What is it? Where is it?

[BlackAkita]

MacKenzie State Recreation Area is a long shot. Apparently, it has coconut trees, but I found only one pic on the web of a coconut plant. It would not be the first time someone mounted a humorous sign that was something of a non-sequitur. Is the place really haunted?

[HiloJulie]

Yay me!
I know there are a few other of those cute and sweet hand-lettered signs on poles around there...

Ok, this might be really easy for some, or not.

It is in Puna.

My other favorite sweet hand lettered sign along Moho Road was when someone put the letter "S" on one of the "MILE" marker signs!

As for the location of your pic punikahakaiferret, I haven't a clue as to the location of your picture. I have seen that sign and similar iterations of it before, and it always reminds me of the scene in the movie "Cast Away" shortly after Tom Hanks' character of Chuck Noland washes ashore on the island and he keeps hearing the "thumps" of the coconuts falling but does not know what it is and kinda goes a little nuts!

At any event, maybe a clue or two??

[punikahakaiferret]

Don't wanna make everybody keep guessing other places with that sign...

This particular iteration is in Papio Park at the bottom of Hawaiian Shores; the park with the weird "Moonwalker" sculpture.

I seriously didn't know it was common! (Um...maybe I need to get put more?) I was just looking through all my photographs trying to find something a little funny and different to post when I saw that one. Maybe I should have tried harder! ;-D

I am enjoying this little game, as a fun way to keep PunaWebbers humorously engaged, involved, and on the sunny side!

HJ, yes!  I love the "S" added to the mile markers as well, I've seen a couple of them along the Red Road...maybe same person doing it? And the numerous "Smile, enjoy life" signs all over always do make me smile, and the various other handpainted cheery messages.

And as to Mackenzie being haunted, fortunately I haven't experienced at first hand(!) since I'm a pretty timid little ferret about such things as dem dere haints, but I have heard some really creepy tales of that place, for sure. Tales of night marchers, and a couple-few unsolved murders. I definitely would not want to be there alone at night. Those lava tubes on the Pohoiki end are *creeeeeepy*!

[MyManao]

I was just looking through all my photographs trying to find something...

Hey, I get that.. and while looking for another this one popped up.. a little different but still this is a very famous formation and it's right in the heart of Puna..



Anyone?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The image in post #147 shows the Zodiacal Light caused by scattered sunlight from dust grains left over from the formation of our Solar system 4.5 billion years ago. 

Can Zodiacal Light be seen from sea level, or is it visible or more visible from a higher altitude?

[kalianna]

I know that one, MM. It's the crystal cave in orchidland. Given its proximity to the road I won't identify its location further but I've been there under sanctioned circumstances. It's magnificent. And Kapu.

[MyManao]

I know that one, MM.  It's the...

We got a winner!

The pic was taken eons ago.. you'll notice the crack that runs though the formation, caused by the '89 quake, ain't in the pic.. and yeah, kapu.. and locked up.. though I was there with Dan, who had bought the property, and built the gates, and was trying to get the state to take possession and preserve it, back then. And of course, nothing happened. 

Technically it's the Kazumura Cave..

[kalianna]

Thanks for the article. I didn't know that the section that you photographed and where I went, was connected to the Olaa portion. I also found it amusing that the scientists made no mention of the awesome beauty of the cave and its magnificent crystal ceiling, not to mention the obvious analogy to the part of the human anatomy that is the reason that the cave is so important to women's ceremonies. Poor scientists. They miss all the fun.

[MyManao]

Poor scientists.  They miss all the fun.

Unfortunately most scientists, especially those that take the PhD tract, can’t fathom how to succeed without giving up their humanity, their wonderment. They become sterilized and can’t imagine god, creation, in any other way other than their weigh and measure absence of the magic of life itself. And omg do they get bitter, downright hostile to those that threaten their devoid perspective. 

For me, science is just another way of perceiving god. Sort of like the way Gary Zukaz’s The Dancing Wu Li Masters, which explains quantum physics to the lay person, was followed, and was an outgrowth of Wu Li Masters, by his seminal work, The Seat of the Soul, which is as good an explanation of the creator and it’s magic as I have found.

So, yeah, those crystals. With my training, and experiences in documenting active lava flows, and wandering through countless lava tubes on island, I can go on to some length as to why and how they are there.. but I so love the awe of those that don’t really care about why, but just love the experience of the moment in their presence.

Dan, the guy I mentioned that tried to get the spot we’re discussing officially preserved, is a world class spelunker. A haole guy married to a Hawaiian woman, so he has a bit of both worlds, and is sincere in his efforts to represent both. He shared many secrets.. many hard to get to wonders. One of which is a roofed over secondary magma body, a roofed over lake, a place down slope from a primary vent up on the rift of Mauna Loa where magma accumulated in a flat area before it then flowed further down slope. It took hours, days to find our way through the tube that had been created as the flows went further on, but omg the wonders when we got there. Not only was the roof and the walls of the chamber covered in crystals, but the entire floor as well. Literally one could not walk without breaking them.. it’s mind boggling. Hawaii is really the piko, methinks.

[TomK]

The image in post #147 shows the Zodiacal Light caused by scattered sunlight from dust grains left over from the formation of our Solar system 4.5 billion years ago. 

Can Zodiacal Light be seen from sea level, or is it visible or more visible from a higher altitude?

Yes, you can see it from sea level, no problem, you just need a dark sky. Look to the west where the sun sets about an hour or two after sunset or vice versa, one or two hours in the east where the sun will rise. No optics needed, just make sure your eyes are dark-adapted. Due to the location of Hawaii, Zodiacal light will generally appear to go straight up or angled a little, depending on the season, because we're close to the equator. You can see it from the end of Paradise Drive on both clear and dark mornings.



(Credit: NewScientist)

Unfortunately most scientists, especially those that take the PhD tract, can’t fathom how to succeed without giving up their humanity, their wonderment. 

Tell that to Carl Sagan. And then tell the same thing to people in the scientific community - to their faces. Do you really think scientists give up their wonderment? That's usually why they became scientists -- to study stuff they wondered about. And then to claim they gave up their humanity to do so is probably the most ridiculous and outrageous claim I've ever heard about being a scientist. It's almost something you'd expect to hear from a devout evangelist running for office and claiming the Scopes Trial shows they're correct. What about the scientists you claim to have worked with at the USGS and HVO? 

To anyone who hasn't watched the movie "Inherit the Wind" starring Spencer Tracy, it's old, but a fantastic rendition of a true story that MyManao reminded me of.

https://youtu.be/jGt79HUVBoU?si=pkT92lqJS_6CD-3b

And of course, Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot

https://youtu.be/wupToqz1e2g?si=HtLTy_UBpAOv_X3X

PS. I don't know where you are going with the PhD "tract" stuff. Gaining a PhD shows you are capable of independent research and are an expert in your own particular field, and you demonstrate that to your peers. How that means you lose humanity and wonderment is something you'll have to explain to everyone. If you don't, you're bulsh*tting.