Whaling Troubles

November 30, 2008 > MAUI TODAY No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastStay at Home Day
Day 335 of 2008
31 days left in this year
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Wahie: Fuel
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY —Fut: Fart
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — E ho’a’o no i pau kuhihewa – “Try to end the panic.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death.” - Saki
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now!
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Barack Obama is Irish
NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy
GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters
November 30, 1834:
The whaling ship Helvetius, named for French philosopher Claude-Adrien Helvetius, encounters terrible seas while attempting to harbor at Lahaina. The ship, carrying an enormous load of more than 1,400 barrels of whale oil, cannot find safe anchor anywhere near Maui, and so turns to Oahu, not the last time someone was dissuaded from Maui for Oahu and met disaster.

More than 170 years ago, no lighthouses guided ships around the islands. Strong Kona winds, powerful waves and driving rain drove the Helvetius onto the reef off Diamond Head. No one was hurt, and the ship was not in immediate danger of sinking. At this point, the cargo was worth more than the ship anyway. Fearing a fight for the salvage, the crew remained on board.

At dawn, when some of the near shore buoys became visible. Captain George Brewster sent a small boat to the harbor master, Stephen Reynolds, so he would send out the alarm. By the time Reynolds got to the ship, the raging sea had smashed the rig further down on the rocks, all but destroying it.

King Kamehameha III sent his own ship and men to cut through the exposed side of the hull, and eventually the barrels of oil began floating out. Hawaiians salvaged 500 of the barrels.

It took another two months before the rig disappeared entirely, and what was left was picked over by anyone who could get out there. Today, remains of some of the Helvetius lay beneath the waves for scuba divers to explore.

The Helvetius was one of four ships built by master French shipwright Stephen Gerard, who named them after philosophers, the remaining three being the Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. Each ship had as its figurehead a bust carved in the likeness of the philosopher. Since the wreck, no one has seen the figurehead of the Helvetius.

EVENTS ON THIS DAY
1782  Britain signs agreement recognizing US independence
1803 Spain cedes her claims to Louisiana Territory to France
1804 Impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase begins
1866 Work begins on 1st US underwater highway tunnel, Chicago
1886 1st commercially successful AC electric power plant opens, Buffalo
1887 1st indoor softball game (Chicago)
1924 1st photo facsimile transmitted across Atlantic by radio
1947 Day after UN decree for Israel, Jewish settlements attacked
1948 Baseball’s Negro National League disbands
1948 Soviets set up a separate municipal government in East Berlin
1954 1st meteorite ( 8 lb ) known to strike a woman (Liz Hodges-Sylacauga AL)
1958 1st guided missile destroyer launched, Dewey, Bath, Me
1966 Barbados gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1966 Radio time signal WWV moves from Greenbelt, MD to Boulder, CO
1967 Julie Nixon & David Eisenhower announce their engagement
1967 Kuria Muria islands ceded by Britain to Oman
1967 People’s Rep of South Yemen (Aden) gains independence from Britain
1970 George Harrison releases his triple album set “All Things Must Pass”
1972 BBC bans Wings “Hi, Hi, Hi”
1979 Ted Koppel becomes anchor of nightly news on Iranian Hostages (ABC)
1981 Porn star John Holmes arrested on fugitive charges
1983 Radio Shack announces the Tandy Model 2000 computer (80186 chip)
1988 Cyclone lashes Bangladesh, Eastern India; 317 killed
1988 NYC furrier sues Mike Tyson for $92,000 for non payment of purchase
1988 Soviets stop jamming Radio Liberty; 1st time in 38 years
1988 UN General Assembly (151-2) censures US for refusing PLO’s Arafat visa
1990 Actor Burt Lancaster suffers a stroke
1990 Bush proposes US-Iraq meeting to avoid war
1991 93 cars & 11 truck accident near San Francisco during a dust storm, 17 die
1991 Rob Pilatus, 27, of Milli-Vanilli attempts suicide
BORN ON THIS DAY
1835 Samuel Clemens [Mark Twain], author (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn)
1874 Sir Winston Churchill (C) British PM (1940-45, 1951-55, Nobel 1953)
1894 Ture Rangstrom Stockholm Sweden, composer/critic (Kronbruden)
1898 Roy (Link) Lyman NFL tackle (Chicago Bears)
19– Nada Rowand Sparta IL, actress (Kate-Loving)
19– Sherilyn Wolter Clarksburg WV, actress (Cindy-BJ & the Bear, General Hospital)
1923 Efrem Zimbalist Jr actor (77 Sunset Strip, FBI, Scruples)
1924 Allan Sherman parody singer/songwriter (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah)
1924 Shirley Chisholm (D-Rep-NY), 1st black congresswoman/presidential candidate
1926 Richard Crenna Los Angeles CA, actor (Rambo, Summer Rental, Sand Pebbles)
1930 G Gordon Liddy Watergate felon, radio talk-show host
1931 Gunther Herbig Usti-nad-Labem Czech, conductor (East Berlin Orchestra)
1931 Jack Ging Alva Ok, actor (11th Hour, Ripcord, Tales of Wells Fargo)
1031 Davey Jones rocker (Monkees-Daydream Believer, Last Train To Clarksville, I’m A Believer)
1931 Jack Sheldon Jacksonville FL, actor (Run Buddy Run, Merv Griffin)
1933 Linwood C Ivey NC, (Mayor-Garysburg NC)
1936 Abbie Hoffman aka Free, Yippie/activist/author (Steal this Book)
1937 Paul Stookey Baltimore MD, singer (Peter, Paul & Mary-Wedding Song)
1937 Richard Threlkeld newscaster (ABC-TV)
1939 Walter Weller Vienna Austria, conductor (Vienna Tonkusteler Orchestra)
1945 Radu Lupu Galati Romania, pianist (Enesco 1st prize-1967)
1947 David Mamet US playwright/director (Speed the Plow, House of Games)
1949 Arthur Lee Washington Jr one of FBI’s most wanted
1950 Kathryn Witt Miami FL, actress (Pam-Flying High, Lenny)
1950 Margaret Whitton Philadelphia PA, actress (Barbara-Hometown, Major League)
1950 Paul Westphal NBA guard (Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns)
1951 Dian Parkinson TV model (Price is Right)
1952 Mandy Patinkin actor/singer (Yentl, Alien Nation)
1954 June Pointer singer (Pointer Sisters-I’m So excited)
1955 Billy Idol [William Broad], rocker (White Wedding)
1959 Sylvia Hanika Munich West Germany, tennis player (Avon-1982)
1962 Bo Jackson baseball/football player (Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Raiders)
1969 Carrie Jean Yazel Huntington Beach CA, playmate (May, 1991)
DIED ON THIS DAY
30   -BC- Cleopatra Egyptian queen commits suicide
1016 Edmund II Ironsides, King of the Saxons (1016), dies at 27
1631 Rabbi Samuel Eliezer ben Judah ha-levi Edels dies
1694 Marcello Malpighi father of microscopic anatomy, dies
1900 Oscar Wilde Irish author, dies in Paris
1964 Don Redman orchestra leader (Sugar Hill Times), dies at 64
1973 Bruce Yarnell Los Angeles CA, actor (Outlaws), dies at 35
1979 Zeppo Marx dies at 78
1981 Robert H Harris actor (Jake-The Goldbergs), dies at 72
1987 Arthur H Dean lawyer/advisor to FDR, dies at 89
1990 Norman Cousins editor (Saturday Review), dies at 75
1996 Tiny Tim singer with the falsetto warble and ukulele (“Tiptoe Through the Tulips” ), dies at 64

