I’m at Gate 7 of Honolulu International Airport, about to board my redeye flight. I’m en route to SXSW Interactive. It’ll be my second year at this gargantuan geek fest, once again as part of the Wondermill delegation. I can’t wait to see old friends, make new friends, and fill my brain with a million things vying to be the Next Big Thing. For 2010, I’ll be chasing panels and startups doing interesting things with geolocation, and — fueled by the recent tsunami scare — people working on ways that social media can play a part in civil defense and emergency planning.

I doubt I’ll find much time to blog, but you’ll be able to keep ridiculously close tabs on my adventure via Twitter. I’ll be checking in and leaving a digital trail of breadcrumbs for anyone to track my movements around Austin via Gowalla and Foursquare (and sporadically via BrightKite, Google Buzz, Loopt, Yelp, Plazes… you get the idea). And I’ll definitely be posting photos to Flickr.

Like last year, there will be a fair number of Hawaii geeks represented (though the largest contingent of Hawaii delegates are focused on the music festival). I also may connect with a few local “LOST” fans, and most definitely do some music shopping with my good friend Greg. If you’ll be at SXSW, or in Austin, I’d be happy to connect!

• We can clear up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Once a five-mile stretch of golden sand, Kamilo beach on the island of Hawaii has become a huge rubbish dump. A British company is aiming to make such detritus a thing of the past.
• STFC funding revamped to protect national facilities: The structural changes to the STFC come as Brazilian researchers prepare to take the place of UK researchers using the twin Gemini telescopes based in Hawaii and Chile.
• Lava likely made river-like channel on Mars: Flowing lava can carve or build paths very much like the riverbeds and canyons etched by water, and this probably explains at least one of the meandering channels on the surface of Mars.
• Three day scholar series on China v. Google conflict: Intellectual Property Law Week is centered on the recent Google v. China battle as the platform to discuss the most timely and relevant IP issues affecting governments, companies, and individuals around the globe.
• Foodborne illness costs $152 billion annually: Foodborne illnesses cost the United States $152 billion in health-related expenses each year. Greater exposure to higher cost pathogens pushed the price tag to about $2,008 per case in Hawaii.
• Aloha ‘Aina workshop for isle teachers set: A teacher workshop on curriculum about Hawaii’s unique environment will be held March 18 and 19 at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
• Study Examines Perceived Barriers to Care for At-Risk Patients with Diabetes: A new study shows that primary care physicians believe the barriers that put patients with uncontrolled diabetes at risk for cardiovascular disease as being patient-related or system-related.
• U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards: BAE Systems was awarded $22,365,515 for logistical support and services consisting of the three major functional areas of maintenance, transportation, and supply on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii.
• Wind farm developer gets loan guarantee: A Mainland wind farm developer has received a $117 million federal loan guarantee to pay for construction of its planned Kahuku project on Oahu.
• Ocean cable connects Hawaii, Tahiti: The first Polynesian submarine cable linking the United States and Tahiti landed on the Big Island of Hawaii Monday.
• Cyanotech’s Names David I. Rosenthal as Interim President and CEO: Cyanotech Corporation has named David I. Rosenthal as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer while a search is underway for a new CEO. He replaces Andrew H. Jacobson.
• Walt Disney Studios buys advertising technology from Hawaii firm: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is among the first companies to buy a new advertising technology from Sprout, a firm with headquarters in Honolulu and San Francisco.
• NASA Announces 2010 Carl Sagan Fellows: Lucas Cieza will work at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, to study the disks of gas and dust around young stars where there is evidence of planets being formed.
• Destination 3° Partnering With Xterra Tv: Stand-up paddlers Jenny Kalmbach and Morgan Hoesterey, will cross Hawaii’s legendary open-ocean channels on stand-up paddleboards to help raise awareness against the plastics contamination that threatens our oceans.
• Scientists vacuum up the data on dust: African dust, may be beneficial by fertilizing regions such as the Amazon basin. Even Hawaii, one of the world’s least dusty places, has forests fertilized by blown-in dust,
• Social media adds to torrent of news: Online social media sites and radio and television airwaves were awash with tsunami information by the time Civil Defense sirens rousted isle residents to news of a tsunami warning.
• U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards: SmithGroup, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz., is being awarded a $6,046,433 modification for design and engineering services for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam Air Force Base.
• ClearFuels Announces Development of Co-Located Commercial Scale Biorefinery Facility: Aiea-based ClearFuels Technology Inc. is developing a renewable energy facility will be co-located with Hughes Hardwood’s wood component products manufacturing facility in Collinwood, Tennessee.
• Hawaii Satellites Aim to Help Build the Future: Kauai will be doubly involved in the launch of two satellites being built by University of Hawaii scientists and students, in cooperation with NASA.

