We’ve heard of ‘lamentation’

When it was announced this week that eighth-grader Akira Takabayashi of Kauai had won the 2013 aio Hawaii State Spelling Bee Championship by correctly spelling “lamentation,” the winning word seemed like a pretty normal one to us.

Of course, “lamentation” wasn’t the only word he had to spell correctly to win. Others included “Hemerocallis,” “barukhzy” and even “bobbejaan” — you know, everyday words that we all use and are so easy to spell. Not!

Naturally, we’re happy for the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School student, who now goes on to represent Hawaii in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

So congrats to Takabayashi, and go get ’em in D.C.! Don’t forget to take your dictionary.

There’s more than 1 kind of madness

So, you could be a betting man (or woman) but March Madness is not for you? How about Marriage Madness, then?

This game of chance involves nailing the rulings that ultimately will emerge from the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing of the two same-sex marriage cases before it.

Yesterday’s arguments concerned Proposition 8, the California referendum that banned gay marriage. Today they are about the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

They could uphold Prop 8, or reject it. They could tailor the ruling to affect only California. They could craft a ruling applying to all 50 states. They could strike down DOMA in some way that benefits only states where same-sex marriage is legal, or they could find a narrower path.

Or they could punt on the hard questions, saying that the plaintiffs don’t have legal standing.

Place your bets.