Signs of Things to Come

November 29, 2008 > MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastSquare Dance Day
Day 335 of 2008
31 days left in this year
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Mea e ho’ohiwahiwa ai ka noho’anao: Luxury
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY —Chang: Cheap, Frugal
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — E ho’a'o no i pau kuhihewa – “Try to end the panic.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” - Douglas Adams
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now!
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Barack Obama is Irish
NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy
GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters
November 29, 1843: Britain and France Declare Hawaiian Independence
In a move never emulated by the government of the United States, both France and Britin make formal declarations accepting the “supreme independence” of the government of Hawaii. It is interesting is that the declarations were made at the prompting of the U.S. Govern-ment. For decades, this date was celebrated as the official “Hawaiian Independence Day.”

Hawaiian King Kamehameha IIIThe political jockeying began in July of 1842, when King Kamehameha III appealed to U.S. President John Tyler (”Tippecanoe and Tyler too”). In his letter to the president, the King complained about the severe encroachment of one Lord George Paulet, Captain of her British Majesty’s ship Carysfort, who by force was attempting to take over several of the Hawaiian Islands, and the King beseeched the president to talk with Britain on Hawaii’s behalf, and press the issue of independence.

This the president did, making note that “The United States Government has for its sole object the preservation of the independence of these islands.”

U.S. President John TylerA Hawaiian delegation was soon dispatched to England, where Lord Aberdeen assured them that “Her Majesty’s Queen Victoria’s Government was willing and had determined to recognize the independence of the Sandwich Islands under their present sovereign.” Aberdeen determined that Paulet had not acted with orders of Her Majesty’s Government and he would withdraw immediately. Paulet did.

After talking with the King of France, Britain and France formally announced that “Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the French, taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) of a government capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign nations, have thought it right to engage, reciprocally, to consider the Sandwich Brtish Queen VictoriaIslands as an Independent State, and never to take possession, neither directly or under the title of Protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed.”

This declaration is credited with opening the doors of diplomacy around the world between more than 93 nations and Hawaii over the next 40 years. Hawaiian diplomatic delegations and consulates were established in everyone of these nations, most of which proclaimed the Sandwich Islands to be free and independent….

…most, meaning all of them except the U.S., which never made any formal announcement, and in 1893 began its takeover of the country once ruled by legitimate monarchs.

