When British explorer Captain James Cook stumbled upon the islands of Hawaii in 1778, he dubbed them the Sandwich Islands to honor his sponsor, the Earl of Sandwich. (I have to wonder if the Earl of Panini was jealous. ) I found this exceptionally well researched paper on the history of Hawaii’s name change. (Do [...]
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Just about every corner of the world has developed a unique style of dance. Hawaii created hula dancing. Here is an excellent hula video with traditional Hawaiian chanting with a lovely natural setting. I’ve found some great resources for a bit of history about hula dancing. So, see this link and watch the following video.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
You may have heard that Mount Everest is the world’s tallest mountain. Well, Hawaii says, “Everest, schmeverest!” You would need a heck of a tape measure and some scuba gear, but if you could measure the Big Island’s Mauna Kea from its base on the sea floor all the way up to the summit, you’d [...]
Monday, July 13, 2009
You don’t have to be a climatologist to marvel at Hawaii’s diverse climates with Hawaii’s Big Island being the prime location for climate diversity. The Big Island is home to 11 of the world’s 13 climate zones. Per BigIsland.org, there are as many different climate zones on the island of Hawaii as exist along the [...]
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Hawaii’s state flag has eight horizontal stripes and the image of Britain’s Union Jack in the upper left corner. The stripes symbolize the eight major island of Hawaii — that’s a fact. But, what does the Union Jack portion represent? I haven’t found or heard a definitive answer. The one theory that I prefer to [...]
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The first motions for statehood began at the turn of the 20th century. Per the official Web site of the Hawaii 50th Anniversary of Statehood Commission, these actions were the initial steps toward statehood: June 14, 1900- Congress passes the Hawai‘i Organic Act which creates the governing legislation of the Territory of Hawai‘i. The act [...]
Friday, July 10, 2009
Okay, stick with me here, because this fact is fascinating. Before we dive into this fact, it’s probably a good idea to first define the word endemic. In the context of ecology, endemic means, “Native to or confined to a certain region.” So, when we say something is endemic to Hawaii, it means that it’s [...]
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I’m not sure how I once had the impression that Hawaii is the smallest state, but I’ve recently learned that Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island are smaller. With all the eight major islands of Hawaii combined, the Aloha state has 6,422 square miles of land area. To put that figure into perspective, let’s look at [...]
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Okay, ‘The Bachelorette’ fans, I’ve got some scoopage on where Jillian Harris and the three remaining bachelors will go on the next episode when they visit Hawaii. Jillian and the guys are Maui bound! They’ll be staying and playing at some of my favorite places, too. (Lucky for them!) Jillian and the guys will be [...]
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Though Hawaii is made up of eight major islands, the 50th State is organized into five different counties. The divisions and names might not be as intuitive as you might have guessed. Unless you are a Hawaii resident or a Hawaii nerd like me, you’ll probably find some interesting surprises. While we’re looking at each [...]
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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