Relaxation Day Day 364 of 2010 1 day left in this year

TODAY: Trade Winds Return! Hot, humid, voggy conditions that have prevailed for the past week on Maui will subside with the return of cooling trade winds today, the penultimate day of 2010. More >

HAWAII EVENTS ON THIS DAY

• 1813: The first coffee is planted in Hawaii
• 1960: Henry Kaiser agrees to sell Hawaiian Village Hotels to Conrad Hilton for almost $30 million, The Advertiser reports.
• 1961: Fire guts a wooden building at the University of Hawai’i's Marine Laboratory on Coconut Island. Only swift action by some 50 Marines from nearby Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station prevents heavier loss of property.
• 1969: Massive 1,600-foot fountains erupt at Kilauea volcano, painting the sky red with a glow that could be seen at Hilo 26 miles away.
• 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.
• 1997: The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team defeats second-ranked University of Kansas to win the Rainbow Classic. It was the highest-ranking opponent the Rainbows had ever beaten.
• 2003: Master wood carver and canoe-builder Wright Elemakule Bowman dies at the age of 96.

WORLD EVENTS ON THIS DAY

• 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