EVENTS ON THIS DAY
1812  Napoleon’s Grand Army crosses Berezina River in retreat from Russia
1825 1st Italian opera, Barber of Seville, produced in US (NYC)
1864 Colorado militia kills 150 peaceful Cheyenne Indians
1877 Thomas Edison demonstrates the hand-cranked phonograph
1887 US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii
1901 East 182nd Street in the Bronx is paved & opened
1916 US declares martial law in Dominican Republic
1929 Lt Cmdr Richard E Byrd sends “My calculations indicate that we have reached the vicinity of the South Pole” (He was wrong)
1933 1st state liquor stores authorized (Pennsylvania)
1934 Chicago Bears beat Detroit in 1st NFL game broadcast nationally
1944 Albania liberated from Nazi control (National Day)
1944 John Hopkins hospital performs 1st open heart surgery
1947 UN Gen Assembly partitions Palestine between Arabs & Jews
1951 1st underground atomic explosion, Frenchman Flat, Nevada
1961 Freedom Riders attacked by white mob at bus station in Miss
1961 Mercury-Atlas 5 carries a chimp (Enos) to orbit
1963 LBJ sets up Warren Comm to investigate assassination of JFK
1964 Roman Catholic Church in US replaces Latin with English
1968 John & Yoko release their 1st album “Two Virgins” in UK
1969 Beatles’ “Come Together,” single goes #1
1975 Kilauea Volcano erupts in Hawaii
1976 Free agent Reggie Jackson signs 5 year pact with Yankees
1987 Korean Air Boeing 707 disappears off Burma, on route to Seoul. All 115 lost
1990 UN Security Council sets Jan 15th military deadline against Iraq
BORN ON THIS DAY
1803   Christian Doppler discovered Doppler Effect (color shift)
1811 Wendell Phillips women’s suffrage/antislavery/prison reformer
1832 Louisa May Alcott Germantown PA, author (Little Women)
1898 CS Lewis English writer/scholar (Le Roman de la Rosa)
1927 Vin Scully sportscaster (NBC Baseball Game of the Week)
1928 Paul Simon (Sen-D-Ill), presidential candidate
1933 Dr David Reuben writer (Everything You Wanted to Know about Sex)
1940 Chuck Mangione jazz composer/horn blower (Chasing the Clouds Away)
1946 Suzy Chaffee US, skier/chapstick user (Olympics-1968)
1949 Garry Shandling comedian (It’s Garry Shandling Show)
1955 Howie Mandel Toronto Canada, comedian (Dr Wayne Fiscus-St Elsewhere)
1959 Charles Grant Winston Salem NC, actor (Another World)
1960 Cathy Moriarty actress (Neighbors, Raging Bull)
1961 Kim Delaney Philadelphia PA, actress (All My Children, Tour of Duty)
1963 Andrew McCarthy actor (St Elmo’s Fire)
DIED ON THIS DAY
1530 Cardinal Thomas Wolsey adviser to England’s King Henry VIII, dies
1780 Maria Theresa leader of Austria, dies at 63
1872 Cornelius Krieghoff Canadian, dies
1924 Giacomo Puccini Italian composer, dies in Brussels
1962 Rav Aaron Kotler Orthodox Talmudic scholar, dies in Lakewood NJ
1977 George Hamilton Combs TV host (Through the Curtain), dies at 78
1980 Dorothy Day author (Stump the Authors), dies at 83
1981 Natalie Wood actress, drowns off Santa Catalina CA, at 43
1986 Cary Grant dies in Davenport, Iowa, at 82
1987 Howard Pyle (Gov-R-AZ, 1951-55), dies at 81
1991 Ralph Bellamy actor, dies

An Economy of Paper

November 29, 2008 Raphael O'Suna No Comments

The action of the stock market recently has been emotionally draining, perverse and unpredictable. On the day of this writing, it appears to be spent. But there is no end to bad news; never an end to fear; and always there is forced selling.

As Keynes said: the irrationality of the market will always outlast your liquidity. But is this market irrational? It is certainly volatile. So much so, that even expert traders cannot bear too much more of it. But irrational?

