Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Hamilton Library Floods

 Two decades ago, on the night before Halloween 2004, there was a heavy flood up in Mānoa Valley


The flood burst onto the University of Hawaii at Mānoa campus damaging several buildings. But worse damage was done to the university's largest library: The Hamilton Library.


The Honolulu Star-Advertiser article "Halloween Eve flash flood at UH-Manoa left ruin in its wake 20 years ago" does a great job in describing the flood and the damage it has caused to the library (and other facilities)

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/10/29/hawaii-news/halloween-eve-flash-flood-at-uh-manoa-left-ruin-in-its-wake/


Here is my  Facebook post regarding the article and my thoughts on the flood


A day that is etched in the collective memory of UHM. Because this happened on the Halloween weekend (of 2004), most of the student's minds were somewhere else when it happened. But the Monday after, classes were canceled as we learned the truth of what happened.
At the time, I was in my final semester as an undergrad student majoring in sociology. So definitely couldn't use the library for the rest of my final semester.
Fast-forward to 2013, when I returned to UHM as a graduate student majoring in Library & Information Science (LIS), the renovations were done and the basement (where LIS was located was looking good as new).  
However, not everything could be easily replaced since the basement included the storage of maps, government docs, and other rare items. And trauma still hasn't totally healed for all those affected by this flood.


Also in that semester, I had a part-time job as a student librarian in the university's Marine Option Program (MOP). At the time, program's HQ was in Dean Hall (which wasn't damaged by the flood) but some of their old posters and other items were located in the portables on lower campus. Though it didn't get muddied like Hamilton Library, the items there did get water-damaged.  I helped clear out some stuff there.  Even before the flood, there was some discussion of all the stuff accumulated by MOP over the decades. The flood answered the question for a lot of stuff at the portables. While some stuff was saved, it was time for most of it to go. 

I graduated at the end of the semester and there was still some accumulated stuff that we didn't get around to throwing out yet.   What happened to them is still a mystery to me as it was time for me to move on.


=====


Also check out this following article "Hamilton Library 20 years after the UH Mānoa flood" 

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2024/10/29/hamilton-library-flood-20th-anniversary/ 

Monday, October 28, 2024

Video: "Am I still Considered Young at 44?"

 A few weeks ago, on my 44-year old birthday blog post, I mentioned the following


https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2024/10/my-double-4-years.html


One of the doctors I've talked to kept calling me "young man". I'm like "dude, I'm in my 40's".   I guess when you're like 60, anything under 50 is "young".  

 Even though there's a generation gap between 44-year old me and the new young adults. 

Let's put it this way, 9/11 happened when I was a Young Man.  The new young adults weren't even born yet when it happened.  My nieces are in college and they weren't born yet when 9/11 happened.  To them, social media and smartphones have always existed in their life. None of those things existed yet when I became a young man. 


And now, I posted a video on YouTube explaining those same issues 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hReplnwmx0




I also noted what is conisdered "young" depends on the situation, being that 60-year old Kamala Harris is considered "young" because she worked alongside 81-year old Joe Biden.  Biden is so old that he makes 78-year old Donald Trump look young.

But if J.D. Vance becomes president (I hope not) I could then say "I'm older than the president". Vance is 4o years old. 

Anyways, click on the video and stay young! 


Sunday, October 20, 2024

Why Not Both?

 The Oahu Community Correction Center (aka O.C.C.C. or as most people call it - "O Triple C") is a very outdated facility known for very nasty conditions.


O.C.C.C.  is mostly for those who are either awaiting trial or convicted of misdemeanors.


 Those convicted of felonies usually get sent to "Halawa" (the Halawa Correctional Facility) or if too crowded, to a facility in Arizona.


There have been proposals to build a new O.C.C.C. near the Halawa facility, and to tear down the old O.C.C.C. (currently in Kalihi).


It was mentioned in today's edition of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.


https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/10/20/hawaii-news/state-to-renew-push-to-replace-overcrowded-oahu-jail/


As usual, lack of funding is the culprit.


Some of the lack of funding is due to far-left activists who don't want a new jail because we need "alternatives to incarceration".


Why not both?


Why not "alternative to incarceration" for minor crimes, while we can still have a new jail for those who commit major crimes?


I'm actually for legalizing minor sins like gambling, marijuana, and consensual sex work. I think gun possession should be legal for any adult without a violent felony conviction. Self-defense should always be legal 


I'm all for second chances for first-time minor offenders.  Those are things we can have "alternatives to incarceration".


But the solution to violent crime isn't "hugs and pats on the backs" for killers & rapists.


