UH president shows her academic chops

M.R.C. Greenwood has had mostly administrative duties on her plate since becoming, well, an administrator. Since August 2009, that’s been as president of the University of Hawaii.

However, on occasion her early academic roots — which happen to be as an expert in obesity and diabetes — call her back. That occasion is coming around again Tuesday, when a national study on obesity that she helped to steer is released. "Weight of the Nation" is the title of both the study and a documentary that will premiere on HBO in two parts, May 14 and 15 (locally, Oceanic Time Warner picks up the Pacific feed, which means it will run at 5 p.m.).

An advance screening is happening today, with Greenwood moderating a panel, but that’s by invitation. For the average isle HBO viewer who has no hope of getting home at 5 p.m.: Fire up that DVR. Plus, if it’s like most HBO shows, it’s bound to repeat.

Freeway copper theft might have an upside

It’s despicable, of course, that there are folks among us who think it’s OK to steal copper wiring from our Oahu freeway lighting systems — and stick us with the $3.27 million bill to repair the damage.

One wonders if there’s a bright side — lower electricity costs, perhaps? After all, the lights were out for two years along stretches of the H-1 and H-2 freeways. There also is the question of whether freeway safety was affected. If not, perhaps we should just leave some lights off and bank the savings, as well as enjoy the decrease in so-called light pollution, for those of us who like to look at the night sky.