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  • Fun Hawaii Facts

    Post some facts about Hawaii that you know (or googled)

    Snapple Fun facts:
    #26 The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters
    (some of us already knew that)
    #138 Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows coffee
    #139 Hawaii is the only state with one school district
    #142 Hawaii is the only U.S. state never to report a temperature of zero degrees F or below
    How'd I get so white and nerdy?

  • #2
    Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

    My facts:

    Hawaii is the only state with an interstate highway system that does not even go out of a county, much less a state.

    Hawaii is the only state where state government mandates that all businesses have to provide health insurance benefits to full time workers.

    Hawaii is the only state in the nation with a general excise tax, not a sales tax.

    Hawaii is the only state where you cannot drive a car or any other land vehicle to another state or county on a continuous highway system.
    I'm still here. Are you?

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    • #3
      Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

      Hawai`i has no snakes.

      Hawai`i is the only place in the US where you get shoyu with your McDonald's Big Breakfast.

      Hawai`i is the only place in the US where the majority of homes have no central heat or air.
      ~'Ailina

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      • #4
        Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

        We have no rabies, either.

        Hawaii is home to the only genuine royal palace on (now) American soil.

        Hawaii has two official languages -- English, and Hawaiian. (Anyone know what other states have bilingual status?)

        And depending on how you measure it, we have the tallest mountain in the U.S., and also the southernmost point in the U.S. But we do not have, despite assertions to the contrary, the westernmost point (our "neighbor" to the far north has that distinction).

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

          Originally posted by mel
          Hawaii is the only state where you cannot drive a car or any other land vehicle to another state or county on a continuous highway system.
          Perhaps not by a continuous highway sysytem or road, but it is possible to travel from Hawai'i into another part of a sovereign country.

          The small piece of land that the Captain Cook Memorial rests on over on the Big Island was ceded to England in perpetuity by, I believe, Princess Likelike. If I recall the British Navy makes a port of call once a year to the monument to hoist the Union Jack and polish up the monument. I remember this little technicality when I lived on the Big I.

          Now granted, there isn't a lot of land there, but technically, it is possible, one could drive a vehicle up to the monument and cross into merry old England!

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          • #6
            Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

            Hawai'i is the only place in the world where Silverswords grow (on Haleakala).

            Hawai'i has no native land reptiles or amphibians and only two native mammals, the horay bat and monk seal.

            Over 4300 species of plants and animals exist only in the eight high islands and nowhere else in the world.

            Miulang
            "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

              Originally posted by pzarquon
              .
              Hawaii has two official languages -- English, and Hawaiian. (Anyone know what other states have bilingual status?)
              Did some research on this and it appears Louisiana and New Mexico also have bilingual status

              Louisiana/New Mexico language link.

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              • #8
                Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

                Originally posted by Miulang
                Hawai'i is the only place in the world where Silverswords grow (on Haleakala).

                Miulang
                There is a genetically close cousin of the Silverswords growing quite happily in the mountains (ironically at the same elevation too) of Idaho called the Owahee Mountain range.

                Been to that mountain, park rangers there told me an interesting story of some explorers who asked the local indians about a mountain range in the distance. They told their guides that the mountain range was in the direction of the islands of Hawaii. The indians pointed in the same direction and tried to mimick the forked tongue and said: Owahee. The explorers thought the indians had just described the name and the name stuck: The Owahee Mountain range.

                When I visited the mountain up at the 10,000 foot elevation I saw what looked exactly like the Silverswords of Haleakala.

                Years later I found a similar plant growing at the Ellison Onezuka Museum on Mauna Kea. The park ranger told me that this was another close cousin of the Silverswords that was introduced by explorers from the Northwest. I asked what part and he told me Idaho. I then told him the story of the Owahee Mountains and we both had an epiphany.

                Is it possible the Silverswords were actually introduced by the white man from the explorations of the Northwest thru Idaho?

                Another amazing irony is the indian culture of Southwest Idaho and it's intriguing similarities of folklore and language to the Hawaiian Language and culture. You go there and immerse yourself in their Indian lore and you get chicken skin just noticing the similiarity between their culture and Hawaiian culture.
                Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                • #9
                  Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

                  Here's a bit of downtown Honolulu info not many people know...

                  Under the bulk of the Pauahi tower on the corner of Hotel and Bishop street lies intact a utility room belonging to the once proud Alexander Young Building that fell to become the Pauahi Tower. From the kitchen of the building you went down one floor to the basement then a series of downward leading catwalks dripping with saltwater almost four stories underground to a small concrete encased utility room.

                  Inside was the key shop where there were cubbyholes full of 24-carat plated key blanks with the AYB insignia stamped on them. Each key blank was inside a small 2x3" white envelope with scrollwork around it and the letters AYB in bold italics printed on its face.

