World Thinking Day Day 54 of 2008 312 days left in this year

PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Maunten: Mountain
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY

WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — No Mo’ Plastic Bag
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Shift Happens
PODCAST OF THE WEEK — TWiT.TV

February 23rd, 1935: 304 cars struggle to be the first visitors to the 10,032-foot summit of Mt. Haleakala after the new road is officially opened. The dedication ceremony is broadcast nationally via NBC Radio. One newspaper calls the road the prettiest way to “the worlds highest parking space.”

The 28,000-acre national park today receives more than one million visitors annually, or about half of the annual average number of visitors to Maui.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — February 23rd

• 1822: Boston is incorporated as a city 
• 1836: Generalismo Santa Anna begins the siege of the Alamo in Texas
• 1861: The People of Texas ratify the Texas legislature’s vote to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy (the 7th state to secede from U.S.) 
• 1883: Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law 
• 1883: The American Anti-Vivisection Society is organized (Philadelphia) 
• 1904: Control of Panama Canal Zone is acquired by the U.S. for $10 million 
• 1905: Rotary Club International is established by four men in Chicago 
• 1954: The first mass inoculation of the Salk anti-polio vaccine begins (Pittsburgh) 
• 1991: President Bush I announces the invasio of Iraq
• 1997: Scientists in Scotland announce they have succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named “Dolly”   

BORN ON THIS DAY — February 23rd

• 1633: Samuel Pepys, marine expert/diarist 
• 1868: William E.B. Du Bois,  sociologst, founder of NAACP
• 1883: Karl Jaspers, psychiatrist/existentialist philosopher
• 1904: William L Shirer, historian 
• 1929: Elston Howard, Yankee catcher 
• 1940: Peter Fonda, actor
• 1944: Johnny Winter, guitarist
• 1946: Rusty Young, rock steel guitarist 
• 1947: Shakira Caine, actress 
• 1958: David Sylvian, vocal/guitar 
• 1961: Woody (Woodrow Tracy) Harrelson, actor
• 1964:  Kristin Davis, actress
• 1965: Veronica Webb,  model/actress/writer
• 1966: Marc Price, actor/comedian  
• 1970: Michael Wilton, rock guitarist
• 1994: Dakota Fanning, actress

With Barack Obama so much in the news, it is a good time to pay tribute to Black America. On a few occasions in the past, mostly related to sporting events, white people shared in the joy of black people. Jesse Owens comes to mind, Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson. I do not believe white people have a true feeling of what a Joe Louis or Jack Johnson meant to the black race. As a New Yorker, I heard stories of the jubilation in Harlem, on the night Joe Louis KO’d Max Schmeling. Jubilation. What a great word.

Pride of race, which was withheld from black people for a long time, really began in earnest, all over the country, right after the Second World War. Black men in uniforms moved about the country. Their pride in America brought along pride in self.

An extraordinary people, who have enriched all of our lives. And now, a Black Avatar–representing the soul of America, is running for president.

Not too long ago, I was babysitting. I brought over the movie, “To Kill A Mockingbird.” At one point, I had to pause and explain to the three children the enmity between whites and blacks. These were intelligent children. They could not understand the notion of prejudice based on color. Simply could not grasp the notion.

That’s progress.

– Raphael O’Suna,  Haiku