Some people are too dangerous to be in society.

Yes, I'm OK with having those people live in humane conditions, but there's NOTHING humane about the conditions at the current O.C.C.C.


So we need to focus on building a newer, cleaner facility. 

And those who are dangerous to society are still locked up but in a more humane, cleaner facility. 

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Worker's Rights in Sports

 Most of the talk on athlete's compensation  usually focuses on the following

  • millionaires playing in major leagues demanding even more money, as if they don't already make more than your average citizen
  • WNBA players making much less money than the NBA players due to revenue disparity (though the popular ones like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese already make millions from endorsements)
  • College athletes are now allowed to be compensated far beyond just a scholarship. In fact, they are now searching for colleges that will give them access to better endorsement deals

I won't even go over any of that, because there's one piece of news about athletic compensation from earlier this year that should be a center of conversation.

That is the new deal that the players in the National Women's Soccer League (NSWL) negotiated earlier this year.


The following bullet points come from a 8/22/2024 email from the AFL-CIO praising this deal! 

  • Eliminating the draft: The draft is an antiquated model that treats people as property to be bought and sold. The new terms will empower players to decide which team environment is the best fit for their needs and their development.
  • Free agency for all: Free agency results in fairness of contracts, with teams and players mutually agreeing to enter into a contractual relationship on even terms.
  • Guaranteed contracts: Guaranteed contracts generally prevent the league from terminating player contracts prior to the end of their term, except in limited circumstances.
  • No trades without player consent: This protects players from being traded against their will and without knowing in advance.
  • Workload management: As the league grows, the demands on players will increase. The new agreement addresses game frequency, travel conditions and time off.
  • Revenue sharing: For the first time, a collectively bargained salary cap will be tied to revenue sharing and a guaranteed minimum base salary cap. As the wealth of the league grows, the revenue will be shared with players. The association secured audit rights to ensure compliance with this provision.

Yes to all that!

Yes, I know the draft is made so that losing teams can get immediate help from the top college stars coming into the league.

After all, it wouldn't seem fair if last year's champions get the top rookie coming out of college.

But, if you look at college sports, a lot of times, it's the top college teams (like last year's champions) who get the best players coming out of high school.

At least with college recruiting, the player has a choice of where to go.

But with drafts in professional sports, the player don't really have much of a choice. Most times, they're sent to a team in a city where they don't know anyone, and with a coaching staff that might not be the best fit for them.

This is especially dangerous for QB's who are drafted by teams with a junk offensive line, putting those QB's in danger from experienced opposing defenses ready to attack and destroy. 


Drafts are big business for the NFL, NBA and ESPN! They don't want to give up all the advertising revenue that comes with so many viewers watching the draft.

But eliminating the draft is the right thing for the athletes. 

After all, the best & brightest students in computer science don't get drafted by the worst performing tech companies. Instead, they can chose whether to join a well-established tech company (ie Microsoft, Google, etc), become tech support for a non-profit,  or they could chose to build a new start-up.


====

And I definitely don't like trades without consent.

I mean, imagine if you're working in fashion retail and all of a sudden, you're told  in the last minute that you're now  traded to a store in a far away city because "that's how it is". Meanwhile, you have to traumatize your children who are just getting settled in their new school and now have to go to a new school with bullies who see outsiders as easy targets.

But this is business as usual in sports.  Players are sent to teams in far-away cities without their consent. You gotta move your children AGAIN to a new school? Too bad! 

We shouldn't have trades in sports, unless a person express he/she wants to leave! Even if the player wants to leave, he/she should have a choice where to go. Or have a choice to quit the team and be free agent.  


===


J.D. Vance is America's Hitler

 Back in 2016, when Donald Trump was making his first run for president, J.D. Vance (who at the time was mostly known for his memoir Hillbilly Elegy) compared Trump to Hitler.

Fast-forward to this year, and Vance is Trump's running mate. 

J.D. Vance was seen as a man of the working class (whereas Trump was born rich) and seemed to be relatively sane compared to Trump's constant vulgarity.

Even in the vice-presidential debate with Tim Walz, there was praise for J.D. Vance in that he didn't interrupt like Trump did to Biden in 2020. 

J.D. Vance even toned down his previous comments where he once demanded a ban on abortion and questioned any woman who didn't want children of her own.

But where  Vance is like Trump and Hitler is their constant demonization of ethnic minorities. 

Hitler blamed the Jews for every problem Germany was experiencing, and started his reign with segregating Jews, inciting riots against them, and then sending them to concentration camps.

Trump was already well known for demonizing immigrants from Latin America and the Middle East. 