Read the rest…

Happy Black Friday

November 28, 2008 > MAUI TODAY No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastBuy Nothing Day
Day 334 of 2008
34 days left in this year
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — I’o: Meat
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY —Aznuts: Insane
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Dark lips hold fast.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “I’m not a vegetarian because I love animals, I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.” - A. Whitney Brown
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now!
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Barack Obama is Irish
NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy
GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters
November 28:
The massacre of nearly 45,000,000 innocent animals who never did you any harm is finished, thank heavens. I hope you’re all happy. You added to global warming by eating your meat, and your poor health and digestive troubles.
It’s not as difficult as some people think to be a vegetarian at Thanksgiving. I was the one who carved the bird in our little soiree yesterday. (Yes I have a shameful past.) And for the desperate, there’s always the mock turkey served by the likes of Down to Earth, though I think it ruins vegetarian creed to create, cook and eat stuff that looks, tastes and smells like cooked meat. I mean, if you need that, then eat the meat for heaven’s sake.
Really, I didn’t mean that. Don’t eat the meat. Just because Mana Foods, one of the world’s great shops, sells meat, doesn’t mean it’s OK to. If you’d like to get some straight dope on meat eating, you’ll enjoy reading “Skinny Bitch”, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. No joke. What follows is, though.
Oh, by the way, it really is “Buy Nothing Day”, so designated for obvious reasons. I won’t be following that advice. I’m buying power tools today!
EVENTS ON THIS DAY
1520 Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing Pacific Ocean
1853 Olympia established as capital of Washington Territory
1861 Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to the CSA
1871 Ku Klux Klan trials began in Federal District Court in SC
1895 America’s 1st auto race starts; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner averages 7 MPH
1908 154 men die in coal mine explosion at Marianna Pa
1919 US-born Lady Astor elected 1st female member of British Parliament
1922 Capt Cyril Turner (RAF) gave 1st skywriting exhibition (NYC). Turner spelled out “Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200.” 47,000 called
1929 Adm Richard E Byrd makes 1st South Pole flight
1929 Ernie Nevers scores all 40 pts for Chicago Cards vs Bears (NFL record)
1942 Nearly 500 die in a fire that destroyed Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston MA
1943 FDR, Churchill & Stalin met at Tehran to map out strategy
1948 “Hopalong Cassidy” premiers on TV
1963 1st million copy record prior to release “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
1963 Beatles “She Loves You” returns to #1 on UK record chart
1964 Mariner 4 launched; 1st probe to fly by Mars
1968 John Lennon is fined œ150 for unauthorized drug possession
1972 Los Angeles Dodgers trade Frank Robinson to California Angels
1974 Bowie Kuhn suspends George Steinbrenner for 2 years
1979 Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes in Antarctica killing 257
1986 Reagan administration exceeds SALT II arms limitations for 1st time
1987 South African Airways Boeing 747 crashes into Indian Ocean, 159 die
1988 Picasso’s “Acrobat & Harlequin” sells for $38.46 million
1989 Rickey Henderson signs record $3,000,000 per year Oak A’s contract
BORN ON THIS DAY
1757 William Blake English poet/painter (Songs of Innocence & Experience)
1820 Friedrich Engels Germany, social philosopher; Marx’s collaborator
1866 Henry Bacon architect (Lincoln Memorial)
1894 Brooks Atkinson drama critic (Broadway theater namesake)
1907 Alberto Moravia Italian writer (Indifferent Ones)
1908 Claude Levi-Strauss Belgium, social anthropologist (Structure Anthro)
1916 Guy Lapebie France, 100K cyclist (Olympic-silver-1936)
1920 Cecilia Colledge England, figure skater, competed in Olympics at 11 (1932)
1925 Gloria Grahame Los Angeles CA, actress (Sue-Rich Man Poor Man)
1925 Virginia Hewitt Shreveport La, actress (Carol-Space Patrol)
1929 Berry Gordy Jr Detroit, record company owner (Motown)
1931 Hope Lange Redding Ridge CT, actress (Ghost & Mrs Muir)
1936 Gary Hart (Sen-D-Colo), lover
1941 Laura Antonelli Pola Yugoslavia, actress (Wifemistress, Divine Nymph)
1942 Paul Warfield NFL/WFL wide receiver (Cleveland, Miami, Memphis)
1943 Randy Newman singer (Short People, I Love LA, Raindrops)
1949 Alexander Godunov Russia, composer/dancer (Bolshoi) defected 1979
1949 Paul Shaffer Thunder Bay Ont, orchestra leader (SNL, David Letterman)
1950 Ed Harris Tenafly NJ, actor (Right Stuff, Swing Shift, Walker, Coma)
1958 David Van Day rocker (Dollar-Loves Gotta Hold on Me)
1959 Judd Nelson actor (Breakfast Club)
1961 Jane Sibbett actress (Teddy Z)
1964 Cornelia Guest debutante (Debutante’s Guide to Life)
1967 Vickie Smith Houston TX, playmate (May, 1992)
DIED ON THIS DAY
1939 James A Naismith creator of basketball, dies at 78
1945 Dwight Davis donator of the Davis cup, dies
1960 Richard Wright dies at 52 in Paris France
1962 Queen Mother Wilhelmina of Netherlands, dies at 82
1964 Charles Meredith actor (Court of Last Resort), dies at 70
1971 Wasfi Tal Jordan’s PM, assassinated in Cairo
1976 Rosalind Russell dies at 68
1983 Christopher George actor, dies at 54 of a heart attack
1987 Choh Hao Li bio-chemist prof (isolated growth hormones), dies at 74

Happy Thanksgiving

November 27, 2008 > MAUI TODAY No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastThanksgiving Day
Day 332 of 2008
34 days left in this year
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Pelehu: Turkey
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY —Haad Rub: Difficult Times
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Dark lips hold fast.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “God is not dead but alive and well and working on a much less ambitious project.” - Anonymous
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now!
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Barack Obama is Irish
NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy
GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters
November 27:
From all of us here at the Maui Almanac, from the trolls in the basement who churn out the pixels every hour, to the secretaries who surf porn all day, to the bank of writers who type a word or two between shots, we wish you and yours a very merry Thanksgiving!
EVENTS ON THIS DAY

