Grouch Day Day 47 of 2008 319 days left in this year

PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Watevahz: Fine, whatever
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY

WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Project Gutenberg
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Shift Happens
PODCAST OF THE WEEK — TWiT.TV
UPCOMING EVENTS — Feb. 22: Maui Democratic Party Caucus

TODAY - February 16th, 2008: Free Whale Day in Kihei

February 16th, 1928: Paving the way for overweight, sunburned tourists from Minneapolis, among other places, the Department of Commerce (located on Oahu) finishes its inspection of vacant lots, shanty airports (including Kahului’s) and “possible airline facilities” and declares that it likes what it sees. In less than year, interisland flights begin.

Eighty years later, nearly 7 million tourists fly into Hawaii each year.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — February 16th

• 1741: Benjamin Franklin’s General Magazine begins publication
  
• 1900: First Chinese daily newspaper in U.S. publishes first issue, San Francisco
  
• 1914: First airplane flight to Los Angeles from San Francisco
  
• 1923: In Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, the tomb of Pharoah Tutankhamun is unsealed for the first time since the “boy-king’s” burial over 3,300 years earlier.
  
• 1946: First commercially designed helicopter tested
• 1956: Britain abolishes the death penalty
  
• 1959: Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba
  
• 1978: First Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy’s CBBS, Chicago)
  
• 1980: Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France
  
• 1988: First documented combat action by U.S. military advisors in El Salvador
  
• 1999: Kurds seize embassies and hold hostages across Europe
  

BORN ON THIS DAY — February 16th

• Henry Adams, historian, writer
  
• 1903: Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist
  
• 1909: Hugh Beaumont, actor
  
• 1925: John Schlesinger, director
  
• 1931: Ken Takakura, Japanese film star
  
• 1935: Sonny Bono, singer
  
• 1957: LeVar Burton, actor
  
• 1958: Ice-T, actor/rapper
  
• 1959: John McEnroe, tennis player
  
• 1962: Andy Taylor, rock guitarist
  
• 1962: Tony Kiley, rocker

One day, when I was a young man in my twenties, I was late to a wedding reception. I was lost in Northern Manhattan, when I saw what appeared to be the place I was looking for. I quickly found a space and ran full speed through the first door I saw. Having driven for a long, hectic time, and having run madly as only a young boy can run, I burst through the door.

It was like passing through a rift in space-time. From an agitated, vibrant, quickly moving, expectant dimension or vibration, I found myself standing dead still in a hallway lined by very old people in wheelchairs. For a number of seconds I stood there staring at them, as they stared at me. Life had burst through that door. Youth. Health. Whereas I was seeing the future.

I quickly excused myself–no one had spoken. On the way out, I realized that whatever the place had been, it was now a warehouse for very old and very sick people.

The faces have never left me. The looks I see often, whenever I come upon elderly people, no longer enjoying health or mobility.

I think it was the Buddha who said: “Every old person that you meet brings a message: You will soon be old.” This is not a message of despair, it is a reminder to live. But to live differently. Although it is difficult in this culture to end anything beautifully–a relationship, a story, a life; and although our existence has the quality of that day long ago–a joyous race toward happiness, which is detoured into the reality of unhappy endings–still, it is wiser to strive into the future and toward accomplishment, than to assume an end before its time.

– Raphael O’Suna,   Haiku