Rubber Eraser Day Day 104 of 2008 262 days left in this year

PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Takis: Tax
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY

 WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Draft of Maui County General Plan
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — JibJab.com
PODCAST OF THE WEEK — The Ethicist, NYT
 BLOG OF THE WEEK —  TheRoot.com

April 15th, 1889: Father Damien dies at Kaluapapa, the “leper colony” for sufferers of Hansen’s disease, located on Molokai. He dies of leprosy.Also, there’s a small happening today throughout the U.S. If you don’t know what that is, you probably need this: www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — April 15th

• 1598: Edict of Nantes grants political rights to French Huguenots 
• 1800: James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic pole 
• 1892: General Electric Company incorporated. 
• 1931: The first walk across American backwards began 
• 1955: Ray Kroc starts the McDonald’s chain of fast food restaurants 
• 1957: Congress gives Post Office $41M; restoring Saturday mail delivery 
• 1959: Fidel Castro begins U.S. goodwill tour 
• 1974: Military coup in Niger 
• 1997: Jackie Robinson’s shirt number (#42) is retired 50 years after he became the first African American player in Major League Baseball 
• 1998: Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, dies at age 73 (thereby evading prosecution for the deaths of 2 million Cambodians in the 1970s)   

BORN ON THIS DAY — April 15th

• 1452: Leonardo da Vinci, painter/sculptor/scientist/
• 1469: Nanak, first guru of Sikhs  
• 1707: Leonhard Euler, mathematician 
• 1741: Charles Willson Peale,port painter/inventor
• 1843: Henry James, writer/critic
• 1889: Thomas Hart Benton, painter/muralist
• 1898: Bessie Smith, blues  singer
• 1922: Harold Washington, first African American mayor of Chicago
• 1933: Elizabeth Montgomery,  actress
• 1935: Roy Clark, country singer
• 1940: Phil Lesh, bassist  
• 1959: Emma Thompson, British actress
• 1968: Ed O’Brien, rock musician
• 1990: Emma Watson, actress (”Harry Potter” movies)