Fellow blogger Larry Geller thought it important that readers of the Jewish-Buddhist poem I posted yesterday know that the word “bupkis” is of Russian/Slavik origin and means “goat droppings.”

“It adds yet another layer to the zen,” he said.

I’ll leave you to digest that while I go look for news that amused and confused in Hawai’i’s week that was:

• Two pilots walked away unharmed after their twin engine aircraft made a belly landing at Honolulu Airport and went up in flames. They were demonstrating the likely conclusion of this year’s Legislature.

• Former UH football coach June Jones got athletic director Herman Frazier fired when he left for SMU, and now he’s using Frazier as his alibi for stiffing UH on $400,000 he owes for skipping out early on his contract. Jones always did get class confused with crass.

• The U.S. Energy Department will fund research in Hawai’i to find more efficient ways to distribute electricity. If they really want to spread the juice, they should send it out with transit contracts.

• The Hawai’i County Council voted to make Big Island beaches smoke-free. I’m curious how they’ll enforce that at the new Puna beaches where smoldering Kilauea lava is still pouring into the sea.

• New photos are providing local scientists with their best look ever at secretive subterranean shrimps. I’m surprised it’s taken so long to get cameras into legislative chambers.

• The union is defending two go! airlines pilots fired for falling asleep on a flight to Hilo and overshooting the airport. What, they couldn’t hear the alarm clock over the engine noise?

• Two families are bickering furiously over which of their boys gets to keep a jersey that soccer star David Beckham gave them after an Aloha Stadium match. Sounds like these parents are training their kids to serve on the City Council.

• The Army has decided not to remove Cold War-era radioactive waste found at Schofield Barracks. That’s one way to make sure the new Stryker Brigade gets glowing reviews.

• Costco and Sam’s Club are limiting rice purchases because of short supplies. Talk about a fuel shortage. What’s next, mashed potato musubi at the snack bars?

• Hawai’i has one of the lowest rates of entrepreneurial activity in the country, a study says. Could that have anything to do with having the highest rate of government jobs?

And the quote of the week …

… from Mike Hamasu of Colliers Monroe Friedlander on O’ahu’s slumping office rentals:

“In the last six quarters, we’ve had five quarters of negative absorption. That’s not a positive sign.”

Can we infer that the one quarter of positive absorption was not a negative sign?

Tags: City Council, June Jones, Legislature, Stryker Brigade, UH football

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 3:00 am and is filed under Volcanic Ash. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.