yes! that highway is a beautiful stretch in spite of the many angry hippies who inhabit puna. the hot spring at ahalanui park down in that area is great, too. it's the only one in the state, which is kind of surprising considering that japan has about 7000 of them.
fun fact: just last year, the lava flow nearly destroyed the old hippie town of pahoa. it came as near as 100 yards of the main drag, then petered out for the most part. everyone was talking about it.
― davey, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:23 (eight years ago) link
yeah we stayed near Pahoa when we were there, so when I heard about that and I checked some videos of the lava flowing - it's kinda funny what a slow-motion disaster that was, like no one could stop it but it moved at a snail's pace.
definitely angry hippies in Puna, I felt like we were perpetually on the verge of becoming very unwelcome visitors to someone's clandestine weed farm
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:26 (eight years ago) link
the best, weirdest kind of natural disaster: ultra-slow-motion, daily headline updates (5 yards closer!), simultaneously of almost no danger to human life and totally impossible to stop from destroying an entire town -- xp
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 21:29 (eight years ago) link
in hilo the derogatory term for hippie (besides "hippie") is "punatic"
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 21:30 (eight years ago) link
hahaha that's classic
yeah there was something very *Hawaiian* about the lava flow. People just standing around looking at this stuff crawling forward, "huh well nothing we can do about it. shit, there goes the corner store"
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:33 (eight years ago) link
if can can if no can no can
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 21:35 (eight years ago) link
xp hehe 'punatic'. man, it's a pretty hardscrabble life, subsisting on the organic farm. i stayed on one in puna for a couple nights. to make a long story short, i wouldn't recommend it and i can understand where the anger and disillusionment comes from.
bumbye you going learn you bettah get one edumacation and one job.
― davey, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:39 (eight years ago) link
from what I've seen the big island (and most of the other islands I've been to tbh) don't seem v conducive to farming in general
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:42 (eight years ago) link
quite rich soil in places, like the hamakua coast, but yeah there's not a lot of soil compared to a continent, and most of this island is the dry stuff full of lava particles that i think needs a lot of coaxing to grow much except ohia and jurassic park ferns (this is the soil they grow the coffee in, and the mac nuts -- not exactly subsistence crops). another reason the pre-contact population is impressive. when i was seven another serious problem with the soil was the zero possibility of dinosaurs.
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 22:05 (eight years ago) link
classic
― big Mahats (mattresslessness), Saturday, 9 January 2016 05:39 (eight years ago) link
Dud: Idiot travel writers coming to confirm their biases, disregard the history of the place, and paint the people who live here with broad-brush stereotypes. You might not expect the NYT to publish something that reductive and ignorant, but there it is: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/magazine/hawaii-travels-escape.html
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:16 (seven years ago) link
headed to aunt's place on the big island at the end of June!
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:17 (seven years ago) link
The lava flows have been going crazy lately. Should still be a great time to go see it by boat or on foot when you're here :)
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:25 (seven years ago) link
I'm idly curious to see the destruction wrought by the lava in Pahoa since the last time we were there. dunno if we'll get around to where the lava's actually hitting the ocean in the south (assuming that's still going on)
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:29 (seven years ago) link
I didn't get a chance to take one when I visited last year, but I've heard good things about the guided lava tours around the Pahoa area, in case you'd like to seek them out.
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:35 (seven years ago) link
Most tourist destinations attract tourists because they are naturally attractive places, which is classic. But tourists generate their own atmosphere and where they congregate in the greatest numbers suffers degradation in proportion. This is like a law of the universe.
― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:48 (seven years ago) link
I'll keep it in mind, at the moment we just bought our plane tickets and are trying to figure out where to stay next. We'll be there for 8 days, I think, with half of that spent at my aunt's in Kohala, but I think the other four days we'll probably stay somewhere near Hilo, idk have to look around
xp
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:49 (seven years ago) link
As for places around Hilo, I would try to stay in the Volcanoes National Park area b/c that is forever my favorite natural place in the islands. Note sure if that's too distant from Hilo for you tho, it depends on your itinerary.
xp Agree that tourism inevitably is exploitative.
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:44 (seven years ago) link
You might not expect the NYT to publish something that reductive and ignorant
isn't that basically what they do about everything, including their local coverage? IIRC we have a few threads on it
maybe just need a rolling "NYT is dumb #6590728340 in a series" thread
― Not the real Tombot (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:52 (seven years ago) link
I'd like to visit hawaii one day though.
― Not the real Tombot (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:55 (seven years ago) link
You're probably right. I've only read their more journalistic news stuff, not so much the lifestyle stuff. Anyway you should come visit some time.