And now Trump & Vance are jumping on the bandwagon with urban legends about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pets. 


Even though the one of the first people who mentioned the issue on social media later admitted the stories were false


Alicia  Victoria Lozano, “‘It Just Exploded’: Springfield Woman Claims She Never Meant to Spark False Rumors about Haitians,” Yahoo! News, September 15, 2024,     https://www.yahoo.com/news/just-exploded-springfield-woman-claims-004811293.html.


Lee recently posted on Facebook about a neighbor’s cat that went missing, adding that the neighbor told Lee she thought the cat was the victim of an attack by her Haitian neighbors.
Newsguard, a media watchdog that monitors for misinformation online, found that Lee had been among the first people to publish a post to social media about the rumor, screenshots of which circulated online. The neighbor, Kimberly Newton, said she heard about the attack from a third party, NewsGuard reported.
Newton told Newsguard that Lee’s Facebook post misstated her story, and that the owner of the missing cat was “an acquaintance of a friend” rather than her daughter’s friend. Newton could not be reached for comment.
Lee said she had no idea the post would become part of a rumor mill that would spiral into the national consciousness. She has since deleted the Facebook post.
Other posts have also contributed to the false allegations, including a photo of a man holding a dead goose that was taken in Columbus, Ohio, but was spread by some online as evidence of the claims about Springfield. Graphic video of a woman who allegedly killed and tried to eat a cat was also found not to have originated in Springfield but in Canton, Ohio, and does not have any connection to the Haitian community.


So to reiterate, 2 cases of animal cruelty that took place in DIFFERENT CITIES within Ohio were later twisted to make as if Haitians in Springfield were committing those acts. 


As for Ms Lee, she then stated this

          
Still, she never imagined that her Facebook post would set off a national news cycle.
“I didn’t think it would ever get past Springfield," she said.


By then, it was too late! Haitians (or anyone who "looked Haitian") were being harassed in the streets, and were threats against schools as well as business owned by Haitians. 


Macollvie J. Neel, “Haitian Families in Ohio under Attack as Racist Claims Spread   ,” The Haitian Times,     September 11, 2024                                                                                         https://haitiantimes.com/2024/09/11/haitian-immigrants-in-ohio-under-racist-attacks/.

The morning after former President Donald Trump repeated racist claims about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, some Haitian families are keeping their children home from school for their safety, according to an area activist. Those who allowed their children did so, but with heavy hearts. 

“She [my niece] was scared, but I told her to go, that God would protect,” said one Haitian resident, who asked that she not be identified publicly for fear of reprisal. 

“We’re all victims this morning,” said the woman, who moved to Springfield six years ago. “They’re attacking us in every way.”

Aside from the anxiety caused by Tuesday night’s debate, the woman also said her cars have been vandalized twice in the middle of the night. She woke up one morning to broken windows and another to acid thrown on the vehicle. She has added cameras to her driveway and tried to report the incidents to the police to no avail.

“I’m going to have to move because this area is no longer good for me,” she said. “I can’t even leave my house to go to Walmart. I’m anxious and scared.”

The Haitian families’ accounts, shared with The Haitian Times under condition of confidentiality, are the latest tales of intimidation, bullying and assaults as anti-Haitian sentiment has gone viral. 


And to top it all off, J.D. Vance claimed it didn't matter if the urban legends about "Haitians eating pets" were false, 


Jacob Sullum, “J.D. Vance Says It Does Not Matter Whether ‘Rumors’ of Pet-Eating Migrants Are True,” Reason.com,   September 15, 2024                                                                                      https://reason.com/2024/09/15/j-d-vance-says-it-does-not-matter-whether-rumors-of-pet-eating-migrants-are-true/.


Whether or not Haitians are indeed dining on stolen cats and dogs, Vance said, the story has proven important in calling attention to the problems that Springfield is experiencing as a result of a migrant influx. "I've been trying to talk about the problems in Springfield for months," he told Bash. "The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do."


So basically, J.D. Vance has admitted that he "create stories" to get more people to demonize non-white immigrants.

And these rumors can have deadly consequences.


As mentioned earlier, Hitler's constant demonization of Jews led to the death of many.


Trump/Vance's slander of Haitian immigrants is already leading to bullying, hate crimes, and bomb threats.

If Trump/Vance wins, the white supremacists will feel even more empowered to harass, attack, and even kill people who are of non-European ancestry.


Racists don't care about the differences between Haitians, Jamaicans, Nigerians, Congolese or even African Americans whose families  been in the USA for centuries.  To them, they're all the same! 


