My little koki

Every night, when I go to bed, there is a little frog singing the praise of the land. It makes a strange sound, first a lower pitched, short vowel, followed by a much higher pitched, longer vowel, that sounds like it has the stress. Low pitch-high pitch. Sounds like ko – ki. And that’s what the little critter is called: a koki.

Unfortunately, koki can be a real pest. They are minuscule (males reach about 40 mm, or tiny), but emit this sound that can easily reach 100dB. Which is to say: really loud. They are endemic to Puerto Rico, but some idiot thought they were cute and imported them to Hawai`i. By now, there is an enormous population in the State, with deleterious consequences to B&B operations and poor chaps trying to sleep at night.

Planning for the next stage

Hau`Oli Mau was a pleasant surprise: the weather is good, the pasture lush, and the house not infested by critters or otherwise damaged. Everything looks grea, and my life here is suddenly easier.

There are a few things that need to be done, though:

• The carport is not even started
• The power situation needs to be addressed
• The windows have to be put in
• The floor needs to be sanded
• The permanent bathroom counters need to be put in
• Furniture?
• Some appliances are missing
• I have to get pasture animals

Aside from the carport, which I need to take care of soon (because the previous owners want the rest of the construction material) and the power situation (because running off the generator is noisy, smelly, and expensive), the other items can take time. Well, getting in the windows would not be bad, either…

Crawling on 19

For those of you who know, Hawaiian driving is a bit of a surreal experience. There are namely three kinds of drivers in Hawaii:

1. Kama`aina, the locals; notable for a propensity to drive strictly speed limit
2. Malihini, the newcomers; always pushing the pedal to the metal in a quest to cut off 1 minute from their circumnavigational record of the island
3. An unnamed and unstereotyped group that drives slower than anyone would think possible.

{moszoomimglink:One of the highway bridges}Yesterday, I was driving on Highway 19 (Hilo to Honoka`a), when I suddenly hit the brakes for a driver of the third type.

Back on the islands

{moszoomimglink:View from the hotel towards Mauna Kea}It’s been a while now: I had to refinance the loan and get my act together at work, but I am finally back at the house. I am writing this from the living room, a trusted Kona Koffee Kan next to me, and my computer running on batteries because I am too lazy to get the generator going.

I did something new: I realized how much it annoyed me to come out to Ninole after landing late at night in Hilo. I mean, the flight gets here at 10p, which is 1a in Pacific time, and then I have to get the car, drive out, find the bed, etc. I didn’t know what the house was going to look like, after missing the last two months. So I decided to just get a room in Hilo and stay there overnight.

2006-09-08 Visit

Resurrecting the site after upgrade

Again, an upgrade to Joomla – and again the change to sef.php reported previously. These security holes in Joomla start being costly for anyone that has done even minimal customization, and it start becoming relevant to actually change the behavior of Joomla to not require that kind of customization.

1453 (R. Crowley)

{moszoomimglink:1453}There are moments in time when history looks over your shoulders, and you know it. The whiff of history hit me twice: once in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell right in front of my eyes; and then years later, when I was part of the Internet Bubble and could see with my own eyes fortunes made and unmade in days.

The year 1453 had one of the most astonishing event of that kind: Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, a bulwark against the world domination of Islam since the days of the prophet Muhammad, fell to the invading army of Mehmet II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Horror Story of a WoW Traveler

The following story is from the World of Warcraft forum. It is corroborated by a bunch of links, and it seems it is genuine. It’s both funny and instructional – as it shows just how crazy the fear of terrorism has become.

I played WoW, I became a terrorist (story!)

This … is going to be a long one. And believe it or not, it’s a 100% true story. Its relation to World of Warcraft will not be immediately apparent. Anyway, the gist of what happened is here: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html? id=6a11bd67-f717-4aa3-80a9-840c07949730&k=28503

Corpse Bride (2005)

Tim Burton has a gift for surprise. His movies all have a depth that erupts from anything that usually wouldn’t make a movie worth watching, somehow emphasizing their value beyond logic. He is, in that respect, not unlike Mozart, whose work has that same flow of the pleasant paired with the eruptive force of genius.

We are in a fairy tale set in Victorian England. Our hero, Victor, is the heir of a fish monger’s fortune and is to be married off sight unseen to Victoria, heir to a delapidated aristocratic fortune. As the movie starts, the singing families are going to meet to introduce the two young heroes at the wedding rehearsal.

I (HEART) Huckabees (2004)

I am so happy I didn’t see this move in the theaters! I ♥ Huckabees is a strange comedy, the same type of slow-moving humor that made The Royal Tenenbaums so memorable.

A string of famous to very-famous actors is embroiled in an “existential investigation” that ends up being about a petty discord and corporate greed. At the same time, the life of a bunch of people is forever changed by the realization they are not living their own lives.