                  There were also boxes filled with vials of medicine of sorts. My dad told me this was a storage room and the stuff was there since WWII. The Alexander Young Building as some of us know was built out of granite rock and took a long time for the wrecking company to take that building down. Well it also was a Nuclear Fallout Shelter in the event of...well an attack. Stored almost 80-feet underground was I figured medicine (possibly iodine) to counter the effects of nuclear radiation sickness.

                  When the Pauahi Tower was built, I'm told the utility room was simply buried as the depth was too great for excavation.

                  Like a time capsule this room contains the remnants of a grand hotel. I remember under the glow of one incandescent bulb seeing some pretty ancient hardware including oil lamps, and other turn of the century items along with a key cuting lathe, choke gold plated key blanks and cardboard boxes with U.S. Army and Civil Defense stamped all over them.

                  Somewhere down there are also my G.I. Joe dogtags I left there the last time I played in that room while my dad took care of his janitorial duties of that building. One day I hope to see that room unearthed, it should bring back some incredable memories.
                  Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

                    Whoa. Spooky. When we were small kids and visited the ohana on Oahu, we always stayed at the Alexander Young Hotel (until the Pagoda was built). There was a coffee shop in there, I think. They used to have the best chantilly cake (dakine with butter crunch on the sides and a whipped cream frosting). Every now and then I think about that cake and how ono it was.

                    Miulang
                    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

                      Originally posted by craigwatanabe
                      Here's a bit of downtown Honolulu info not many people know...

                      Under the bulk of the Pauahi tower on the corner of Hotel and Bishop street lies intact a utility room belonging to the once proud Alexander Young Building that fell to become the Pauahi Tower. From the kitchen of the building you went down one floor to the basement then a series of downward leading catwalks dripping with saltwater almost four stories underground to a small concrete encased utility room.

                      Inside was the key shop where there were cubbyholes full of 24-carat plated key blanks with the AYB insignia stamped on them. Each key blank was inside a small 2x3" white envelope with scrollwork around it and the letters AYB in bold italics printed on its face.

                      There were also boxes filled with vials of medicine of sorts. My dad told me this was a storage room and the stuff was there since WWII. The Alexander Young Building as some of us know was built out of granite rock and took a long time for the wrecking company to take that building down. Well it also was a Nuclear Fallout Shelter in the event of...well an attack. Stored almost 80-feet underground was I figured medicine (possibly iodine) to counter the effects of nuclear radiation sickness.

                      When the Pauahi Tower was built, I'm told the utility room was simply buried as the depth was too great for excavation.

                      Like a time capsule this room contains the remnants of a grand hotel. I remember under the glow of one incandescent bulb seeing some pretty ancient hardware including oil lamps, and other turn of the century items along with a key cuting lathe, choke gold plated key blanks and cardboard boxes with U.S. Army and Civil Defense stamped all over them.

                      Somewhere down there are also my G.I. Joe dogtags I left there the last time I played in that room while my dad took care of his janitorial duties of that building. One day I hope to see that room unearthed, it should bring back some incredable memories.
                      Its stories like this that makes me want to visit the place.

                      Can people visit that area?
                      How'd I get so white and nerdy?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

                        Originally posted by Miulang
                        Whoa. Spooky. When we were small kids and visited the ohana on Oahu, we always stayed at the Alexander Young Hotel (until the Pagoda was built). There was a coffee shop in there, I think. They used to have the best chantilly cake (dakine with butter crunch on the sides and a whipped cream frosting). Every now and then I think about that cake and how ono it was.

                        Miulang

                        Oh yeah my dad used to bring home the cakes and pastries the bake shop couldn't sell at the end of the day. Cinnamon Raisin Bread was another favorite of the the Hotel's bake shop. The coffee shop was actually a restaurant/bar called the Hob Nob which was right on the corner of Hotel and Bishop. They used Oneida cutlery. I know I used to have to polish the stuff when I got in trouble with my dad. We would go there on Sundays, he would work while I played around, running up and down the marbled hallways on each floor ending up in the utility room.
                        Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

                          Originally posted by Surfingfarmboy
                          Perhaps not by a continuous highway sysytem or road, but it is possible to travel from Hawai'i into another part of a sovereign country.

                          The small piece of land that the Captain Cook Memorial rests on over on the Big Island was ceded to England .....

                          Now granted, there isn't a lot of land there, but technically, it is possible, one could drive a vehicle up to the monument and cross into merry old England!
                          I dunno, all the time I've driven down to the park near that memorial, I have never seen a road that went to the memorial monument. Fact is I think you either gotta swim or take a boat to see that place up close. I don't know for sure cause I never did it. Always drive to that warf like area at the end of the road and take a picture of the thing from afar.
                          I'm still here. Are you?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Fun Hawaii Facts

                            Oah'u's municipal water supply is perhaps the best and most pure in the world. Although it doesn't need it, our water is chlorinated for maintenance purposes, and at levels well below national standards. A petition was even circulated by the Board of Water Supply to prevent the fed govt from mandating an increase in chlorination levels. There has never been a case of municpal water-borne pathogens causing illness on O'ahu. Drink up!
                            Don't be mean,
                            try to help.

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