billso.com

Last week, Dan Leuck invited me to join TechHui, a website that he developed. According to Dan, “TechHui is a new social network for Hawaii’s tech community. It provides groups and forums covering subjects ranging from software development and social networks to biofuel and entrepreneurship.”

TechHui has more than 200 members, and the site features discussion forums on project management, blogging, and computer software. Dan has a special interest in Java software development, so there are forums for those topics, too.

The site also lets users post videos, images web links and other objects. The interface supports several customization options for privacy, themes, and other features that have become key success factors on social networking sites.

The Honolulu Star-Bullletin just posted this article:

Aloha Airlines will be shutting down its interisland and transpacific passenger flights beginning tomorrow, ending its 61-year service in Hawaii.

In a news release today, the company said United Airlines and other airlines will help accommodate passengers who have flights scheduled on Aloha after tomorrow. Aloha has stopped selling tickets for future flights.

I wonder if this will spur the state legislature into action? Last Thursday, Minnesota congressman James Oberstar implored Hawaii’s lawmakers to save Aloha Airlines, according to this Star-Bulletin article:

“The islands are so dependent on air travel. This is your taxi. This is your bus line. You essentially have to maintain this carrier for its competitive service and for the economic impact it means for Honolulu and the whole state.”

News coverage

These are articles that appeared later in the day, after I posted my article.

• The Honolulu Advertiser posted a shorter article here and a Q&A section later in the day. Ticket holders for flights on and after April 1 can sue in bankruptcy court for their refund, or check with their travel agent. One interesting note: all Aloha Airlines frequent flyer miles expire tomorrow, 31 March 2008, when the airline shuts down its AlohaPass program.
• Business Week
• Bloomberg
• Here’s KGMB’s article from its web site.
• CNN from the Associated Press
• The Huffington Post
• Los Angeles Times
• Washington Post from the Associated Press

The day after

Even Wired Magazine has mentioned the shutdown.

Both Honolulu newspapers had extensive coverage.

• Honolulu Star-Bulletin
• The Honolulu Advertiser redesigned its web site last week, and I cannot find the old archive feature. Here’s a link to today’s lead story.

When the FAA allowed airline pilots to carry guns, supporters claimed that armed pilots could be trusted. After all, pilots are responsible for flying multimillion dollar jets filled with people, right?

As Peter Biddle (via BoingBoing) points out, this logic is flawed because trust is not transitive. An airline pilot can have thousands of hours logged in the cockpit. Pilots receive only one week of training with their .40 caliber semiautomatic H&K USP sidearms. The two skills do not reinforce or relate to each other in any way. In fact, pilots may need several hundred hours experience with a weapon to develop safety skills that are as reliable as their flying skills.

So when a USAirways pilot blows a hole through his cockpit while trying to stow his handgun before landing his plane, as this AP story describes, no one should be surprised:

The pistol discharged shortly before noon Saturday aboard Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte, as the Airbus A319 was at about 8,000 feet and about 10 minutes from landing.

Here are some examples I just made up on my own. feel free to add your own as a comment!

• No sensible person would trust an astronaut to perform heart surgery, unless that astronaut were also an experience heart surgeon.
• Stunt performers may be brave, but that doesn’t make them great parents.
• Professors may be masters in their field, but that doesn’t mean they can use a computer. I still hear about professors who cannot answer their own e-mail!

From the AP: Taliban members in Afghanistan want their mobile phone service restored. The problem: it was the Taliban who attacked the towers in the first place!

The government has been shutting down cell phone networks at night because of Taliban attacks on cell phone towers. Even some Taliban fighters now regret the disruptions and are demanding that service be restored by the companies.

The communication blackout follows a campaign by the Taliban, which said the U.S. and NATO were using the fighters’ cell phone signals to track them at night and launch pinpoint attacks.

About 10 towers have been attacked since the warning late last month - seven of them seriously - causing almost $2 million in damage, the telecom ministry said. Afghanistan’s four major mobile phone companies began cutting nighttime service across the south soon after.

From the Motley Fool and BrandWeek comes two updates on a favorite example of mine: Borders. Amazon had been handling Border’s e-commerce and web storefront, until Borders management ended the agreement in early 2007. Now there’s reports that Borders management is considering selling part or all of the company, after the company suspended its stock dividen and took on additional debt.

As both of the 2008 articles point out, Borders has plenty of competition. Warehouse stores sell bestsellers at steep discounts, and that keeps some potential Borders customers from making that extra trip. Barnes & Noble isn’t in great shape, but at least they’re competitive.

As I mentioned on 24 March 2008, the book publishing business is undergoing significant changes. So it’s not surprising that bookstores are struggling.