Many folks here seem to have too much time on their hands. Here are a some other ways people can spend their time:  

Contact Vibrant Hawaii.  Help needed across the island:  https://www.vibranthawaii.org/lala 

Pahoa commercial kitchen (old Lyonʻʻs Den) needs help packing up food.  Today, tomorrow and Sun. from 1pm.  Just show up or better, call first 808-937-4146.  

Please post other volunteer needs in this thread.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/20...ensive-law

Jones Act article:

Since March, America has been running an accidental experiment and glimpsing what the country might look like without one of its dumbest statutes. The results are in, and they embarrass a century’s worth of U.S. lawmakers and defenders.
The statute is the Jones Act, passed in 1920 to rebuild and protect the U.S. merchant marine fleet after World War I disrupted American shipping capabilities. It requires that any vessel moving cargo between two American ports must be built in an American shipyard, be American-owned and be at least three-quarters American-crewed. Miss any one of these marks and the shipper is barred from carrying a single barrel of fuel from Houston to Honolulu.
The stated justification for the act is national security. We need American ships and American sailors to fight wars. But 100 years in, it’s hard to repeat this justification with a straight face.
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An American-built cargo ship costs $190 million to $250 million to build; the same vessel costs about $30 million from a foreign shipyard. U.S. shipyards build less than 1% of what China and South Korea do, and roughly 300 U.S. shipyards have closed since the early 1980s. Legislation meant to sustain a merchant fleet has presided over its collapse.
Fewer than 100 oceangoing ships qualify under the Jones Act today, and the American tanker fleet is so thin that moving oil from Texas to the Northeast costs about three times what it would to ship it from Africa. Michael Bloomberg recently called the act “a national sales tax” — except that Washington never sees a dime. Instead, the premium is captured by a few U.S. shipyards and carriers operating relatively free of competition. Economist Thomas Grennes found that consumers lose more than what the statute hands to sailors, shipbuilders and carriers.
In March, the Trump administration suspended the Jones Act for energy and fertilizer shipments. It’s not the first waiver of its kind, but it is the longest in recent history. With the waiver’s expiration looming, the administration just announced a 90-day extension along with stricter terms.
The numbers speak for themselves. The Cato Institute’s Colin Grabow documented that in less than five months, Puerto Rico took in more mainland fuel than in any full year since 2015. Shipments to the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii hit nearly 14 million barrels, about 170% of the recent annual average. Whole trade routes quickly appeared: Gulf Coast fuel to Hawaii, New Jersey jet fuel to California, propane to Puerto Rico.
America’s government-protected fleet seldom served these locales. Remove a prohibition, and the market pours resources where they are needed. As Grabow noted, “That’s strong evidence for the longstanding critique that the Jones Act suppresses domestic commerce by preventing economically viable trade between Americans.”
The question then becomes: Why won’t the Jones Act die? The answer, as the oldest story in political economy tells us, is that it benefits a few special interests at the cost of all of us.
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The handful of shipyards, carriers and labor unions that profit from the Jones Act defend it vigorously. The average person pays just a few cents more at the pump or the register. It adds up, but not many people trace it to a statute they’re mostly unaware of. One side is lobbying. The other is you, and you’re busy.
The lobby mobilized against a limited waiver as if the republic were under siege. Grabow described a national ad campaign drawing millions of views from an account with just a few hundred subscribers, a 10-state media blitz, a form-letter-writing machine and roughly one op-ed or letter per week, mostly written by people on the industry payroll.
Two influencers who never had mentioned shipping policy, Kaya Jones and Olivia Krolczyk, posted identical lines about “protecting 650,000 Americans” a day apart, and one disclosed a paid partnership. A commissioned study for the Transportation Institute warned, with gross exaggeration, that 100,000 jobs were “at risk.” Fifty-two House Republicans, the Speaker among them, bought into the economic illiteracy and urged the White House to let the waiver die.
Such machinery does not stop at persuasion. A few years ago, documents pried from the Maritime Administration revealed that an advisory committee meeting participant suggested, probably half in jest, that every past and present Cato Institute and Mercatus Center scholar (presumably including me) be charged with treason for criticizing the Jones Act. As economist Art Carden observed, that dragnet would have to be enormous, since the critics run from free-market economists to the far-left Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
Unfortunately, the Jones Act is representative of much American legislation: a narrow group harvesting a fortune while the costs are spread across hundreds of millions of us. By design, those costs are all but invisible. Whether it’s protectionist sugar quotas, occupational licensing laws or bespoke tariffs for connected companies, you, dear taxpayer and consumer, fund them all.
Ask yourself how many statutes you are paying for right now. It’s more than you think.

Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate.

Thank Goodness.  Great article in the HSA. 

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2026/08/1...-traction/

...Mizuno said local Democrats are wary of embracing extremely left socialists who want “free (school) lunch and free health care. Somebody’s got to pay for it, either through extreme taxes, government or private involvement. You’ve got to be realistic...

...Case reminded voters that the state would lose his seat on the Appropriations Committee and the seniority that would move him up in the committee if Democrats retake the House in November.
It was a message that resonated with urban Honolulu voters, many of whom are likely veterans, family of veterans or rely on military contracts, federal jobs and other federal spending, Moore said.
“The core of the (Hawaii) Democratic Party is still centrist and pragmatic,” he said. “Because Hawaii is such a Democratic state, I think that there’s often an assumption that there’s a huge well of progressive voters. And every time we see a progressive challenger, there’s an assumption that this is the time they’re going to break through.”
The progressive movement that has supported democratic socialists on the mainland are often driven by young voters. But in Hawaii, Moore explained, “younger voters don’t often turn out to vote.”
All of those factors meant that “Case performed even better than most people thought he was going to,” he said. “The core of the (Hawaii) Democratic Party is still older, centrist, organized labor voters who prefer their candidates to be older and centrist.” …

More at link...

Was gonna put this in hurricane 2026 thread, but decided to make new topic.

===

We boarded up our screen only windows for the first time, but was surprised that the hardware for making posts/anchors that can easily mount plywood with pre drilled holes was absent locally. Concrete anchors of every size seems available but not for wood…?

Anyway, found a  vendor that ships USPS Priority to Hawaii with a great selection of stuff for a $5/order.

https://www.windstormproducts.com/panelm...o-anchors/

So I can easily “convert” the holes drilled and used for easy no tool future repeated mounting.

===

Also Cabellas and Sportmans still have free generator shipping to Hawaii. In some cases, one day shipping (probably takes three or four days though) for only $35. Example:

https://www.cabelas.com/p/champion-power...-co-shield

===

And StarLink gave us a free month for the storm. Evil bad billionaire, I know, but don’t know any other company that does this kinda stuff. (Speed was slower by test during brunt of cloud cover during storm but always capable of streaming fine.)

Cheers,
Kirt

I've been pondering 10's of thousands of local folks without power and not enough generators to go around.  Plus the fact that we have thousands of cars which are each more powerful than any Home Depot generator.

So I put it to Chatgpt.

Advise on adding a 110v inverter to a typical automobile sufficient to power a refrigerator and battery chargers. Cost and practical applicability.

Yes. Adding a 120V (nominally 110V) inverter to an ordinary automobile is quite practical for running a refrigerator and battery chargers, but I would design it somewhat differently from the typical inexpensive “plug into the cigarette lighter” inverter.
My recommended configuration
For what you describe, I would use:
Component
RecommendationInverter
1,500–2,000 W pure sine wave
Surge capability
3,000–4,000 W preferred
Input
12 V DC
Connection
Directly to battery with heavy cables, not cigarette lighter
Refrigerator
Normal household refrigerator
Battery chargers
Phones, laptops, power-tool batteries, etc.
Engine
Running while substantial loads are connected
Auxiliary battery
Optional, but worthwhile if refrigerator must operate with engine off
Approx. installed cost
$400–$900, depending on quality and auxiliary battery
The important point is not the refrigerator's running wattage—it is the compressor starting surge. A refrigerator that consumes only 100–250 W while running can momentarily require considerably more power when its compressor starts. Eaton specifically recommends accounting for refrigerator startup surge when sizing an inverter.
I would therefore not build the system around a 500–1,000 W bargain inverter, even though some refrigerators will work with one.
Why 1,500–2,000 W?
A typical refrigerator might look approximately like this:

• Running: 100–250 W
  
• Compressor startup: potentially 500–1,500+ W
  
• Battery chargers: 50–300 W combined
  
• Miscellaneous electronics: 50–100 W
  

• Quality 1,500–2,000 W pure sine inverter: $250–$500
  
• Heavy cable/fuse/disconnect: $75–$150
  
• Installation: $100–$250
  
• Total: approximately $425–$900
  

• run a refrigerator
  
• charge cordless tools
  
• charge phones
  
• charge laptops
  
• power lights
  
• run small pumps
  
• power medical/electronic equipment
  
• recharge from the automobile while driving
  

• refrigerator
  
• chargers
  
• computers
  
• TVs
  
• small electronics
  
• modest power tools
  

The first I've heard of these was today in the NYT.   https://www.nytimes.com/article/flock-sa...ology.html

Coincidentally, Tam Hunt wrote a piece yesterday that discusses this new surveillance tech, among others.  https://tamhunt.medium.com/hawaii-should...09dedbc549

Apparently there are 4 of these cameras in East Hawaii.  Given the number of vehicle thefts on island, I'm not sure this is an undesirable use of "big brother".

