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808 State

808 State

:808 State is also a nickname for Hawaii, derived from its telephone area code. 808 State are a British electronic music outfit formed in 1988 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of British acid house, they were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson (later to record as A Guy Called Gerald) and released their debut Newbuild in 1988. Autechre and Aphex Twin have often cited Newbuild as being enormously influential, and the group achieved some degree of chart success in the UK in the early 1990s with releases "Pacific State", "Cubik" and "In yer face".

History

The group 808 State was formed in 1988 in Manchester, England. They were considered pioneers of the acid house sound, a staple and foundation of rave music. Martin Price, who owned a popular and legendary record store called Eastern Bloc and who founded the independent label Creed, joined up with producer and local musician Graham Massey. They teamed up with Gerald Simpson, who collaborated the effort. At this time, 808 State recorded the debut EP Newbuild, in 1988. MC Tunes (real name Nicky Lockett) was a British rapper, who worked with the band on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights. The album was a moderate success, reaching #26 in the UK charts, and also saw European and Japanese release. It spawned three UK singles, The Only Rhyme That Bites (UK #10), Tunes Split The Atom (UK #18) and Primary Rhyming (UK #67). Tunes later returned in 1996 to work with on a new track, Pump, taken from their album Thermo Kings. It was due to be released as a single, but this never happened. Simpson left the group to form his own solo project. At this point, the remaining personnel enlisted Andrew Barker and Darren Partington (known as the Spinmasters) to record an EP called Quadrastate in 1989. A very popular hit on the club floors came forth from this effort, entitled Pacific. Their next album, 808:90, was well-received by the ever-growing rave culture at that time. There were other singles released, some of which ended up on the 1991 album Ex:El, which featured vocals from Bernard Sumner (New Order) and ex-Sugarcubes vocalist Björk. In 1992, Price left the group to do solo producing, eventually forming his own label, Sun Text. The remaining members carried on in 1993, releasing an album called Gorgeous, and after that, did some remix work for David Bowie, Soundgarden, and other performers, before returning with the album entitled Don Solaris in 1996. They released a greatest-hits compilation named 808:88-98 in 1998. The band is still active, touring and performing DJ sets, and releasing albums and singles to the dance and rave scene.

Pseudonyms and side projects

808 State and its various members have recorded under a variety of pseudonyms. An early EP, containing the tracks Massage-a-Rama and Sex Mechanic, was released under the name Lounge Jays. These tracks have since been re-released by Rephlex Records on the Prebuild LP. Another early EP, Wax on the Melt, was released under the name Hit Squad Mcr. This is the only EP to which all five members of the group (Graham Massey, Martin Price, Gerald Simpson, Andrew Barker and Darren Partington) contributed simultaneously. Graham Massey recorded a solo EP under the name Massonix. He was also a member of Biting Tongues, an experimental jazz rock group signed to Factory Records. Martin Price left 808 State in 1991 and released a couple of EPs under the name Switzerland. Andrew Barker has produced a small number of tracks as Atlas while Darren Partington has recorded under the name Jeep. Together they're perhaps more familiar to Sunrise FM listeners as The Spinmasters.

Trivia


- In the USA, Hawaii is the 808 state, due to 808 being the telephone area code.
- In the Royal Air Force mailing system for British Forces Post Office addresses RAF Aldergrove in Ireland is BFPO 808, sometimes called the 808 state.
- In the track Pacific (all versions) the bird call heard is that of the North American Loon.

Discography


- Newbuild (1988)
- Quadrastate (1989)
- 90 (1989)
- Utd. State 90 (1990)
- Ex:El (1991)
- Gorgeous (1993)
- Don Solaris (1996)
- 808:88:98 (1998)
- Outpost Transmission (2003)
- Prebuild (2004)

Discography trivia


- Despite still being listed in the catalogues of many online music stores, the Japanese CD version of Quadrastate (entitled Quadrastate Vol 1) was never actually released.
- Utd. State 90 features an alternate version of the track Ancodia from the UK 90 release, although this did previously appear on the Extended Pleasure of Dance EP. Utd. State 90 also features remixes of tracks that previously appeared on Quadrastate.
- The US (Tommy Boy) release of Ex:El features an extended Eric Kupper and Tom Richardson remix of Cubik, whereas the UK (ZTT) release features the original 808 State mix of that track.
- The version of Leo Leo that appears on the Ex:El LP has vocals credited to Raagman, although the track is actually instrumental. The vocal version of the track appears on the In Yer Face single.
- A limited edition LP version of Gorgeous was packaged with an additional piece of vinyl that included three new tracks not found on any other version of Gorgeous. They were also released on Forecast, a compilation for the Japanese market which consisted of remixes and b-sides from the Gorgeous album.
- An official 808 State fan club was started up in the mid-1990s. Those who signed up received a special edition album entitled State to State, which featured additional tracks from the Gorgeous sessions, a previously unreleased track from the Quadrastate sessions, as well as a number of brand new tracks and live performances. The packaging was designed by The Designers Republic.
- The DVD release Optibuk, which features promo videos for every 808 State single, also came with an audio CD entitled State to State Volume 2. This featured a mixture of new, rare and previously unreleased tracks.