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Budget cuts are hardly uncommon given the current economic landscape, but this cut lands painfully close to heart of the Big Island’s cultural and artistic identity. The Hawaii County Band’s 40 or so members and numerous volunteers are a fixture at community events, from parades to veterans’ ceremonies and funerals, in addition to monthly free concerts for residents and visitors alike.

The move is akin to attempts to extinguish the 174-year-old Royal Hawaiian Band here in Honolulu, a proposal that was met with fierce opposition and a surge of public support. Now, Big Island musicians are hoping for a similar outcry, even though Honma and Fitzgerald apparently told the band that their decision was final.

Band members note that their programs are also one of the last beacons of hope for music students in Hawaii county, given that arts in education funding has long been scarce. Teachers work with, and bring students to, the Hawaii County Band, as it affords a rare opportunity for real-world experience in performing and collaborating.

Perhaps most galling to the musicians, the band was not offered a reduction in size or salaries, or furloughs, like other county programs. It’s an outright slashing of the entire program, and apparently the only program with such a dire fate in the forthcoming budget.

“We’re the only ‘county employees’ laid off ‘as of now,’ tweeted band member Sandra Sato. “127 years of Hawaii’s history, gone.”

And what does the county get for this move? Savings of about $360,000… or about one percent of its total budget.

“I can’t believe a 127-year-old tradition, a part of our community’s soul, isn’t worth one percent,” another musician told me tonight.

Since the budget won’t be introduced until Monday, band members and volunteers hope they can get the word out and find enough support in the community to save the program, or at least find a less drastic fate. As a guy who’s always had a soft spot for high school music and band programs, I’m happy to back them up. I hope I’m not alone.

“Staff-wide meeting at The Honolulu Advertiser. Similar meeting called at The Star-Bulletin. This can’t be good for anyone.

Honolulu Advertiser education writer Loren Moreno tweeted that this afternoon, moments before the news once again became the news in Hawaii. David Black, owner of the smaller, scrappier Honolulu Star-Bulletin, has bought the larger, shinier Honolulu Advertiser. It’s been interesting to see how both publications have been covering themselves:

• Star-Bulletin to acquire Advertiser (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
• Bulletin owner to buy Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu Advertiser)

Black will make a brief effort to sell the Star-Bulletin, but if there is no buyer, my bet is he’ll shut it down in favor of the considerably stronger brand and better technology at the Advertiser. But since Star-Bulletin parent company Oahu Publications will be the surviving business entity, and because the Star-Bulletin’s sister publication Midweek is still profitable, things don’t look particularly good for Advertiser employees.

But make no mistake. This is bad news for everyone.

Hawaii is still reeling from the unprecedented merger of three TV station newsrooms. And now, we’re faced with the very strong possibility of becoming a one-newspaper town. Of course, we nearly lost the Star-Bulletin in 1999, before the community rallied and Black stepped in to save it. But considering how different the media landscape is today, it’s unlikely there will be much of an uproar over either of these consolidations. Two-newspaper towns are now a rarity.

The mainstream media is floundering everywhere, and frankly, I don’t think we want the government to intervene if the end result is merely propping up dying businesses.