From NYT:  "..Many of the cameras, known as A.L.P.R.s (for Automated License Plate Reader), use algorithms to read the letters and numbers on license plates, which are then cross-checked with so-called hot lists of vehicles that have been involved in crimes, including those reported stolen.
The cameras usually rely on infrared technology to help distinguish characters against the reflective backgrounds of license plates.
On its website, Flock says its cameras can detect vehicles up to 75 feet away. The devices are capable of capturing partial license plate numbers, vehicle makes, models, colors, alterations, times and locations, according to the company..."

What should it cost to clear a typical small lot in Nanawale these days,  8100 sq ft.?  Diesel prices are high and probably not going down.  Typical jungle overgrowth, not nice, tidy ohia forest,  just bulldoze it flat, shred up the brush.

Thanks,  Ccat

The first readout is online. For the entire state..

https://elections.hawaii.gov/election-results/

For the island of Hawaii.. printed on: 08/08/2026 at 07:03:19 pm

https://elections.hawaii.gov/wp-content/...ry/coh.pdf

and the one race everyone in lower Puna's been talking about..

State Representative, Dist 4 - D
ILAGAN, Greggor 2,158 63.7%
HUNT, Tamlyn (Tam) 1,050 31.0%
Blank Votes: 112 3.3%
Over Votes: 3 0.1%

Ok, a simple question: What effect does AI have on people in Puna? What effect does AI have on you?

AI has already shown itself to be prolifically used. Kane started a few threads using AI. First he had AI talk about us, and then later created AI art. Both were shiny bauble. Glittery, and attractive, for a moment. And then.. just more fake jewelry. We’re not making AI art here.. we aren’t posting AI stories here.. shiny bauble..

Then we had a politician’s reams of AI generated position papers flood our senses. Geothermal, Pohiki, turning our subs into townships, all AI generated, and absent any actual human understanding, or editing to actually be applicable for use.. And when the guy that 'created' all that showed up to 'engage in a thoughtful discussion' he ran for the hills as soon as Yak posted a few questions.

Ok, but maybe more seriously, how many people are invested in the stock market? How many live on dividends? How many 401(k)’s, how many retirement funds? How many rely on the stability of the stock market? I imagine some here have some tie to the market, yeah?

How many work with AI? Use it to write, to draw, to code, to generate content?

Are you hip to the fact that the owners of AI are farming it out for pennies? That for every dollar in tokens you pay they’re giving you 4 - 7 times more computational power in return? They’re dumping a gazillion dollars in lost leaders. And god knows, there’s a day, somewhere around some corner, where they will charge full value for the same service. Will you use it then?

Already AI owners have tried to up the ante on enterprise clients, and they’re leaving. Auto manufactures that had given design departments over to AI are rehiring designers. Software companies are rehiring coders. Sheesh, McDonalds is rehiring, even Google is rehiring. And yet the stock market is being held up, is growing in leaps and bounds, all over one commodity, the future of AI.

Elon is building the biggest ever, Bezos/AWS is going gangbusters.. and on the other side there’s Ed Ziton on Bloomberg saying run for the hills the thing is about to collapse.. and the NY Times is telling one hell of a whopper of how Larry Ellison is really the kingpin in a house of cards.. and another piece by Julie Averill, a former chief information officer of Lululemon, saying the same thing.. it ain't worth it, it can’t be done, and there’s just no reason to invest in or expect anything back from it..

And the stock market keeps going up and up and up.. and everyone says if it wasn’t for the investments in AI.. it would already be tanking.

So, every working person with a 401(k), every pension, every retiree with enough to live off the dividends, or day trader hustling it.. is riding high on an illusion.. or so it seems. If you listen to the Bloomberg feature of Ed Ziton linked above there is just no way this is going to be sustained. By his measure the only folks who are going to make anything out of all this is the folks that have already been paid up front.. building contractors hammering together data centers.. but those data centers will never be stuffed full of data.. the racks will never be installed..

So.. as per Edge’s inflation in Puna.. how much has AI taken a hold here? How dependent on AI are you?

I would like to adopt 2 female farm animals to live in my fenced yard.  All my large dogs I've had in my life and loved so much are all in Dog Heaven now. I love dogs but sheep and goats eat the grass and don't bark. Does anyone know where I could get them and not charge me so much money?  I would love to have Nubian goats. We have a ram but he's in his own yard. I only want girls. Thank you.