External links


- [http://xltronic.com/discography/alias/231/808state Complete 808state discography]
- [http://www.808state.com Band website with most recent information] Category:Electronic music groups Category:Techno music groups Category:House music groups Category:British musical groups Category:English musical groups Category:1980s music groups Category:1990s music groups Category:2000s music groups Category:ZTT Records artist ja:808ステイト

Hawaii

Hawaii (Hawaiian/Hawaiian English: Hawaii, with the okina; also, historically, the Sandwich Islands) is the archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Admitted on August 21, 1959, Hawaii constitutes the 50th state of the United States and is situated 2500 miles from the mainland. It is the southernmost part of that country. As of the 2000 U.S. Census it had a population of 1,211,537 people. Honolulu is the largest city and the state capital. Hawaiis the most recently admitted state of the United States. In addition to possessing the southernmost point in the United States, it is the only state that lies completely in the tropics. As one of two states outside the contiguous United States (the other being Alaska), it is the only state without territory on the mainland of any continent and it is the only state that continues to grow due to active lava flows, most notably from Kīlauea. Ethnically, Hawaii is the only state that has a majority group that is non-white (and one of only four in which non-Hispanic whites do not form a majority) and has the largest percentage of Asian Americans. For various reasons, Hawaii is considered the endangered species capital of the United States.

Symbols

The state constitution and various other measures of the Hawaii State Legislature established official symbols meant to embody the distinctive culture and heritage of Hawaii. These include a state bird, state fish, state flower, state gem, state mammal, state tree and the state muffin, though only a few other states share this symbol, like Washington. Included are the two statues representing Hawaii in the United States Capitol. The primary symbol is the state flag, Ka Hae Hawaii, influenced by the British Union Flag and features eight horizontal stripes representing the eight major Hawaiian Islands. The constitution declares the state motto to be Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Āina i ka Pono, a pronouncement of King Kamehameha III meaning, "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." It was also the motto of the kingdom, republic and territory. The official languages are Hawaiian and Hawaiian English. Hawaiian Pidgin is an unofficial language. The state song is Hawaii ponoi, written by King Kalākaua and composed by Henri Berger. Hawaii Aloha is the unofficial state song, often sung in official state event.
Image:Nene.neck.arp.600pix.jpg|Hawaiian Goose
Nēnē
State Bird Image:Humuhumunukunukuapuaa.jpg|Reef Triggerfish
Humuhumunukunukuāpua'a
State Fish Image:Maohauhele.jpg|Hawaiian Hibiscus
Mao hau hele
State Flower Image:Aleuritesmoluccana1web.jpg|Candlenut
Kukui
State Tree Image:Humpback Whale underwater shot.jpg|Humpback Whale
Koholā kuapio
State Mammal Image:Fatherdamienstatue2.jpg|Father Damien Statue
State Capitol Image:Kamehamehastatue.jpg|Kamehameha Statue
Aliiolani Hale - State Supreme Court

Geography

Main article: Hawaiian Islands Nineteen islands and atolls extending across a distance of 2,400 km (1,500 mi) comprise the Hawaiian Archipelago. The main islands are the eight high islands at the southeastern end of the island chain. These islands are, in order from the northwest to southeast, Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lānai, Kahoolawe, Maui and the Island of Hawaii. All of the Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanoes arising from the sea floor through a vent described in geological theory as a hotspot. The theory maintains that as the tectonic plate beneath much the Pacific Ocean moves in a northwesterly direction, the hot spot remains stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes. This explains why only volcanoes on the southern half of the Island of Hawaii are presently active. The last volcanic eruption outside the Island of Hawaii happened at Haleakalā on Maui in the late 18th century. The newest volcano to form is Lōihi, deep below the waters off the south coast of the Island of Hawaii. The isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the wide range of environments to be found on high islands located in and near the tropics, has resulted in a vast array of endemic flora and fauna. The volcanic activity and subsequent erosion created impressive geological features. Those conditions make Mount Waialeale the wettest place on earth; it averages 11.7 m (460 in) of rain annually. The movement of the Hawaiian royal family from the Island of Hawaii to Maui and subsequently to Oahu explains why certain population centers exist where they do today. The largest city, Honolulu, was the one chosen by King Kamehameha III as the capital of his kingdom due to the natural harbor there, the present-day Honolulu Harbor. Other large cities and towns include Hilo, Kahului and Līhue.
Image:Niihausatellite.jpg|Niihau Image:Kauai from space oriented.jpg|Kauai Image:Oahu.jpg|Oahu Image:Maui.jpg|Maui Image:Molokaifromsatellite.jpg|Molokai Image:Lanaisatellite.jpg|Lānai Image:Kahoolawesatellite.jpg|Kahoolawe Image:STS61A-50-57.jpg|Hawaii

