Off the News

Newest traffic hazard is all the rage

There's been a bit of media buzz in the past few days over the issue of "sidewalk rage" -- the anger felt by big-city pedestrians when the encounter others who are walking too slow. Stories have shown up in The Wall Street Journal, on NPR, in The Village Voice, you name it.

A key source in this latest urban fascination is Leon James, a psychologist and researcher on road rage and, now, on what he calls "Pedestrian Aggressiveness Syndrome." And he is on the faculty where? Why, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A long way from crowded sidewalks, wouldn't you say? Not necessarily, he told the Journal: Tourists can make you crazy.

Better take a deep breath, doc. We still want those people coming here.

Cold mainlanders hot for Hawaii

Hawaii is benefiting greatly from the cold and snow of the mainland, The New York Times recognizes.

"We just left three inches of snow in Nashville," Blythe Grant told reporter Jesse McKinley as they walked along Waikiki Beach. "I was pretty pumped to get on the plane."

The tourism influx is attributed to TV scenes on "Hawaii Five-0," the National Football League's Pro Bowl and President Barack Obama visiting here during the holidays.

"We had people holding up signs saying, 'Honolulu, 86 degrees, Pittsburgh, minus 20,'" said Joseph Toy, president and chief executive officers of Hospitality Advisors, a hotel consulting firm.

OK, all together now: Lucky we live Hawaii.