Life and Death
This moving article in The Daily Beast describes Ted Kennedy’s final days. I hope that I too will be able to get out of bed on my last day here on earth.
I clearly remember the emotion surrounding the death of both JFK and RFK. Neither of them had the opportunity to live out their last days as Teddy did.

They All Have Families Too
The first three pages of today’s Honolulu Advertiser were filled with “Teddy Tales.” We were able to read a lot about his mourning family. I too mourn his death.
At the bottom of the 3rd page was this article. It talks about an American solier being killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan yesterday. The article said, “The death brought to 44 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan this month with four days left in August.” I wonder how many mourning family members that represents, along with close to 5,000 other Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. ALL of those deaths could have been avoided. How important were these lives to those that sent them over there?

It’s Enough to Make One Scream
Almost everyone I talk to, and definately those I work with, are seeing a recovery from past months, and are beginning to feel optimistic. Then along comes Pacific Business News with this latest fear mongering headline: “Recession to continue in Hawaii through ‘09″
As usual, you need to read down into the story to see how meaningless the headline is. In this case the 2nd paragraph say’s, “The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said in its report released Monday that it expects a 1.1 percent decline in the state’s 2009 gross domestic product and a 3 percent decline in the average job count for the year.”
Isn’t “98.9% stable” enough to warrant an encouraging headline?

“Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered–either by themselves or by others.”
-Mark Twain

The Genius Bar
I sometimes question Apple’s use of the word “Genius” when describing the “help counter” found at all Apple Stores. As conceited as that sounds, sometimes true gunius exists there. Recently Hawaii enacted a new law outlawing the use of handheld devices while driving. At about the same time as the law went into effect both of my iPhone ear buds became defective, so I took them to the genius bar.

Genius Indeed
The resident “genius” blew some canned air into the earbud socket on my iPhone and a fairly large amount of pocket lint came out. He handed me back the iPhone and the earbuds worked perfecly. Genius!