Step in a Puddle Day Day 11 of 2008 354 days left in this year

PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY — Talk story:

HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Life is in speech, death is in speech.”

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January 11, 1903: How cum da Pidgin? The boat “Gaelic” (translates as ‘nice boat’) arrives on the islands, and within the next week, cane fields everywhere have new workers: from Korea.The importation of workers from other countries to Hawaii was not new by the 20th century.In the previous 30 years, workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, and many smaller Pacific Islands had been shipped here, some with the promise of good pay, others with the carrot of a U.S. Citizenship.Regardless, sugar was big business, and there was not nearly enough labor to work the fields, especially on Maui, which was during this period the fastest growing sugar plantation area in the state. Soon, pineapple fields demanded workers as well, and more boats would follow the the Gaelic. Workers were imported to Maui right up to the second world war. Because of the diverse population of workers from different lands and cultures speaking many different languages, Pidgin English evolved as a form of communication that transcended these linguistic boundaries and is still commonly spoken on Maui today.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY

• 1693: Mount Etna erupts in Sicily
• 1813: The first pineapples are planted in Hawaii
• 1878: The first milk is delivered in glass bottles (by Alexander Gambil)
• 1892: The Hawaiian Historical Society is founded
• 1913: The first sedan-type car (the Hudson) goes on display at the 13th Auto Show
• 1935: Amelia Earhart flies non-stop from Honolulu, HI,to Oakland, CA
• 1963: The first discotheque opens: The Whiskey-a-go-go
• 1964: U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous (the first government report to claim the health hazards of smoking)
• 1973: The trial of the Watergate burglars begins in Washington DC
• 1984: Supreme Court reinstates the $10M award to Karen Silkwood’s family
• 2001: The FCC  approves the merger of America Online and Time-Warner
• 2003: Calling the death penalty process “arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral,” Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state’s death row two days before leaving office.
• 2006: A Georgian court convicted a man of trying to assassinate President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in 2005

BORN ON THIS DAY

• 1757: Alexander Hamilton, founding father
• 1807: Ezra Cornell, founder Western Union Telegraph, Cornell University
• 1815: Sir John A MacDonald,  first PM of Canada
• 1887: Aldo Leopold, founder of Wilderness Society
• 1903: Alan Paton, writer
• 1906: Albert Hofmann, chemist (synthesized LSD)
• 1924: Slim Harpo, musician
• 1946: Naomi Judd, country singer
• 1949: Dennis Greene, rock musician (Sha Na Na-Shannon)
• 1950: Stanley Tucci, actor
• 1952: Ben Crenshaw,  PGA golfer
• 1952: Lee Ritenour, jazz musician
• 1968: Tom Dumont, rock musician (No Doubt)
• 1969: Maxee Maxwell, R&B singer
• 1971: Mary J. Blige, singer
• 1971: Tom Rowlands, rock musician (The Chemical Brothers)
• 1972: Amanda Peet, actress
• 1973: Rockmond Dunbar, actor

DIED ON THIS DAY

• 1978: Michael Bates actor (Clockwork Orange, Salt & Pepper), dies at 57
• 1988: Gregory (Pappy) Boyington ace WWII pilot, dies at 75 of cancer
• 1991: Jason Christmas dies of gunshot wound during robbery in New York at 49
• 1994: John Bradley raised US flag at Iwo Jima, dies at 70
• 1994: Roger “Ram” Ramirez jazz piano player/composer, dies at 80
• 1996: Harold Walter Bailey philologist, dies at 96
• 1996: Hubert Nicholson poet/novelist, dies at 87
• 1996: Ike Isaacs guitarist, dies at 76
• 1997: Sheldon Leonard producer/director (Dick Van Dyke), dies at 89
• 1998: Klaus Tennstedt conductor, dies at 71
• 2008: Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to conquer Mount Everest, died at age 88