399  St Anastasius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1095 Pope Urban II preaches 1st Crusade
1815 Cracow (Poland) declared a free republic
1817 US soldiers attack Florida Indian village, beginning Seminole War
1839 American Statistical Association organizes in Boston
1843 The opera “The Bohemian Girl” is produced (London)
1870 NY Times dubs baseball “The National Game”
1885 Earliest photograph of a meteor shower made
1889 1st permit issued to drive a car through Central Park (Curtis Brady)
1890 1st signal box for San Francisco Police Department goes into operation
1895 Alfred Nobel establishes Nobel Prize
1898 Side-wheeler “Portland” sinks off Cape Cod, 190 die
1901 Army War College established in Washington DC
1903 The opera “Die Heugierigen Frauen” is produced (Munich)
1910 NY’s Penn Station opens as world’s largest railway terminal
1912 Albanian National Flag adopted
1912 Spanish protectorate in Morocco established
1924 57,000 watch a High School football game in LA
1926 110,000 watch Army & Navy play a 21-all tie
1926 KXL-AM in Portland OR begins radio transmissions
1926 Restoration of Williamsburg, Virginia, begins
1937 Pro-labor musical revue “Pins & Needles” opens, produced by ILGWU
1941 USSR begins a counter offensive causing Germany to retreat
1942 French navy at Toulon scuttles ships & subs so Nazis don’t take them
1945 Gen George C Marshall named special US envoy to China
1947 Joe DiMaggio wins his 3rd MVP, beating Ted Williams by 1 vote
1951 1st rocket to intercept an airplane, White Sands, NM
1957 Army withdraws from Little Rock AR, after Central HS integration
1958 USSR abrogates Allied war-time agreements on control of Germany
1960 Gordie Howe becomes 1st NHLer to score 1,000 points
1960 Trailing 38-7 late in 3rd quarter, Buffalo Bills tie Broncos at 38-38
1961 Gordie Howe becomes 1st to play in 1,000 NHL games
1965 1st French satellite launched, France becomes 3rd nation in space
1966 In highest-scoring NFL game, Wash Redskins defeat NY Giants 72-41
1967 Beatles release “Magical Mystery Tour”
1967 Gold pool nations pledge support of $35 per ounce gold price
1970 George Harrison releases 3 album set “All Things Must Pass”
1970 Pope Paul VI wounded in chest during a visit to Philippines by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest
1971 Soviet Mars 2 becomes 1st spacecraft to crash land on Mars
1972 Yanks trade Ellis, Torres & Spikes to Indians for Nettles & Moses
1973 Senate votes 92-3 to confirm Gerald R Ford as VP
1975 Fred Lynn became 1st rookie to win the MVP
1980 Soyuz T-3 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station, launched
1982 5th time Rangers shut-out Islanders 3-0
1983 Colombian Avianca Airlines Boeing 747 crashes in Madrid killing 185
1985 Republic of Ireland gains consultative role in Northern Ireland
1989 Colombian jetliner bombed killing 107
1989 George Harrison releases “Cheer Down” & “Poor Little Girl”
1989 US 63rd manned space mission STS 33 (Discovery 9) returns from space
1990 Britain’s conservatives chose John Major to succeed Margaret Thatcher
1991 Undertaker beats Hulk Hogan to become new WWF champ

BORN ON THIS DAY
1701   Anders Celsius Sweden, scientist, inventor (centigrade temp scale)
1746 Robert Livingston delivered oath of office to George Washington
1804 Sir Julius Benedict Stuttgart Germany, opera composer (Protoghesi)
1809 Frances Anne “Fanny” Kemble England, Shakespearian actress (Juliet)
1857 Sir Charles Scott Sherrington 1932 Nobel Laureate in Medicine & Physiology; author of the classic “The Integrative Action of the Nervous System”; discoverer of Sherrington’s Law; coiner of the terms “neuron” and “synapse”.
1865 Jose Asuncion Silva Colombia, poet (Nocturno III)
1867 Charles Koechlin Paris France, composer (Jacob Chez Luban)
1874 Chaim Weizmann Israeli statesman (1st President)
1874 Charles A Beard American historian (American Continentalism)
19– Stephen Elliot NYC, actor (Falcon Crest, Dallas, Executive Suite)
19– William Fichtner actor (As the World Turns)
1900 Leon Barzin Brussels Belgium, conductor (NY City Ballet 1948-58)
1901 Ted Husing NYC, sportscaster (Monday Night Fights)
1903 Johnny Blood aka John McNally, early NFL halfback (Green Bay)
1903 Mona Washbourne actress (Stevie, Billie Liar, Driver’s Seat)
1909 James Agee American writer (The African Queen)
1912 David Merrick Broadway producer (Hello Dolly)
1917 “Buffalo” Bob Smith Buffalo NY, TV host (Howdy Doody)
1921 Alexander Dubcek headed Czech Communist Party (1968-69)
1925 Ernie Wise England, comedian (Morecambe & Wise)
1925 Marshall Thompson Peoria IL, actor (Bog, To Hell & Back, Daktari)
1925 Michael Tolan Detroit MI, actor (Nurses, Senator)
1932 Benigno Aquino Jr Philippine opposition leader; assassinated
1937 Gail Sheehy writer (Hustling)
1940 Bruce Lee San Francisco CA, karate star/actor (Green Hornet)
1942 Jimi Hendrix rock guitarist (Jimi Hendrix Experience-Purple Haze)
1944 Eddie Rabbitt Brooklyn, country singer (I Love a Rainy Night)
1945 Barbara Anderson Brooklyn, actress (Eve-Ironside, Mission Impossible)
1951 Jayne Kennedy Wash DC, sportscaster (CBS)/actress (Body & Soul)
1952 James D Wetherbee Flushing NY, Lt Cmdr USN/astronaut (STS-32, sk:46)
1954 Curtis Armstrong actor (Moonlighting)
1954 Patricia McPherson Oak Harbor Wash, actress (Bonnie-Knight Rider)
1957 Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg JFK’s daughter
1959 Charlie Burchill rocker (Simple Minds-Breakfast Club)
1960 Ken O’Brien QB (NY Jets)
1961 Princess rocker (Desirez Heslop, All For Love)
1962 Calvin Hayes rocker (Johnny Hates Jazz-Turn Back the Clock)
1962 Charlie Benante Bronx NY, rock drummer (Anthrax-Protest & Survive)
1963 Fisher Stevens Chicago, actor (My Science Project, Short Circuit)
1964 Rebecca Michelle Ferratti Helena Mt, playmate (Jun, 1986)
1964 Robin Simone Givens [Mrs Mike Tyson] NYC, (Darlene-Head of the Class)
1965 Fiachna O’Broanain rocker (Hothouse Flowers-Don’t Go)
1976 Jaleel White Los Angeles CA, actor (Steve Urkel-Family Matters)
1976 Tyrone Sutton
DIED ON THIS DAY
8   -BC- Horace Latin poet & satirist, dies (birth date unknown)
1934 Baby Face Nelson shot by FBI agents
1953 Eugene O’Neill playwright, dies in Boston at 65
1965 Harry Harvey Sr actor (It’s a Man’s World), dies at 64
1975 Ross McWhirter Guinness Book of Records keeper, is murdered
1978 George Moscone (San Francisco Mayor) & City Sup Harvey Milk shot by Dan White
1981 Lotte Lenya singer/actress, dies in NY at 83
1984 Percy Norris deputy high commissioner of India, shot dead
1986 Steve Tracy actor (Percival-Little House on the Praire), dies at 61
1988 John Carradine actor, dies at 82 of kidney failure

