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Tag: Hawaii

  • Maui Shark Attack Leaves Woman Injured

    Maui is a beautiful vacation destination for tourists from around the world. The beaches are the main reason to visit, but one beach in particular was closed this past weekend after a nasty shark attack.

    The Maui News reports that a 51-year-old woman from California was the victim of a shark attack over the weekend. The beaches near Makena Landing Beach Park were closed on Saturday after the attack. They remained closed until Sunday.

    Fire Service Chief Lee Mainaga told the The Maui News that the attack happened about 20 yards offshore on Saturday afternoon. The shark that attacked the unnamed woman was estimated to be between 10 and 12 feet long. The species of the shark, however, is still not known.

    Thankfully, the victim will be just fine. She suffered puncture wounds on her right inner thigh and some lacerations to the front and back to her right hand after pushing the shark away. She’s lucky she got away with only that as some sharks tend to be pretty aggressive about holding on to a potential meal.

    Despite their aggressive nature, sharks are usually docile when left unprovoked. It’s relatively easy to avoid shark attacks as well by following a few simple rules. For instance, avoid swimming at dawn, dusk or night as these are prime feeding times for various shark species. It’s also important to not wear bright clothing or shiny jewelry as this can also attract sharks.

    Shark attacks are incredibly rare, but the media and various films have made people more afraid of them then they need to be. Keeping the above rules in mind should keep you safe from any potential shark attacks in the near future.

    [Image: Pterantula/Wikimedia Commons]

  • John Koko, Bass Player and Vocalist for Makaha Sons, Dead at 51

    John Koko, vocalist and bass player for the influential Hawaiian group Makaha Sons, died as a result of heart problems on Monday. John was 51. According to the Associated Press, Koko was looking into a heart transplant around the time of his passing.

    The Makaha Sons of Ni‘ihau, which formed in 1976, has enjoyed quite a bit of success over the years, and helped popularize Hawaiian music outside of the culture. Following the death of the Kamakawiwo?ole brothers, the remaining members, Louis “Moon” Kauakah, Jerome Koko, and John Koko, dropped the “of Ni’hau” from their name. Over the years, the band has released over 20 albums and one DVD, all of which were distributed courtesy of their own label. In addition appearing on the TODAY show with Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric, they’ve also played for President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

    In addition to their musical output, the band has recently taken to helping out local musicians who specialize in traditional Hawaiian music. The Makaha Sons Foundation also supports numerous charitable organizations, and has even helped families suffering from illnesses and provided scholarships to high school seniors.

    John Koko, who grew up in Nanakuli, joined the band in 1982. According to his brother, Jerome, John suffered from heart problems all of his life. These issues, which prevented the talented musician from completing high school, ultimately derailed his dreams of becoming a baseball and football player. However, in 1999, John succeeded in obtaining his GED, an accomplishment he was reportedly very proud of.

    Sadly, due to John’s increasingly poor health, the band was forced to postpone recent shows in Argentina, Brazil, and Germany. “He was a fighter,” his brother explained. “After a while, you could see it on his face.”

    Koko is survived by his wife, four sons, and two grandchildren.

  • Google Gets Stunning Hawaii Street View Imagery

    Google has expanded its Street View coverage of six Hawaiian islands, including panoramic imagery of beaches, rainforestes, lava fields and oceanfront resorts.

    With Google Maps, you can now find such imagery for the islands of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii (Big Island), Molokai, Kauai, and Lanai.

    Here are a few examples:

    2815 Kalakaua Ave, Honolulu

    Hawaii Street View

    3860 Manoa Road, Honolulu

    Hawaii Street View

    Chain of Craters Road, Hawaii

    Hawaii Street View

    Kaanapali

    Hawaii Street View

    Waikiki

    Hawaii Street View

    Road to Hana

    Road to Hana

    I’m impressed Google sent a car up the Road to Hana. Having traveled it myself, and fearing for my life the entire time (thanks to the huge drop off one one side, the narrow lanes, and the very limited visibility of oncoming traffic around a continuous twist of road), I have to give Google credit for making the journey. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a popular tourist attraction, but I don’t think I’d want to go up it again. Maybe with the Street View Trike.

    “One of my favorite memories of Maui is driving along the scenic “Road to Hana” with my friends, an experience I can now relive with Street View,” says Street View product manager Evan Rapoport.

    I think that’s the only way I’ll be reliving it, but I’m glad to know I can.

    I don’t think I’m ready to test out a self-driving car on it.

  • NASA Unveils New Rover Prototype

    NASA Unveils New Rover Prototype

    Yesterday the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled the prototype for their new lunar rover that they want to help in future missions. Together with the Canadian Space Agency, NASA is teaming on a project called RESOLVE which stands for Regolith and Environmental Science and Oxygen and Lunar Extraction.

    The hopes is that the new rover will be able to mine the resources and gather oxygen to be used for human consumption and for fuel. The Lunar rover will hopefully go to the North Pole of the moon. It will then take some of the Lunar soil and heat it up to 900 degrees Celsius. They will then take hydrogen that it takes with it and flow it over the superheated soil to create water. That water can then be used to create oxygen or can be used for human consumption, or to make rocket fuel.

