Truth Or Err – MidWeek May 10, 2023

Yet another balloon was sighted drifting gently over our azure skies recently. Thankfully, we were assured that it did not pose a threat and was not being controlled by some prying, foreign potentate. Apparently, it was released from a baby luau as the crowd sang “Happy Birthday”, and the overzealous birthday boy wailed away due to his sheer exhaustion, but that might be just a cable news rumor.

All 10 of the strategically-placed, red-light traffic cameras are now operating on Oahu, so we don’t even have to wonder if Big Brother is watching… he set ‘em up! Hopefully, people will not simply slow down, but will actually stop at that red thing (a/k/a- a traffic light) and also heed the yellow light rather than consider it a pedal-to-the-metal indicator.

Does anyone locally get busted for texting and driving or texting while walking through an intersection? Surely some people have been nabbed in the act. The penalty? Scofflaws are fined and their information is sent to Santa Claus at the North Pole; he then places their names on his “naughty” list. It’s true! It was allegedly reported on a national cable news show.

COVID-19 has been moved to a mellower list of “endemic diseases” as federal government restrictions are eliminated. Upon finding out, COVID-19 said, “oh yeh… you just wait, I’m not done yet” and threatened to mutate yet again. I wish this was funny, but as 18-million Americans continue to suffer with “long COVID” symptoms of some sort, the ripple effect of this disease is no joke. You can surely make your own COVID-related decisions for you and those around you, but recall the 1960s when many parents allowed their kids get chicken pox from the youngster down the street to “get it over with”. But decades later, chicken pox can lead to the lovely (not!) shingles viral infection, a nefarious viral byproduct. No joke, indeed. 

And finally, Kaiwi, the monk seal, gave birth to her fifth pup on Kaimana Beach on April 14. By month’s end, junior will hele on. Kaiwi last gave birth to a pup here two years ago, and while thrilled with that birth, she admits to the difficulties of raising kids nowadays, saying this about her now two-year old son: “…he never calls, never writes; he doesn’t even Zoom!” Well, that’s what they told me on a national cable news network.

Think about it…