Button Day Day 320 of 2009 45 days left in this year

HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — ‘Wai halana: Flood
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY — Taim bilong ren: Rainy season
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “When the leaves of the ‘ama‘u fern turn toward the upland, it is a sign of a flood.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “Good luck and good work for the happy mountain raindrops, each one of them a high waterfall in itself ….” – John Muir

November 16, 2004
A rain guage above the Keanae Peninsula registers nearly 14 inches of rain in a 24-hour period as the entire island of Maui is deluged. Even normally dry Kapalua gets almost 3 inches of rain during the same period. Roads, bridges and some homes are flooded, as residents wonder what to do with all the water.What a marked contrast to today, when voluntary water restrictions are in place, and after decades of use, the Iao Aquifer remains a mystery – no one knows still, what kind of water or how much is sustainable from Iao Valley.

Meanwhile, as current residents struggle with water use and possible fines for misuse, Maui Council members are close to approving the Honua‘ula development project (formerly called Wailea 670), without a clue where the water for these 1,400 housing units will come from. All this from an island that is the second wettest place on the planet!

EVENTS ON THIS DAY – November 16

• 1532: Pizarro seizes Incan emperor Atahualpa after victory at Cajamarca
• 1805: The Lewis & Clark Expedition reaches the Pacific Ocean
• 1918: The Hungarian People’s Republic is declared
• 1925: American Association for the Advancement of Atheism is formed in NY
• 2001: Congress passed an aviation security bill mandating that airport screeners be federal employees.
• 2001: Investigators found a letter addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., containing anthrax.
• 2004: President George W. Bush picked National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to be secretary of state, succeeding Colin Powell.

BORN ON THIS DAY – November 16

• -42:    Tiberius Caesar, 2nd Roman emperor
• 1908:    Burgess Meredith,  actor
• 1933:    Guy Stockwell, actor
• 1935:    Elizabeth Drew, journalist
• 1958:    Marg Helgenberger, actress
• 1962:    Mani, rock musician
• 1964:     Diana Krall, jazz singer
• 1969:     Bryan Abram, R&B singer
• 1971:    Donald Wolf, computer game creator
• 1972:    Missi Pyle. actress
• 1977: Maggie Gyllenhaal, actress

DIED ON THIS DAY – November 16

• 1885: Louis Riel French rebel who fought against Canada, executed at 41
• 1960: Clark Gable dies at 59
• 1961: Sam Rayburn Speaker of the House for 17 years, dies
• 1006: Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman died at age 94.