No surprise here: Children are expensive

As any parent or guardian knows, it takes a village to raise a child. And if that village happens to be named Honolulu, it’ll cost — a lot.

A new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture says it costs $429,635 to raise a child in our city, the second-highest in the nation, a whopping 75 percent higher than the U.S. average of $245,340. The most expensive city is Manhattan, at $540,514; the cheapest is Norman, Okla., at $199,298.

Housing is a huge 30 percent of the total child-rearing cost, and in over half of the states, sending kids to day-care costs more than college.

Just think, parents, what could be done with an extra $430,000, per child. Ah well, we know the little angels are worth it. Right?

Take note of those colorful swirls over the ocean

Of course, we’re all happy to hear that the little do-si-do between tropical storms Karina and Lowell is likely to blunt any risk that Karina will hit Hawaii. Remember, it was partly a similar dance between Iselle and Julio that mitigated the potential damage there (that, plus the shielding that Hawaii island volcanoes provided).

As much as we celebrate all this information that weather technology brings us, though, could there be a risk of information overload? Could all the twirling cloud banks we see on video lose their impact to startle us into alert action?

Let’s hope not. With the world of YouTube and BuzzFeed constantly badgering us to looky-here, meteorology can get lost in the noise, but the Big Wind still deserves our attention.