With the origin stories of Bob Dylan playing at the movies and “Dexter” streaming from TV, the spectacular new eruption of Halemaumau Crater got me pondering my own professional origins on the Big Island.

What had been low-level lava flows since Thursday morning became more vigorous fountaining Friday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaii Volcano Observatory.

A toddler could have plummeted to his death on Christmas Day at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano if not for his mother's quick reaction, officials said.