Maui Questions

November 26, 2008 > MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastShopping Reminder Day
Day 331 of 2008
35 days left in this year
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Mahu: Homosexual
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY —Like Beef?: Want to fight?
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Dark lips hold fast.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “There are two kinds of man who never amount to much, those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.” - Cyrus Curtis
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now!
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Barack Obama is Irish
NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy
GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters
November 26:
As noted in our events section below, two items of interest happened on this day for Maui. The first was the “discovery” of Maui by Captain James Cook. I bristle when I read things like that. No doubt the “discovery” came as a surprise to the hundreds of residents already well-established here. The event suggests that the place really didn’t exist until a white man knew it existed. Right.
The second, which is of more interest, says that the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association was formed. How about that? The rich men who stole the land from the natives and made millions off the poorly paid labor needed an association. Why do you suppose they felt they needed one? Were they somehow being picked on?
Anyway, as long as we’re in a questioning mood this day before Thanksgiving, We’ll throw out a few more:
1. Was Wayne Nishiki set up? Sure smells like it, but like most other such things on Maui, no one will find out. Wayne has no money (that’s why he borrowed some). Only people with money have a good number of their mysteries investigated.
2. Why can’t anyone do visitor math? The Maui News reports that visitors were down 20% in October, and the trend continues. You don’t suppose that this is due, in part, to the outrageously greedy hotel owners who are converting their hotel rooms to time shares, and firing the hotel support staff because they are not needed anymore?
3. Is Mayor Charmaine Tavares gay? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. And what is it about Maui voters putting gay women in the mayor’s office anyway? Oh right, Linda Lingle isn’t gay. Uh huh. A republican governor gay, why that’s unthinkable. Conservatives hate gays, they can’t support one. That would be hypocritical. Oh wait, nevermind. We answered our own question.
4. Seriously though, Tavares is gay, right?
x
EVENTS ON THIS DAY
1703 Bristol England damaged by hurricane, Royal Navy loses 15 warships
1716 1st lion exhibited in America (Boston)
1778 Capt Cook discovers Maui (Sandwich Islands)
1789 1st national thanksgiving
1793 Republican calendar replaces Gregorian calendar in France
1825 1st college fraternity founded (Kappa Alpha (Union College, NY))
1832 1st streetcar railway in America starts operating (NYC) (12« fare)
1861 At Wheeling, a convention adopts a constitution for new state West Virginia
1865 Alice in Wonderland published
1868 1st baseball game played in enclosed field in San Francisco, at 25th & Folsom
1885 1st meteor photograph
1895 Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association formed
1896 1st large indoor football game, U of Chicago beats U of Michigan 7-6
1896 A.A. Stagg of U Chicago creates the football huddle
1924 Mongolian People’s Republic proclaimed
1940 Nazis force 500,000 Warsaw Jews to live in walled ghetto
1941 Lebanon gains independence from France
1949 India adopts a constitution as a British Commonwealth Republic
1950 China enters Korean conflict, sends troops across Yalu River
1962 1st recording session under the name “Beatles”
1973 Nixon’s personal sec, Rose Mary Woods, tells a federal court she accidentally caused part of 18-minute gap in a key Watergate tape
1975 Fed jury found Lynette Fromme guilty of attempted assassination
1976 Ringo releases “Hey Baby” single
1983 Heathrow Airport, robbed of 6,800 gold bars worth $38.7 million
1988 Alexander Volkov, Sergei Krikalev and Jean-Loup Chretien launch
1988 Pioneer 6’s closest approach to Earth since 1965 launch (1.87 M km)
1990 Mikhail Gorbachev tells Iraq to get out of Kuwait
1991 Condoms are handed out to thousands of NY High School students
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BORN ON THIS DAY
1607   John Harvard England, clergyman/scholar, major benefactor to Harvard University (library & half his estate)
1912 Eric Sevareid Velva ND, newscaster (CBS Weekend News)
1912 Eugene Ionesco France, dramatist (Rhinoceros)
1913 Foy Draper US, relay runner (Olympic-gold-1936)
1915 Earl Wild Pittsburgh PA, pianist (Caesar’s Hour, NBC Symphony 1942)
1922 Adele Jergens Brooklyn NY, actress (Dark Past, Fuller Brush Man)
1922 Charles M Schulz cartoonist (Peanuts)
1924 George Segal NY, sculptor lifelike mixed-media figures (Bus Driver)
1933 Robert Goulet Lawrence MA, singer/actor (Camelot, Naked Gun 2«)
1934 Ludmila Shevtsova USSR, 800m runner (Olympic-gold-1960)
1935 Marian Mercer Akron Ohio, actress/singer (Dean Martin Show)
1937 Boris Yegorov cosmonaut (Voskhod 1)
1937 Leo Lacroix France, skier (Olympic-silver-1964)
1938 Rich Little Ottawa Canada, impressionist/actor (Love on a Rooftop)
1938 Tina Turner [Anna Mae Bullock], Brownsville TX, singer (Proud Mary)
1942 Olivia Cole Memphis TN, actress (Roots, Szysznyk)
1943 Jan Stenerud Norway, NFL place kicker (Kansas City Chiefs)
1945 John McVie rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Rumours, Tusk)
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DIED ON THIS DAY
1883   Sojourner Truth abolitionist, women’s rights advocate, dies
1939 James Naismith Basketball inventor, dies
1970 B O Davis Sr 1st black general, dies at 93 in Chicago
1973 Albert DiSalvo Boston strangler, stabbed
1980 Rachael Roberts actress, dies at age 53
1982 Dan Tobin actor (I Married Joan, My Favorite Martian), dies at 73
1982 Robert Coote actor (Timmy-Rogues, Theodore-Nero Wolfe), dies at 73
1985 Ransom Sherman comedian (Father of the Bride), dies at 87
1986 Scatman Crothers actor (Louie-Chico & the Man), dies at 76

