There’s just something about the smart phone that makes us all a little dumb. Why else would so many of us become so engrossed in email, Facebook and the like that we step out into a crosswalk without awareness of the real-world traffic?

That’s what a bill to penalize this behavior aims to prevent. But enforcement is always the catch, and it may not be so easy to drive home the safety message with the $250 fine.

But if the scofflaws with their eyes locked on their phones don’t see the officer, citation pad at the ready, well, those people probably have that $250 ticket coming to them.

UH’s ‘H-Zone’ in the twilight zone

Somebody at the University of Hawaii needs to get into the zone, and quick, to stop the bleeding at its little ‘H-Zone’ business that it started two years ago with promises that it would earn as much as $500,000 a year.

Turns out that figure was a pipe dream. A report reviewed by the UH regents Wednesday said the enterprise is actually in the hole for $1,444.

So now the regents are contemplating closing the H-Zone’s logo-wear store at Ward Centre, which has been the primary money loser in the operation, considering its low sales and high lease costs.

Its other sales locations, at Stan Sheriff Center and Les Murakami Stadium, and at road games, made money, but they did not have to pay rent, though sales via the Internet also posted losses, for some strange reason.

Obviously a new game plan is in order.