― davey, Thursday, 30 March 2017 10:45 (seven years ago) link
shakey - highly recommend a day trip to Waipio Valley:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waipio_Valley
http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/rare-look-waipio-valley-hawaii-island
one of the weirdest and most beautiful places i've ever been to.
there are feral horses walking around!
― gr8080, Thursday, 30 March 2017 12:42 (seven years ago) link
Arriving on big island today huzzah
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 25 June 2017 15:46 (six years ago) link
a-looooooooooooooo-ha!
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 25 June 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link
Super nice weather on Oahu today! So I went on the Hanauma Bay Ridge Hike and snapped this photo.
http://i.imgur.com/ltKDi4Jl.jpg
Hope you'll be getting similar weather on the Big Isle :)
― davey, Monday, 26 June 2017 03:48 (six years ago) link
why do people bring their fucking drones to the beach, on vacation WHY
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 July 2017 17:22 (six years ago) link
happened twice, immediately cast about for a rock to throw both times
Ppl bring them to make themselves feel like they haven't wasted hundreds of dollars iirc. Yeah that shit is pretty annoying.
― davey, Friday, 7 July 2017 22:56 (six years ago) link
I feel like drones should be fair game for ppl with things to throw / slingshots
― davey, Friday, 7 July 2017 22:57 (six years ago) link
on the plus side I swam with some sea turtles and saw an (apparently rare?) hawaiian monk seal, so that was cool
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 July 2017 22:59 (six years ago) link
Oh! All those creatures are magical. And yes the Monk Seal is fairly rare, population currently is about 1,500, I just heard on the news.
― davey, Saturday, 8 July 2017 00:04 (six years ago) link
Classic: Monk seals birthing and raising pups on the busiest beaches in Waikiki.
http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/rocky-endangered-hawaiian-monk-seal-gives-birth-kaimana-beach-waikiki
― davey, Saturday, 8 July 2017 00:05 (six years ago) link
Waikiki FAP this week? Or not nbd always next time
― los blue jeans, Tuesday, 22 August 2017 06:07 (six years ago) link
Waikiki... FAP?
― davey, Tuesday, 22 August 2017 10:23 (six years ago) link
Kaka'ako FAP > Waikiki FAP imho
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 22 August 2017 14:10 (six years ago) link
any other ilxors got INCOMING BALLISTIC MISSILE THIS IS NOT A DRILL on wireless emergency alert this morning? better than coffee.
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:29 (six years ago) link
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/9522437235256770
i think i'm coming around on her
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:30 (six years ago) link
oh that's not how it works? okay well tulsi says there is actually no inbound nuke. good arguments on both sides imo
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:31 (six years ago) link
okay official never-mind notice. this has been cool cuz i definitely needed an experience that made our moment feel both more real and less
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:52 (six years ago) link
wait...so what actually happened?
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:57 (six years ago) link
how much time passed between the 'you're going to die' and 'oops, false alarm' messages?
wtf
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:58 (six years ago) link
40 minutes.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:58 (six years ago) link
waht
― But doctor, I am Camille Paglia (Bananaman Begins), Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:03 (six years ago) link
The moment the EAS alert interrupted Hawaiian TV is terrifying pic.twitter.com/pVwpCBeRgD— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 13, 2018
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:04 (six years ago) link
emergency management officially tweeted it was a false alarm 13 mins after the orig alert; that's when i calmed down, to be freaked out a while later by the second one (which still began EMERGENCY ALERT: EXTREME lol)
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:05 (six years ago) link
the 'THIS IS NOT A DRILL' part seemed a little theatrical, would they actually include that if it WASNT A DRILL
― global tetrahedron, Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:07 (six years ago) link
Saw Gabbard’s tweet shortly after some initial ones reporting the alert, so mostly I’ve been just looking at responses. Unsurprising that there’s no consensus as to what was the cause even from officials. I’d give money to know if Trump was even alerted at all.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:09 (six years ago) link
From here in SF it was an interesting psychological moment — I only saw a couple of tweets from one source RT’d into my feed, from a Buzzfeed reporter based there, and I basically assumed if it was a glitch or hack. Checked both the CNN and Honolulu Star-Advertiser pages and feeds: nothing. A few minutes later another RT with an alert was in my feed, but then Gabbard’s tweet was posted. So in the end at most I thought “Huh” rather than assuming it was all going down.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:17 (six years ago) link
wat if alert on gorila chanmel
― But doctor, I am Camille Paglia (Bananaman Begins), Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:27 (six years ago) link
Would make sense.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 January 2018 19:35 (six years ago) link