Pieces of Our World

November 25, 2008 > MAUI TODAY No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastParfait Day
Day 330 of 2008
36 days left in this year
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Pakela’ai: Glutton
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY —Bodda you: Irritation
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “The faces will meet in Kou.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “We need men who can dream of things that never were.” - John F. Kennedy
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now!
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Barack Obama is Irish
NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy
GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters
November 25:
1. The latest estimate for American TV viewing is 4.42 hours per day for every man, woman and child, which is about 28% of every person’s waking hours, each day. This is 1.3 billion “man hours” of awake time per day for our approximately 300,000,000 citizens. No wonder we not solving our problems.2. The Economist, the British weekly Magazine, has a cover story with the title, “In Search of Republican Brains”. I wish them luck though I might suggest their search will be futile.

3. It had to happen. It is estimated that the largest business on the Internet is porn, and in the wake of You Tube comes this:  Free porn clips for the masses, in a easily navigable interface!

4. Speaking of the World Wide Web, Microsoft (yeah, Microsoft) has developed a neat little program that turns the internet into 3-D. Find it here: http://livelabs.com/photosynth/. And it works.

5. It’s official. The American Movie Business made less than $10 billion last year. The video game industry made more than $40 billion. Now you know why movies are stealing ideas from games. And the economies of scale are interesting: a movie like Batman might take it five times it’s cost, making a 400% profit, a tidy sum indeed. A game like Grand Theft Auto took $30 million to make and has grossed nearly 30 times that, for a profit margin of nearly 3000%.