Trump/Vance KNOWS that making negative stereotypes of African-Americans would come with a stronger backlash than if they make negative stereotypes of Haitians.


But deep down inside, those who make negative stereotypes about Haitians feel the same way towards ANYONE with dark skin, even among those African-Americans whose families have been here for generations. 


Trump/Vance KNOWS that their demonization of the Haitians will lead to attacks against non-Haitians with dark skin.  Their goal is a white utopia where those of non-Europeans will leave the US. 


Yes, I know Vance has an Indian wife. This isn't the first time a white nationalist has a non-European wife. 


But even though Haitians and Indians come from different continents, most white supremacists don't like either of them and are willing to do harm to them. 


As strange as it sounds, some people of non-European ancestry make a whole career of demonizing non-European immigrants. These sellouts include Dinesh D'Souza and Michelle Maglalang Malkin.


=======

And Trump/Vance are claiming that the Haitians in Ohio are "illegal aliens". But in reality, they are all legal immigrants.

During the VP debate, one of the moderators fact-checked J.D. Vance on the issue, and Vance got indignant about the fact-check and spewed more lies until his mic got turned off! 


And this all shows what lowlife scum J.D. Vance is! 


People already know Trump as a vulgar clown.  But J.D. Vance is scarier in that he fools people with his clean-cut image. But it doesn't make him less dangerous.


Usually, I'm one of those who claim both major political parties suck.

But in this case, we really need Trump/Vance to be defeated. Their rhetoric are a threat to millions of innocent people. If Trump wins, he knows nothing will restrain him this time around. Vance will continue to spread hate while maintaining his clean-cut image.


While I don't think Kamala Harris is anywhere near a perfect politician, at least we all know that she's sincerely about peace among people of all ancestries.  

Yes, I know, Harris has flip-flopped on multiple issues (like fracking, trade, marijuana policy, etc)

But J.D. Vance's flip-flop is much more dangerous to the health of this country. He went from calling Trump "Hitler" to joining Trump in demonizing minorities. 


I live in an overwhelmingly Democrat state, so I could vote third-party (for example, Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party) without worrying that it could give the election to Trump


But if I was living in a swing state (like Nevada, Arizona,Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin), I would vote Kamala Harris for the sole purpose of keeping Trump/Vance out of office.



======

And also this, Haitian immigrants did bring economic benefits to Ohio.


 Eric Boehm, “Immigration Is Better than Industrial Policy,” Reason.com, September 19, 2024 https://reason.com/2024/09/19/immigration-is-better-than-industrial-policy/.


We have heard a whole lot over the past eight years about the need to revitalize blue-collar America.

But factories don't operate because presidents dump billions of borrowed dollars into places chosen for politically strategic reasons. Widgets don't get made and the supply chain doesn't keep churning along because the president orders it—no, not even if he uses the word "hereby."

Mostly, the economy spins ever onward because individuals show up for work and produce something that other people—their employers, customers, clients, donors, etc.—value and are willing to pay for, and then they do it again the next day.

The much-maligned Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, which has become the center ring of America's stupidest political circus over the past week, seem to have been doing exactly that: showing up.

"They are assembling car engines at Honda, running vegetable-packing machines at Dole and loading boxes at distribution centers," The New York Times reported earlier this month. "They are paying taxes on their wages and spending money at Walmart. On Sundays they gather at churches for boisterous, joyful services in Haitian Creole."

Sen. J.D. Vance's (R–Ohio) recent criticisms of the Haitian immigrants in Springfield lacked "real knowledge of what the work force situation in Ohio is," Ross McGregor, CEO of Pentaflex Inc., which makes brake and axel parts for trucks, told Kevin Williamson for a must-read essay published this week by The Dispatch.

"I don't think [Vance] really understands from a boots-on-the-ground perspective what employers are dealing with in trying to have a consistent and reliable work force," McGregor explained. "If he were to apply a business mindset to this situation, he would see the benefit that we get from simply being able to rely on somebody coming to work every day." (Emphasis added)

A Republican Party that was less blindfolded by its nativism and less committed to reassuring its supporters that cultural change is always bad—as opposed to being a natural part of the modern world, and a necessary part of a functioning, dynamic economy—would see an opportunity to tell a different kind of story about Springfield. After all, the Haitians in Springfield are simply the latest chapter in the story of Ohio: a story that includes waves of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and other parts of the world who came to Ohio to take the same sort of bottom-rung jobs and begin the process of working their way up the American economic ladder.


