Hawaii lucks out, but stay prepared

Another meteorological bullet’s been dodged.

Without meaning to diminish the impact on Maui and Hawaii island, tropical storm Flossie had largely expired by the time it skittered past Oahu.

How many near-misses does this make? There were those tsunamis that barely made landfall, in most recent memory, and every potential weather disaster since Iniki that, thanks to the cooler ocean temperatures offshore that provide some protection, amounted to very little.

We’d better not get too cocky about this lucky streak, though. Perhaps climate change will wreak havoc to that protective ocean zone around us, so it’s still a good idea to keep the hurricane kit stocked and the gas tanks filled. And maybe freshen up that stash of Spam as well.

Create a symbol for homelessness

Homelessness is never pretty, but sometimes clear symbols can help with communications.

That’s the idea behind IconLocal, a design workshop sponsored by The Noun Project, an international campaign to create graphic tools to overcome language and cultural barriers.

Coming up with a powerful symbol to represent homelessness is the purpose of the IconLocal event set for Aug. 17 at the Hawaii Community Development Authority, 461 Cooke St.

By themselves, of course, a symbol won’t put a roof over anyone’s head, but if it does further the conversation about solutions, it couldn’t hurt.

For details, contact Burt Lum (bytemarks@gmail.com) or go online to iconlocalhi.eventbrite.com and start conjuring that symbol.