EVENTS ON THIS DAY – November 24

1357  Charles IV issues letter of protection of Jews of Strasbourg Alsace
1715 1st English patent granted to an American, for processing corn
1758 Britain captures Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh)
1766 Pope Clement XIII warns On the dangers of anti-Christian writings
1783 Britain evacuates NY, their last military position in US
1834 Delmonico’s, one of NY’s finest restaurants, provides a meal of soup, steak, coffee & half a pie for 12 cents
1841 35 Amistad survivors return to Africa
1863 Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee
1864 Confederate plot to burn NYC, fails
1867 Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
1884 John B Meyenberg of St Louis patents evaporated milk
1894 Greenback (Independent) Party organizes in Indianapolis
1897 Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy
1908 Dorando Pietri (It) beats Johnny Hayes (US) in MSG marathon by 60 yards
1912 American College of Surgeons incorporates in Springfield, IL
1913 Woodrow Wilson’s daughter Jessie marries in the White House
1920 WTAW of College Station, TX, broadcast 1st football play-by-play
1930 690 earthquake shocks recorded in 1 day (Ito Japan)
1933 1st Soviet liquid rocket attains altitude of 261′ (80m)
1940 Patria steamer sinks killing 200, outside of Haifa
1940 U of Michigan retires Tom Harmon’s #98
1947 New Zealand accedes to Statute of Westminster, becomes a dominion
1948 Fort Funston’s 16-inch coastal guns removed
1948 KING-TV, Seattle, goes on the air with 1st Pacific NW telecast
1951 17 die in a train crash in Woodstock AL
1951 Cleveland Browns penalized a record 209 yards against Chicago Bears
1957 President Eisenhower suffers a mild stroke, impairing his speech
1958 Senegal becomes an autonomous state in the French Community
1960 1st atomic reactor for research & development, Richland Wa
1961 NBA’s Bob Cousy becomes 2nd player to score 15,000 points
1963 JFK laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery,
1969 John Lennon returns his MBE
1973 Bloodless military coup ousts Greek President George Papadopoulos
1975 Netherlands grants Surinam independence (National Day)
1976 OJ Simpson gains 273 yards for Buffalo vs Detroit
1976 Viking 1 radio signal from Mars help prove general theory of relativity
1977 David Steed balanced stationary on a bike for 9 hrs 15 mins
1978 American Airlines DC-10 crashes on takeoff from Chicago, kills 275
1980 Sugar Ray Leonard defeats Duran regains WBC welterweight championship
1983 Soyuz T-9 returns to Earth, 149 days after take-off
1983 Syria & Saudi Arabia announce cease-fire in PLO civil war in Tripoli
1983 World’s greatest robbery-œ25,000,000 of gold, Heathrow, England
1984 William Schroeder, becomes 2nd to receive Jarvik-7 artificial heart
1986 Iran-Contra affair erupts, President Reagan reveals secret arm deal
1988 Convention on exploitation of Antarctic mineral resources signed
1988 US & Soviet chess grand masters Donaldson & Akhmilovskaya wed
1988 Widespread earthquake hits NE US, Canada; no damage reported
1990 Lech Walesa wins in Poland’s 1st popular election
BORN ON THIS DAY
1835 Andrew Carnegie steel industrialist/library builder
1846 Carry Nation scourge of barkeepers & drinkers
1881 John XXIII [Angelo Roncalli], Bergamo Italy, 261st pope (1958-63)
1893 Robert Ripley illustrator (Believe it or Not)
1914 Joe DiMaggio Yankee Clipper (56 game hitting streak)
1919 Steve Brodie Eldorado KS, actor (Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp)
1920 Ricardo Montalban actor (Fantasy Island, Star Trek II, Naked Gun)
1925 Jeffrey Hunter Orleans La, actor (Christopher Pike-Star Trek Cage)
1926 Murray Schisgal playwright (Luv)
1933 Rene Enriquez San Francisco CA, actor (Ray Calletano-Hill Street Blues)
1935 Gloria Steinem Toledo Ohio, femnist/writer (Ms)
1938 Charles Starkwether serial murderer, with his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, in 1958 they embarked on a shocking, murderous rampage that lasted eight days and left 11 dead bodies in its wake–including Caril Ann’s family.
1947 John Larroquette New Orleans LA, actor (Dan Fielding-Night Court)
1947 Jonathan Kaplan Paris France, director (Heart Like a Wheel)
1960 Amy Grant gospel singer (Glory of Love, Baby Baby)
1960 John F Kennedy Jr lawyer, son of JFK
1960 Kasey Smith Queens NY, heavy metal artist (Danger Danger-Screw It)
1961 Amy Gibson actress (General Hospital)
1966 Stacy Lattislaw disco singer (Million Dollar Baby)
1967 Curtis Baldwin Los Angeles CA, actor (Calvin-227)
1968 Jory Husain Milwaukee WI, actor (Jawaharial-Head of the Class)
1971 Christine Applegate Hollywood, actress (Kelly-Married With Children)
DIED ON THIS DAY
1885   Thomas A Hendricks 21st VP, dies at 66, 8 months after taking office
1944 Kenesaw Landis baseball commisioner, dies
1949 Luther “Bill” Robinson famed tap dancer, dies at 71
1958 Charles F Kettering invented auto self-starter, dies at 82
1964 Clarence Kolb actor (Mr Honeywell-My Little Margie), dies at 90
1968 Phil Lord actor (Stud’s Place), dies at 89
1974 U Thant UN Secretary-General (1961-72), dies in NY of cancer at 65
1977 Richard Carlson actor (Col MacKenzie-MacKenzie’s Raiders), dies at 65
1981 Jack Albertson actor (Chico & the Man), dies at 74
1982 Robert Coote actor, dies in NYC of a heart attack at 73
1987 Harold Washington 1st black mayor of Chicago (D, 1983-87), dies at 65
1990 Bill Vukovich Indie 500 driver, dies in crash at 27
1991 Bill Graham rock promoter, dies

DB Cooper Hijacking Anniversary

November 24, 2008 > MAUI TODAY No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastInternat’l Drum Month
Day 329 of 2008
37 days left in this year
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Mo‘olelo: Legend
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY — Stillum: Steal
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Be careful lest the result be disastrous to you.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “Legend: A tale that has attained the dignity of age.” - Laurence Peter
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Democracy Now!
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Barack Obama is Irish
NETCAST OF THE WEEK — Left Wing Conspiracy
GOOD DEED SITE OF THE WEEK — Media Matters

A 1972 FBI composite drawing of D. B. CooperNATIONAL NEWS ARCHIVES – Nov. 24, 1971
“D.B.” Cooper parachutes into legend. D. B. Cooper is the name given to a man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the United States on this day in 1971, received $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted from the plane along the Columbia River of Washington. He was never apprehended. The name he used to board the plane was Dan Cooper, but through a later press error, he became known as “D. B. Cooper”. In spite of hundreds of leads over the years since, no conclusive evidence has surfaced regarding Cooper’s true identity or whereabouts, and the bulk of the money has never been recovered.

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