Sadly, all those facts will be ignored by those who FEEL that "non-whites are inferior" as well as those scumbag politicians who pander to those racists (ie. Trump/Vance) 


Tuesday, October 15, 2024

My Double 4 years

 Today, it's official!


I am now 44 years old! 



The biggest news lately has been my health, as I was recently in the hospital due to jaundice, high level of liver enzymes in my blood and a blockage found near my pancreas.

You can read all about it at 



One of the doctors I've talked to kept calling me "young man". I'm like "dude, I'm in my 40's".   I guess when you're like 60, anything under 50 is "young".  

 Even though there's a generation gap between 44-year old me and the new young adults. 

Let's put it this way, 9/11 happened when I was a Young Man.  The new young adults weren't even born yet when it happened.  My nieces are in college and they weren't born yet when 9/11 happened.  To them, social media and smartphones have always existed in their life. None of those things existed yet when I became a young man. 


=========

Anyways, back to my health  - still recovering. Less nausea, less fatigue. But still experiencing upper abdominal pain due to pancreas inflammation (expected side effect of the ECRP procedure described in previous post).

As for my appetite .............. earlier this morning, I had my usual birthday breakfast at Asahi Grill, where I usually eat fried rice & scrambled egg. In normal circumstances, I could easily eat the whole thing in 1 sitting. This time, I couldn't even finish and had to take some home to finish later. 

For the rest of the day, I'll relax and rest. and spent too much time on the screens, LOL! 

I used to go to events on my birthday, but since the pandemic, I basically retired from the night-life.  Also, I need to rest due to my recent health experiences.


Saturday, October 12, 2024

Coming home from the hospital and the road to recovery

 In the previous blog post, I explained my experience of being hospitalized for jaundice, high liver enzymes in the bloodstream, and a blockage near my pancreas.  I went through an ECRP procedure where a stent was placed from my liver to my pancreas. 


https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2024/10/my-experience-with-jaundice-and.html


In the afternoon of Wednesday October 2, 2024, I was discharged from the hospital.



The following social media post describes my feeling post-release from the hospital.


I'm back home after 6 days at the hospital (for jaundice, high level of liver enzymes in bloodstream due to blockage near pancreas). It feels good back on my own bed, without all these needles on my arms, and without the constant, unpredictable interruptions. Seriously though, the health professionals are hard working, accommodating, and deserve all the benefits they're fighting for. While I'm now home, I'm still dealing with the after effects of nausea and fatigue. It'll be a while before I'm back to normal (or maybe this is the new normal)






As mentioned in that post, I was experiencing high levels of nausea and fatigue when I returned home.

Return to work? That would have to wait!

The first few days home, I wanted to vomit but nothing could come out except a few spitballs.  

Meanwhile, all stools were wet for the next few days.

It was only a few days ago when I finally had more solid stoools.

And just like the last few days at the hospital, my appetite really decreased.

In the first few days at home, I could barely finish 1 small can of soup, whereas under normal circumstance, I could easily chow down the contents of 2 cans of soup. 

Or my some of my meals could only consist of leftover baby carrots and raisins that I couldn't finish at the hospital.  

It would be days before I was able to finish 1 can of soup in one sitting. 

It was only today (10 days after discharge) that I am able to finish 1 can of chunky chicken soup in 1 sitting. 

========

Add to that,  I experienced upper abdominal pain due to the pancreas inflammation that was expected to occur after the ECRP procedure.

And sleep?

Due to the upper abdominal pain, I was too distracted to fall asleep. 

I would literally be up for hours, tired enough to sleep but feeling too much pain to sleep. Some days, I would only catch 1-2 hours of sleep at night.

It was 10/7/2024  (5 days after discharge) when I finally took an afternoon nap, where I was able to make up for lost sleep time of previous nights. 

I also took afternoon nap on some of the following days, which I was able to catch up on sleep.

The last 2 nights, I was finally to get a few more hours of night-time sleep. 

=====

And through all this time, I had to fill out documents to ensure I can get the benefits to help me through this tough time.

Yes, my family was able to help out with some things, but my family isn't rich. 

Meanwhile, every document I have to complete and/or submit has to be correct and error-free. 

At the same time, the institutions reviewing those documents work at a slower pace than they expect us (the general public submitting those docs) to.  Meanwhile, bill collectors aren't as patient. 

Luckily, I have a computer, scanner, and printer at home, but some people can't afford that stuff. And they're the ones who need help the most. 

It's experiences like these that remind me that we need a more humane and stronger safety net system. You can't "work hard" or "bootstrap" your way out of every problem.

 


=======

I do have a follow up procedure  scheduled later this month.


I'll explain more when it's time.