FDA makes progress on blood donations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is long overdue in lifting its lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, a change that the Blood Bank of Hawaii rightly welcomes. Some gay-rights activists are upset that the FDA will continue to ban blood donations from men who have had sex with a man in the past 12 months.

But that very conservative policy is in keeping with the FDA’s stance toward a variety of perceived threats to the safety of the nation’s blood supply, not only HIV. For example, the agency also imposes a 12-month waiting period on any prospective blood donor who has traveled where malaria is common, even though symptoms appear far sooner than that. Lifting the lifetime ban is progress, incremental though it may be.

Is paradise ready for ziplines?

Well, now we’ll finally get the answer to the question: Does the zipline craze have legs — dangling ones, naturally — in Waikiki?

State authorities have flashed a green light for the proposed pilot project: a 1,000-foot zipline ride at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The riders will zip from the top of the parking garage, across the lagoon and alight in a parking lot.

Once upon a time, visitors came to Waikiki for a dreamier type of escapism than thrill rides offer. Maybe that romantic era has peaked and declined, and the industry’s yearning for a younger crowd has pushed it toward more urban attractions.

Might there be a way to make this more Hawaiian? A zipline that lands you in the ocean, perhaps? Safely, of course.