Make Up Your Mind Day 365 of 2009 0 days left in this year

TODAY – New Year’s Eve “Blue Moon” at 9:13am. These days, the phrase “Once in a Blue Moon” erroneously refers to how often 2 full moons occur in the same month – appx. once every 2.7 years.  The last “blue moon” to shine on New Year’s Eve was 19 years ago, in 1990. More >

December 31, 2009: First Night in Numerous U.S. Cities

December 31, 1879: The cornerstone is laid for the Iolani Palace, Hawaii (the only royal palace in the U.S.) To enhance the prestige of Hawaii overseas and to mark her status as a modern nation, the Hawaiian government appropriated funds to build a modern palace in Honolulu.

Despite a quick succession of three architects, work progressed at the hands of locally obtained contractors, artisans and laborers. The building was complete enough by August of 1882 for King Kalakaua to hold a luncheon for members of the Legislative Assembly. In December of that year King Kalakaua and Queen Kapi`olani took up residence in their new home.

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By Maui Curmudgeon

If you are coming or going to Hawaii, you’re experiencing the destruction of your personal rights every time – for no reason.

It’s that last bit that urks me. Hawaii being the only state in the Union you can’t drive to, the TSA gets to violate you before you get to experience your Hawaiian dream.

The recent frufru over the Somali terrorist on a Detroit plane from Amsterdam has sent the TSA into a tizzy once again. There are times when I begin to suspect the government of staging these embarrassing failures just to make the gullible American traveler pliant enough to accept the next level of invasive personal search. As I wrote the other day, we’re living in Joseph Stalin’s wet dream.

The latest thing now is a huge push to get complete body scanners into the airports so the TSA can see your genitalia – yes, genitalia, which is where explosives have been hiding. Since they were first discussed, these machines have been highly controversial. Rep. Jason Chaffetz has said, “I don’t think anybody needs to see my 8-year-old naked in order to secure [an] airplane.”
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Spiritual Literacy Month Day 364 of 2009 1 day left in this year

December 30, 1956; January 4,  1974; and lots of other dates, too: State officials on Oahu call for a ban on fireworks for the entire state. In 1956, there were more than 110 injuries from fireworks, most of them inflicted on children. Fireworks are on sale big-time at Wal-Mart, Long’s  and Costco today, anyway.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY

• 1813: The first coffee is planted in Hawaii
• 1906: Iran becomes a constitutional monarchy
• 1922: USSR established
• 1924: Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galactic systems
• 1952: Tuskegee Institue reports 1952 is the first year in 71 years with no lynchings anywhere in the U.S.
• 1972: President Nixon halts the bombing of North Vietnam & announces peace talks
• 1988: President Reagan and President-elect Bush are subpoenaed to testify as defense witnesses in the pending Iran-Contra trial of Oliver North (the subpoenas were later quashed)
• 1999: Former Beatle George Harrison fights off a knife-wielding intruder who breaks into his mansion west of London and stabs Harrison in the chest
• 2003: The federal government bans the sale of herbal stimulant ephedra
• 2006: Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is hanged.
• 2007: Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of a rigged  election
• 2008: In a surprise move, a defiant Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich named former state Attorney General Roland Burris to Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

BORN ON THIS DAY

• 1865: Rudyard Kipling, author (Gunga Din-Nobel ‘07)
• 1867: Simon Guggenheim, philanthropist (died aboard the Titanic)
• 1879: Sri Ramana Maharshi, Hindu philosopher/yogi
• 1928: Bo Diddley, (Ellas Bates) (Hawaii 5-0, God’s Little Acre)
• 1932: John Hillerman, actor (Magnum PI, Blazing Saddles, Audrey Rose)
• 1945: Davy Jones, singer (Monkees)
• 1951: Meredith Vieiera, TV hostesess
• 1957: Matt Lauer, TV host (“Today”)
• 1959: Tracey Ullman, Actress/comediann
• 1961: Sean Hannit, TV host (“Hannity & Colmes”)
• 1975: Tiger Woods, PGA golfer
• 1984: LeBron James, NBA player

DIED ON THIS DAY

• 1944: Romain Roland French writer/pacifist (Nobel 1915), dies at 78
• 1966: Christian A Herter US Minister of Foreign affairs (1959-61), dies at 71
• 1979: Richard Rodgers composer (Rogers & Hammerstein), dies at 77
• 1992: Ling-Ling 1st panda China gave US, dies at 23
• 1993: [Irving Paul] “Swifty” Lazar superagent, dies of kidney failure at 86
• 1993: Mack David US songwriter (Bachelor in Paradise), dies at 81
• 1994: Lloyd James Austin french Scholar, dies at 79
• 1996: Jack Nance actor (Meatballs 4, Whore, Voodoo), murdered at 53
• 1996: Lew Ayres screen actor
• 2006: Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was hanged

By Maui Curmudgeon

Christmas weekend is being touted as the single most lucrative weekend for movies in history, with a box office take of $278 million.

• I always like to give this perspective: the single largest day for video gaming this year was nearly $400 million for the first day’s sales of Gears of War. The annual box office take this year is estimated to be $12 billion; the annual video games take will be around $40 billion.
• Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano admits the recent bombing attempt at Detroit shows a lapse of security. Duh. Why is it these bureaucrats remain so clueless? Anyone flying through U.S. airports this past year (I logged more than 12,000 miles domestically) could hear the majority of travelers griping about how worthless the process was to begin with.
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Tick Tock Day Day 363 of 2008 2 days left in this year

December 29, 1903: Another sign that the American’s were taking over Hawaii finally appears: The coins issued by the monarchy of King David Kalakaua are no longer accepted as currency in Hawaii, even though the coins are pure  silver, in the case of dollars, and copper in pennies. American currency becomes the coin of the realm. (It is also interesting to note that the first half of the King’s name — Kala — means money in Hawaiian.)

By this date most stores will not accept the coins, although people have until December 31 to exchange the coins for American currency at banks. Kalakaua coins are available today through venues such as eBay, where, on December 28, 2007, a Kalakaua silver dollar in pristine condition was selling for  $449.95.

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If Engineers designed Santa Claus . . .

I. There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18 ) in the world. However, since Santa does not visit children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist religions, this reduces the workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (according to the Population Reference Bureau).

At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per house hold, that comes to 108 million homes, presuming that there is at least one good child in each.

II. Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 967.7 visits per second.

This is to say that for each Christian household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left for him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh and get on to the next house.

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Nat’l Chocolate Day Day 362 of 2008 3 days left in this year

TODAY: Don’t Forget: Maui Food Bank

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By Raphael O’Suna

A few months ago, one of my editors asked me to write about the current political scene.

I told him that it was disheartening. He said, well do it the next time you’re not feeling well. “But I always feel well,” I said. “Well , save it for the next time you get sick.”

What is to be said about politics at the end of 2009?

First of all, one must remind everyone, that the important documents written at the country’s creation, were written and rewritten by men not unlike the senators of today. They were older, white, European, male and upholders of the status quo. They were property holders, bent on preserving property rights.

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