    Daniel Lefevbre of the Canadien Space Agency said that the next stop for the rover is for it to be shipped off to Hawaii to be tested on the slopes of the Big Island’s volcanoes. The hopes are that the tests can help ring out some of the problems so it will be space ready when someone is ready to launch it into space.

    The rover is worth about 300 million dollars and is controlled by what looks like a Logitech gamepad for PC. Kind of a cool job.

    Video and photo courtesy of Florida Today.

  • Rentini Concerned Over New Hawaiian Bill

    A lot of us are familiar with vacation rental and timeshare websites- owners post their properties online, users take a look, and rent what they pick out. This is all about to change in Hawaii, where vacation rentals are big business.

    hawaii

    State Legislature has recently passed two controversial bills, SB 2089 and HB 1706, that require non-resident property owners to hire local property managers to oversee vacation rentals and collect the payments. This adding of a middle man would cause non-resident homeowners to take a big hit, and landlords aren’t happy. Still, proponents of the bills contend that the new laws would force non-residents to pay the proper taxes. Critics say this wouldn’t solve Hawaii’s tax problem, and is going negatively impact the real estate market.

    Vacation rental sites like Rentini are worried that the new bills will affect the future of their business in Hawaii. Houses will have to be taken off private rental sites, and referred to bulk local property management companies.

    Homeowners have threatened to either sell, or raise rental costs to cover the new losses – both of which would negatively affect the real estate market.

    On March 6, SB 2089 passed the Third Reading by the Committee, and is scheduled to be heard on Monday, March 12th.

  • Hawaii Lawmaker Backing Down On Privacy Law

    We reported yesterday on an idiotic bill proposed in Hawaii that would required ISPs to record every Web site customers visit. One of the main backers of the bill is retreading her stance on the controversial legislation.

    Representative Kymberly Pine, an Oahu Republican and House minority floor leader, told CNET that her intention with H.B. 2288 was to “protect victims of crime.” She didn’t mean the bill to imply that it would collect information on every resident in Hawaii.

    “We do not want to know where everyone goes on the Internet,” Pine said. “That’s not our interest. We just want the ability for law enforcement to be able to capture the activities of crime.”

    Pine has said that the bill will now be revised. She admits that the idea of collecting and keeping information on users “was a little broad.”

    The House Committee on Economic Revitalization and Business heard from opponents of the bill yesterday. They said it was anti-business and would do nothing to reinvigorate the economy.

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii said that the bill was a “direct assault on bedrock privacy principles.” They said that instead of keeping more records, a good privacy practice is to delete data that’s no longer needed.

    Other opponents warned that the bill’s data collection requirements “could be misused in lawsuits.” The U.S. Internet Service Provider Association even jumped in to warn that the bill would be “incredibly expensive” to implement.

    Pine told CNET that the law wasn’t based upon her own experience of being attacked with a Web site, but rather those who were affected by crimes like child pornography. She said that they will rewrite the bill with the help of ISPs. They have a month to discuss the legislation to propose changes that all sides will be content with.

    The bill currently has no privacy protections or security requirements. These will be most likely added in as the bill is modified over the next month.

    John Mizuno, the lead sponsor for the bill, has not changed his stance on the bill. He also introduced H.B. 2287 which would toughen punishments for computer crime.

  • Hawaii Could Force ISPs To Log All Browsing History, Indefinitely

    In the current political climate, with all the buzz about SOPA & PIPA and now H.R.1981 & ACTA, Hawaii state representative John Mizuno has to be outside of his mind to introduce a comical piece of legislation like H.B. 2288.

    Take that back. In any climate, John Mizuno would have to be outside of his mind to introduce a bill like this. That is, unless it passes – in which case we will all feel like we’re the ones taking the crazy pills.

    Anyway, the idiotic and dangerous bill that I’m referring to was proposed on Friday and would basically require all internet providers to retain customer records for a time “no less than two years.” The “customer records” would not only include each subscriber’s personal information, but their entire browsing history.

    Seriously. The language is as plain as it is vague. Check it out:

    Recordkeeping requirements for internet service providers. Any internet service provider that provides internet service to a consumer in the State shall retain consumer records for no less than two years. The required data for the consumer records shall include each subscriber’s information and internet destination history information. Destination information shall include any of the following:

    (1) Internet protocol address;
    (2) Domain name; or
    (3) Host name.

    This is the only directive included in H.B. 2288. Nothing else to describe motivations, or specific clarifications either. When a politician introduces legislation this moronic, one immediately thinks about ulterior motives. But what could Rep. Mizuno have to gain from this?

    The bill simply requires ISPs to log all of this data and makes no mentions of how they can use it or who they can give it to – the police? Advertisers?

    And as CNET points out, if passed, this could end up affecting more than just Hawaiian citizens:

    Because the wording is so broad and applies to any company that “provides access to the Internet,” Mizuno’s legislation could sweep in far more than AT&T, Verizon, and Hawaii’s local Internet providers. It could also impose sweeping new requirements on coffee shops, bookstores, and hotels frequented by the over 6 million tourists who visit the islands each year.

    The bill is being heard in the House today. A companion bill has also been introduced in the Hawaii State Senate, with no hearing yet scheduled.

    I’m not sure that I’ve heard legislation so dangerously vague in quite some time. What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments.