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Monday, November 10, 2014

Ka`u News Briefs Monday, Nov. 10, 2014

Kumu Jessie Ke mentors students at Keoki Kahumku's 'ukulele build this past weekend with Ko Aloha `Ukulele.
Photo by Julia Neal
LAVA  REACHED AND BURNED A HOME IN PAHOA this morning. Civil Defense reported that at about 11:55 a.m. a house off Apa`a Street/Cemetery Road ignited after coming into direct contact with molten rock that flowed beneath the dwelling. It was the first home burned by Pele since the house of Jack Thompson, which was taken in March of 2012 in Royal Gardens.
First home was taken this morning by the lava flow that started June 27.
Photo by Mike Kalban, courtesy of Big Island Video News
      “We’ve been very open and clear that once the lava touches a home there is not to be any type of fire fighting activity because that wouldn’t be effective and it would put fire fighting personnel at risk,” Civil Defense Chief Darryl Oliveira told Hawai`i Tribune-Herald reporter Tom Callis.
      According to Callis, the house was on a 45-acre agriculture lot that was partially covered by lava when the flow first passed through the area late last month.
      The property’s most recent tenant told the Tribune-Herald last month that he had relocated his family and livestock prior to the flow’s arrival.
      Civil Defense warned that smoke conditions may increase in some areas because of the fire and suggested that residents downwind who are sensitive or have respiratory problems should take necessary precautions and remain indoors.
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com and www.bigislandvideonews.com
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.   

After crossing the same road as before, lava, here shown approaching a
utility pole, reached a home in Pahoa. Photo from USGS/HVO
COMPARING KILAUEA’S CURRENT LAVA FLOW to those that destroyed Kalapana beginning in 1986 is the subject of a story in Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Both flows behaved similarly, starting, stopping, inflating then breaking out at margins, according to geologists. Such actions, they said, allow originally narrow flows to spread out and threaten more areas.
      Timothy Hurley reported that the current 13.5-mile-long flow is the longest flow since Kilauea began erupting in 1983.
      The amount of lava coming from the Pu`u O`o vent is about 100,000 cubic meters per day. The Kalapana flow consisted of more than 350,000 cubic meters per day. In both flows, however, fluctuations in output of lava and blockages in lava tubes interrupted amounts of lava reaching flow fronts.
      “It’s not over,” Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist Frank Trusdell told Hurley. “The volcano is still supplying lava to the tubes, and people should remain vigilant.”
      See staradvertiser.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Ariana and Ocean build `ukelele. Photo by Julia Neal
PARTICIPANTS BUILT 20 `UKULELE at Pahala Plantation House Saturday through  program brought to Ka`u by Keoki Kahumoku. New builders joined others who constructed `ukulele over the years through the Center for Hawaiian Music Studies programs in conjunction with Queen Lili`uokalani Children’s Center, Ko Aloha `Ukulele and Pahala Plantation Cottages. Alumni brought their `ukulele for tune-ups, repairs and restringing.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN’s first comprehensive draft discusses goals found to be important to the community. Separate sections identify the following goals and discuss how to achieve them: 
  • Advance preferred conservation and settlement patterns; 
  • Protect and enhance natural and cultural resources; 
  • Strengthen infrastructure, facilities and services; 
  • Build a resilient, sustainable local economy; and 
  • Pursue potential synergistic projects. 
      The draft and other materials are available online at kaucdp.info. Hard copies are at local libraries and community centers.
      The public is invited to Ka`u CDP Steering Committee’s meeting Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8:30 a.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. Members will cover concerns, suggestions for improvement, areas for discussion and requests for additional information or stakeholder input indentified previously.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HAWAI`I STATE SENATE IS ACCEPTING job applications for the upcoming legislative session. Working at the Senate offers individuals an opportunity to experience firsthand what it’s like to work in a dynamic public service organization, work closely with elected officials and the public and learn more about the legislative process. 
      Session jobs require a four- to six-month commitment, depending on the position. Most begin on Jan. 2 and end on the last day of the legislative session.
      Senate employees working 20 hours or more per week are eligible for health insurance through the Hawai`i Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Found.
      More information about employment opportunities can be found online at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sjobs.aspx.
      To apply, send a cover letter and resume to sclerk2@capitol.hawaii.gov.

ASTRONOMER LEW COOK, who has a home in Pahala and writes a monthly article for The Ka`u Calendar, discusses three women pioneers in astronomy in the November issue.
Dr. Pamela Gay dedicates the BCL T27 iTelescope in honor of three women
pioneers in astronomy.
      “Annie Jump Cannon developed the stellar classification scheme that led greatly to our understanding of the atmospheres of stars starting in 1896. Her colleague, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, discovered a fundamental property of Cepheid variable stars: that their periods – measured from one maximum brightness to the next – depend on their luminosities. A star’s luminosity is a measurement of how much light it produces. She found that the brighter stars had longer periods. Cannon and Leavitt worked for E. C. Pickering at Harvard College Observatory.
      “An Irish astronomer, Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, PhD, discovered pulsars in July of 1967. Pulsars are highly magnetized stars that spin – fast. They are composed of neutrons and are the remnants of supernovae explosions. We see them only when the beam of light they emit shines toward earth much like an airport beacon. They were first called Little Green Men, until their true nature was discovered. Her professor got the Nobel Prize in physics, while she got ignored at the time. Later, that oversight was partly corrected, as indicated by the many awards and honors she has received.
Sherrie Freitas and Cherish Kailiawa learn from Bruce, of Ko Aloha `Ukulele.
Photo by Julia Neal
      “Dr. Pamela Gay visited Australia and took an active part in the dedication of iTelescope.net’s largest telescope: the Burnell, Cannon, Leavitt 27-inch Telescope, during the Siding Spring StarFest. Gay is a high-energy person with an emphasis on educating people in astronomy. iTelescope.Net is the world’s premier network of Internet-connected telescopes, allowing members to take astronomical images of the night sky for the purposes of education, scientific research and astrophotography. They have telescopes in Spain, New Mexico, California, and the largest number of instruments in Australia, where the BCL telescope resides on Siding Spring Mountain near Coonabarabran, New South Wales. Their telescopes are available to the public, including the BCL telescope. The name recognizes the role that women astronomers make to astronomy and astrophysics.
      “There is a pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula. It spins at an astounding rate of 30.2 times per second! The view through optical telescopes does not at all match the view that was seen by X-ray satellites, however, a hint of the synchrotron-type radiation resulting from the magnetic field of the pulsar whipping around can be seen in the optical images in the center of the Crab nebula.
      “Ms. Leavitt’s work led to the first accurate estimate of the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy. It is high up in our November sky and can be seen with the naked eye on a good, dark night. Edwin Hubble found there are Cepheid-type variables in it, so he was ready to get an initial measure of its distance when he used the 100-inch Hooker telescope just north of Los Angeles.”
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Ka`u resident Dick Hershberger portrays Thomas Jaggar
tomorrow and every other Tuesday.
KA`U RESIDENT DICK HERSHBERGER brings Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar to life tomorrow during A Walk into the Past at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Participants meet at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park’s Kilauea Visitor Center and then visit the Whitney Vault near Volcano House.

IN CONJUNCTION WITH HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK’S fee-free day tomorrow for Veterans Day, park visitors are invited to experience how Kilauea Military Camp supports America’s troops by utilizing any of KMC’s facilities and services.

KMC’S VETERAN’S DAY CEREMONY begins at 3 p.m. tomorrow on the front lawn. Keynote Speaker is BG James Carpenter, of Hilo. Guest speaker is Master Sgt. Brian Jordan, also of Hilo. Refreshments follow the ceremony, which is free and open to the public. For more information, call 967-8371.

A VETERAN’S DAY BUFFET FOLLOWS the ceremony at 4 p.m. at KMC’s Crater Rim Café with prime rib, baked ono, shrimp Alfredo with mushrooms, French onion soup, tossed salad and more. Cost for adults is $25.95 and for children 6 to 11 years old, $12.50. For more information, call 967-8356.

KU‘ULEIMOMI MAKUAKANE-SALAVE‘A demonstrates kapa making Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.








See kaucalendar.com/Directory2014.swf.