But we should be worried about the shrinking number of voices out there. Sure, individuals have blogs and YouTube and the immense reach of the Internet to be heard, but we can’t forget the value of venues with broad reach, and that span communities. They’re important platforms for documenting and even driving the “bigger picture.” With fewer newspapers and TV stations, we have fewer reporters covering neighborhoods, tracking government shenanigans, or investigating wrongdoing. And with fewer businesses controlling fewer media outlets, we’ll only see more manufactured, pre-written, PR-driven coverage.

As long as the news business is a business, there’s no avoiding the pitfalls — and mass extinctions — that plague any industry. But to me, journalism serves a higher purpose, one vital to democracy.

Citizen journalism is one solution: citizens will naturally investigate and report on the things that are important to them. Even there, though, I’m worried that journalism as an art will die before we’ve inspired enough of the next generation to take up the fight. Why cover the neighborhood board meeting when you’ll get more YouTube views with footage of an narcoleptic cat?

And even if “the people” are fired up and bring transparency to the issues that they’re passionate about, how can we ensure someone continues to shine a light into the less sexy, or more complicated, corners of society?

It’s a problem that Peer News hopes to solve. I wish them the best. They’re probably the only people seeing a silver lining to today’s announcement.

I have many good friends working at both newspapers, and my heart goes out to them. I long daydreamed about working with them someday. Once again, though, I’m just praying they’ll still have work when the dust settles.

This evening, Howard Dicus blogged:

The importance of newspapers in today’s journalism is, I think, often misunderstood. It is not competition. It is depth and care… Most of what radio and television reporters know, they learn by reading newspapers. You don’t necessarily need two newspapers for this, but you need one, and that one had better be good.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

• Navy gives new minisub a try: Submergence Group LLC, which builds experimental submarines, thought it could build a better mousetrap, or at least a more economical minisub for Navy use.
• SG Biofuels Launches World’s First Elite Jatropha Cultivar: In addition to its work in Guatemala, the company is collaborating with the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC) to develop a customized Jatropha cultivar that can be used to meet the high demand for locally-grown renewable fuel.
• AT&T Investment in Hawaii Network Aimed at Enhancing Mobile Broadband Service: AT&T today unveiled its Hawaii wireless network investment plans for 2010, which include the addition of nearly 10 new cell sites and the upgrade of more than 10 additional cell sites to 3G throughout the state.

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• ‘Second invasion’ threatens nurseries: The tiny noisemakers have returned to Waimanalo where they are mounting a “second invasion” and pose a threat to the nursery owners who depend on potted plant sales.
• Too Much Tech: Good or Bad?: From television to Twitter and texting, it seems kids are always plugged-in to technology. A recent study says kids these days are spending more time with multi-media than they do at school.
• Shindo exits Hoku post: Entrepreneur Dustin Shindo, who co-founded Hoku Scientific Inc. nine years ago and took it public in August 2005, is stepping down just as it is on the verge of making its first deliveries from the polysilicon plant it is building in Idaho.
• Western cities fare best in well-being index: Honolulu ranks third in a massive new study of Americans’ attitudes to determine where the happiest, healthiest people in the United States live.
• Gone fishing: Secret hunt for a sunken Soviet sub: In 1974, a U.S. ship pretending to be a deep-sea mining vessel fished a sunken Soviet nuclear-armed submarine out of the ocean depths and made off to Hawaii with its purloined prize. Now, Washington is owning up to Project Azorian, a brazen mission from the days of high-stakes Cold War rivalry.
• Hawaii gets $5.6M for health information exchange: Hawaii has received $5.6 million in stimulus funding that will be used to create a statewide health information exchange — one of the foundations of expanding the use of electronic health records.
• Hawaii is gung-ho on Google’s gigabit gamble: The state of Hawaii “has jumped all over” the Google plan to bring 1-gigabit-per-second Internet speed to some U.S. locations on a trial basis, said Lenny Klompus, senior communications adviser to Gov. Linda Lingle.
• The Improving Rescue – how satellites are making the oceans safer: As part of a recent test, ORBCOMM’s satellite AIS data successfully detected one-watt search and rescue transponders from space, which were meant to simulate a life raft and a person in the water, on January 20 and January 21, 2010, off the coast of Hawaii.

