March 2021.”
“The decrease was partially due to Easter falling on March 31, which pushed spring break travel into March instead of April,” Tokioka said. “Easter 2023 was on April 9, which affected the year-over-year performance.”
He added that the cruise market performed well in April, and visitors who came via out-of-state cruise ships registered the second-highest monthly arrivals on record. However, he added that “this market typically has less impact on the destination than visitors who travel by air as cruise travelers often participate in group tour activities versus exploring the islands individually and renting cars.”
Vieira said while the Easter shift contributed to the April slowdown in tourism, other factors also have contributed to sluggish summer and fall bookings. He said the strength of the U.S. dollar is causing international visitors to view Hawaii as too expensive, and Americans to eye foreign destinations where they have more buying power. Vieira said some travelers also continue to feel unwelcome following the Maui wildfires, which put more strain on the community and intensified pushback against tourism.
“There have been a fair amount of negative stories about Hawaii not wanting more visitors. That clearly isn’t the majority but it’s a vocal minority,” he said. “The only way we can counter that is with positive stories.”
Tom Mullen, HVCB interim president and CEO, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that its newest campaign aimed at U.S. travelers, “The People, the Place, the Hawaiian Islands,” began four weeks ago and will run through June.
“We are targeting the mindful traveler through national banner ads, emails, social and digital media,” he said. “We are seeing a response rate to the ads that we are running that is higher than the industry benchmark, so we know that we are targeting the right customer and getting a response.”
Mullen said he thinks rising Hawaii hotel rates, when combined with other fees and taxes, are dissuading some customers. For instance, Pleasant Holidays’ wholesale package pricing for the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort shows daily room rates of $495, which rise to $715 per night once resort fees, parking fees and taxes are added.
“That’s about a 40% increase,” Mullen said, adding that all-in nightly costs for hotel rooms in Jamaica are $436 and $411 in Mexico.
HVCB, which handles branding for Hawaii’s top U.S. visitor source market, was slated to provide an update on its campaign and other initiatives Thursday at the HTA board’s monthly meeting. However, the HTA board deferred the presentation, along with three other items on its public agenda, after spending about four hours in executive session with state Attorney General Anne Lopez and Deputy Attorney General John Cole.
After the HTA board emerged from its closed-door session, Cole reported publicly that there was a full discussion and the board consulted with its attorney on agenda item No. 8, regarding questions and issues related to the board’s powers and duties.
“No action was taken or required to be taken,” Cole said. “But it probably will lead to some things in the future.”
He said the HTA board had a long discussion on agenda item No. 9, a personnel matter, “with no action taken, including a vote by the board to take no action on the personnel matter that was discussed.”
For agenda item No. 10(b), Cole said the HTA board discussed the status of some issues pending with the state auditor for the HTA audit.
“There will be some action taken under the (Administrative &Audit Standing Committee) later. No action by the board was necessary,” he said.
The board approved a request from HTA board member Mike White, who chairs the Administrative &Audit Standing Committee, to have HTA staff draft a request for proposals to solicit a search firm to assist in its efforts to hire a new president and CEO.
Former HTA President and CEO John De Fries resigned in September. HTA Chief Administrative Officer Daniel Naho‘opi‘i serves as HTA’s interim president and CEO.


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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/05/2...d-4-times/

Accused Hawaii island drug trafficker was deported 4 times
By Peter Boylan|May. 28th, 2024
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A Mexican national deported from the United States four times is charged with using an assault rifle while dealing methamphetamine and heroin on Hawaii island.
Juan Carlos Espinoza Lopez, also known as Juan Carlos Espinoza, will be arraigned today in U.S. District court with the help of a Spanish interpreter.
Lopez was charged by criminal complaint May 10 with possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a firearm by an alien and reentry of removed alien.
Lopez has allegedly used an array of avenues to enter the U.S., including using a fake California birth certificate.
On April 27, the U.S. Marshals Service, Hawaii Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations personnel were looking for fugitives with outstanding warrants in Ocean View, according to an affidavit authored by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent.
As law enforcement officers arrived at a home on Pueo Road, two police officers saw Lopez “fleeing from the rear of the residence in the direction of a lava field towards the rear of the property.”
The officers ran after Lopez and told him to stop.
Lopez was seen carrying “a red and white thermos and a plastic bag before running behind a group of trees,” according to the complaint.
Lopez “emerged from behind the trees with his hands up” and was detained. A language barrier prevented officers from immediately identifying him.
During a field interview it was determined that Lopez is a “citizen of Mexico and does not have lawful status” to be in the U.S.
Officers searched the lava field, and about 65 feet from where they found Lopez, a bag with about 188.5 grams of methamphetamine was allegedly found. In the thermos, 206 grams of heroin was allegedly stored.
Officers found a car key, and Lopez acknowledged it was for his car.
Officers searched the home on Pueo Road and allegedly found a black Colt AR-15 A2 rifle loaded with a magazine containing 27 .223-caliber bullets.
“The rifle was located in a bedroom next to a bed and propped up against the wall. The bedroom contained two bottles of medication on a shelf with a label bearing the name ‘Juan Espinoza’ and a bag containing $1,977 US currency along with multiple identification documents for Juan Carlos Espinoza Lopez,” according to federal court documents.
In 2008, Lopez was convicted in California for felony drug dealing. In 2021 he was convicted of possessing ammunition.
Lopez allegedly told law enforcement while in the home on Pueo Road that he is a “Mexican national and had crossed into the United States without proper documentation near the Sonora desert area in Arizona,” according to the complaint.
Lopez allegedly admitted “he did not have permission from the United States government to re-enter the United States after his most recent removal in 2022 but stated that he thought he could be in the United States if he stayed out of trouble.”
Lopez then asked for an attorney, and law enforcement ended the interview.
In March and April, illegal crossings along the U.S. southern border with Mexico fell to 137,000 and 129,000, respectively, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the third straight month the number dropped.

After the Lahaina fire, and fires in west Hawaii Island, private landowners and the county are building an emergency access road in Waikoloa Village. The article describes the recent Mana Road fire, how it took village residents and hour and a half to escape, and the cooperation of Mayor Roth.
Keep reading.
Keep reading.
Then there’s this:

The road will ultimately be an access point to a community of up to 2,000 homes Somers plans to build in the area.

Somers is one of the landowners who is building the road.
If what it takes is a large landowner to find it in their best interest to create a road, is there any possibility that same template could be used in a place with 10 times the population of Waikoloa Village (or more) that will someday need to escape a lava flow, tsunami, bypass an earthquake damaged road, etc, etc, etc? People who are customers at the landowner’s commercial developments?

https://bigislandnow.com/2024/05/23/site...e-blessed/

I've noticed a lot of moldy roofs and solar panels lately, including our own.

I don't know if I'm suddenly just more cognizant of them, or is the mold itself more common than it used to be (maybe because the rain isn't as acidic as the vog days?  Chemtrails?  Greta's nonsense?  Misdirected energy weapons?)

Like many things in life, steel roofs are slippery when wet, and my days of walking off a fall from a roof are probably behind me, even the single-story variety like we have.  So how y'all cleaning the roofs?  I've seen a gizmo advertised to do it from the ground at the end of a long pole, but not sure how anything on a stick would work well in that application on a corrugated roof.