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This afternoon, “LOST” set up at the Waialae Dental Care office at Kahala Mall. Visiting fans Scott and Steve (no relation to the characters!) spotted Jack (Matthew Fox), dressed in a suit, and Bernard (Sam Anderson). It looks like Bernard is still a dentist off the island.

Yesterday, “LOST” was spotted at Coconut Island, in Kaneohe Bay by local blogger Lucia. She reported on the shoot in a post on her blog, but as it was written in Portuguese, she was kind enough to provide an English report and some additional photos, exclusively to Hawaii Blog:

The filming was at Coconut Island, a restricted access island that hosts the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. I’m doing a collaboration with a lab over there, and heard on Monday from a guy in the lab that “Lost” would be there.

Well, they were not hard to miss, since they brought a sailboat there: The Elizabeth.

Yesterday’s shoot included Jack, Sun, Frank, and Hurley, running in the jungle. In the afternoon, Sawyer, Claire and Kate arrived, and they were all shooting by the sailboat. The area was off-limits to fans, but I have a friend who got really close to them and heard them talking about Locke.

I couldn’t stay there the whole time because I was also trying to work. During my lunch break, I went to the shark pond to relax, and Emilie DeRavin and her assistant came by. Her hair was a mess (for the scene) and we chatted about sharks, morey eels and sea cucumbers.

There were some leftovers from their catered lunch, so we got some fruit salad from the production! They were already packing up to leave by yesterday late afternoon.

Finally, on Monday, visiting fan Franci was relaxing on the beach near the Turtle Bay Resort when she caught site of “LOST” filming down the shore at Kawela Bay.

She could only watch from a distance, but says that central to the scene was the long-awaited reunion of Sun and Jin.

At the vegetation line, portable sonic fence tripods were set up. In the scene, it looked like Sun, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, and possibly Claire and Frank come ashore, wading in the surf. There was also a handful of people there that didn’t appear to be Others or survivors. Jin, on the beach, recognizes Sun, and they embrace for a long time. But then, a group of Others emerge from the jungle, pointing their guns, and everyone gets down on their knees.

This week, there were also small shoots at the Bishop Museum, and back at the Bowfin Submarine Museum. We’ll have a few more details in our next “LOST” podcast!

Mahalo to Steve, Lucia, Franci, and Scott for their reports and images, all used with permission.

• $700K Mobile Command Sits For Years: A high-tech, state-of-the-art emergency mobile command unit that cost $700,000 has sat idle for 2 1/2 years after it arrived in Hawaii.
  KITV found out that most of the vehicle was paid for with federal Homeland Security money.
• Trouble on Albatross Island: The environmental group Center for Biological Diversity that it intends to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources over the failure to protect the threatened seabird.
• National Science Foundation grant awarded to professor: A grant of $499,999 has been awarded by the National Science Foundation to Dr. Robert Cowie of UH Mānoa’s Center for Conservation Research, part of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center.
• UH astronomy chief sees stars ahead: Institute for Astronomy director Rolf-Peter Kudritzki will step down at the end of the year. He will take a sabbatical starting in January and will return to the institute as a faculty member to continue teaching and research.
• Hawaii-ecosystem researcher Peter Vitousek wins Japan Prize: A Hawai’i-born Stanford professor whose extensive research of Hawaiian ecosystems has led to breakthrough understandings of the ways in which agriculture and other human activity affect the environment has been awarded the Japan Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in science.
• Hawaii pols use less paper, save $1.2M, 8 million pages, nix staff paycut: Two years since the paperless project began, the Senate recently reported its first savings estimate: more than $1.2 million, nearly 8 million pages and the equivalent of more than 800 trees.
• Ormat Technologies Provides Puna Power Plant Update: Ormat Technologies today issued an update on its 30 MW Puna power plant in Hawaii which is currently operating at approximately 17 MW as a result of a decline of the steam supply to the power plant.
• UH Mānoa houses newest FEMA National Disaster Preparedness Training Center: The newest Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, headquartered at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is the newest of seven federally funded members of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC).

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I’m exhausted. My body is aching. My mind is spinning. But with “LOST,” these are good things. Tonight brings the Season 6 premiere, but I’m still thinking about the last few days. The “LOST” beach premiere on Saturday was fantastic, but I most cherished spending time with the fans and friends who joined my wife and I for our “LOST” travel package and tour, which spanned the weekend.

Over 100 people, coming from as far away as Norway, Turkey, Afghanistan and Germany were willing to spend several hours of their limited time in the islands with us, geeking out over the best show on television. We were thrilled. And humbled.

Thanks to Bruce Fisher of Hawaii-Aloha.com, Sakara Blackwell of DH Catering, and Hilton Blackwell of Island Adventures Tours & Travel for helping to make it all possible.

The incredible and unstoppable Christa Wittmier and the dancers of Iaora o Tahiti Nui made Friday’s dinner special. The folks at the Park Shore let me show off my “LOST” goodies in their lobby, and fed our group brunch at Lulu’s upstairs. And our all-day, island-wide “LOST” locations tour on Sunday? Incredible. June Matsumoto of the Hawaii Convention Center, Robin Naluai at Kualoa Ranch, Ed Kos of Kos Tours, the volunteers at the non-profit YMCA Camp Erdman, and my friend and radio co-host Burt Lum were among the many good people behind our great road trip.

I was having such a great time, I barely took any photos. Fortunately, there were plenty of shutterbugs (like Cesar and Bonnie), bloggers, and Twitterers documenting the festivities.

I’m still trying to gather the strength to write up our entire “LOST” weekend… but the show stops for no one, and we’ll soon be swept up by the show’s sixth and final season beginning tonight, cruising nonstop through to the epic and bittersweet end. In the mean time, here’s some notable press coverage of the weekend and of the premiere, including quotes from yours truly!

• Lost-apalooza! (Honolulu Star-Bulletin): Gary Chun hung out quite a bit, and came with us for most of our tour on Sunday.
• ‘Lost’ better absent expectations (Honolulu Star-Bulletin): My spoiler-free review of the first hour of the premiere. It wasn’t easy to write!
• For ‘Lost’ Fans In Hawaii, A Premiere With A View (Morning Edition/NPR): A piece by Hawaii Public Radio’s Ben Markus in which I embarrass my wife Jen.
• ‘Lost’ will linger on past its end date (Marketplace/APM): A brief segment on the likelihood of “LOST” sequels. I voted “no.”
• ‘Lost’ fans find home in Hawaii (Los Angeles Times): We loved meeting Maria Elena Fernandez (@writerchica) and Jose (@thephotoangel).

I also contributed to the Honolulu Advertiser’s coverage of “LOST,” including a “LOST” filming locations contest, which concluded Sunday. And, like last year, I’ll be joining the morning crew at KITV, Hawaii’s ABC affiliate, each morning after “LOST” to review the latest episode.

If you’re a visiting fan still in Honolulu tonight, you should check out Giovanni Pastrami in Waikiki. They’re going to be hosting “LOST” viewings every Tuesday, and would be happy to have you come and enjoy the season premiere tonight among fellow fans and friends! And after you’ve seen the episode, please share your thoughts for our “LOST” podcast this weekend.

• Report on the Task Force on Reinventing Government [PDF]: House Concurrent Resolution No. 76 established a Task Force on Reinventing Government to examine the existingoperations and organizations of Hawaii’s state government and recommend ways to makeHawaii’s government more efficient.
• Ocean Power Technologies Deploys Hawaii Powerbuoy and Wins Further Funding: Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. announces the successful deployment of one of its PowerBuoys at the Marine Corps Base in Hawaii.
• Astronomers discover cool stars in nearby space: Using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii, a discovery has been made of an object which is technically known as a brown dwarf.
• Coulomb Technologies Secures $14 Million in Series B Funding Led: Coulomb Technologies, a leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging station infrastructure, today announced that it has secured $14 million in Series B funding
• US Internet Acquires Internet Service Provider 3One Media Hawaii Corp.: US Internet, a global provider of Internet, hosting and digital phone services, today announced it has acquired 3One Media Corp.

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