Climate

The Climate of Hawaii is typical of tropical areas. It is famous for being warm throughout the whole year; during the summer, the temperature may reach to around 90 degrees Farenheit. Though people who live in Hawaii often complain about the heat, tourists generally enjoy the warm weather, as many of them come from locations of colder climates. Thus, Hawaii has become a popular tourist destination in the wintertime, when the Hawaiian weather would be above 70 degrees Farenheit. Hawaii is also popular with tourists in the summer because it does not suffer from the same heat waves that occur in the continental North America -- Hawaii has tradewinds which keep excess heat away. The main portions of Oahu can be divided into Windward and Leeward sections, divided by a mountain range. The Windward side enjoys more rain. However the Leeward side's drier climate has benefitted toward the plantation industries.

History

Hawaiian antiquity

Main article: Ancient Hawaii, Hawaiian mythology, Polynesian mythology Anthropologists believe that Polynesians from the Marquesas and Society Islands first populated the Hawaiian Islands in approximately 300AD, followed by Tahitian settlers in approximately 1300AD who conquered and eliminated the original inhabitants of the islands. These Tahitian conquerors preserved memories of their migrations orally through genealogies and folk tales, like the stories of Hawaiiloa and Paao. Relations with other Polynesian groups were sporadic during the early migratory periods, and Hawaii grew from small settlements to a complex society in near isolation. Voyaging between Hawai'i and the South Pacific apparently ceased with no explanation several centuries before European arrival. Local chiefs called alii ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. Warfare was endemic. The general trend was towards chiefdoms of increasing size, even encompassing whole islands. Vague reports by various European explorers suggest that Hawaii was visited by foreigners well before the 1778 arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook. Historians credited Cook with the discovery after he was the first to plot and publish the geographical coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands. Cook named his discovery the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his sponsors, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Hawaiian kingdom

Main article: Kingdom of Hawaii After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and peaceful cession of the island of Kauai in 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were united for the first time under a single ruler who would become known as King Kamehameha the Great. He established the House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872. One of the most important events during those years was the suppression of the Hawaii Catholic Church. That led to the Edict of Toleration that established religious freedom in the Hawaiian Islands. The death of the bachelor King Kamehameha V who did not name an heir resulted in the election of King Lunalilo. After him, governance was passed on to the House of Kalākaua. However, local businessmen effectively rendered the monarchy powerless by enacting the Bayonet Constitution. Among other things, it stripped the king of his administrative authorities, eliminated voting rights for all Asians, and required specific income and property requirements for all other European and native Hawaiian voters, essentially limiting the electorate to elite native Hawaiians and Europeans. King Kalākaua reigned until his death in 1891. His sister, Liliuokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her dethronement in 1893, a coup d'état orchestrated by local businessmen and government officials with the help of an armed militia The Honolulu Rifles, instigated by the Queen's threat to abrogate the constitution. Governance was again passed, this time into the hands of a provisional government and then to an independent Republic of Hawaii. During the kingdom era and subsequent republican regime, Iolani Palace — the only official royal residence in the United States today — served as the capitol buildings.
Image:Kamehamehaportrait.jpg|Kamehameha Image:Kamehamehaii.jpg|Kamehameha II Image:Kamehamehaiii.jpg|Kamehameha III Image:Alexanderliholiho.jpg|Kamehameha IV Image:Kamehamehav.jpg|Kamehameha V Image:Williamcharleslunalilo.jpg|Lunalilo Image:Kalakauapainting.jpg|Kalākaua Image:Liliuokalani2.jpg|Liliuokalani

Hawaiian territory

Main article: Territory of Hawaii The Newlands Resolution was passed on July 7, 1898, formally annexing Hawaii as a United States territory. In 1900, it was granted self-governance and retained Iolani Palace as the territorial capitol building. Though several attempts were made to achieve statehood, Hawaii remained a territory for sixty years. Plantation owners, like those that comprised the so-called Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various other states of the Union. The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by activist descendants of original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a United States territory, they were legal U.S. citizens. Expecting to gain full voting rights, they actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands. In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the Admission Act and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law. (The act excluded Palmyra Atoll, part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawaii, from the new state.) On June 27 of that year, a plebiscite was held asking Hawaiians to vote on accepting the statehood bill. Hawaii voted 17 to 1 to accept. On August 21, church bells throughout Honolulu were rung upon the proclamation that Hawaii was finally the 50th state of the Union.

Hawaiian statehood

After statehood, Hawaii quickly became a modern state with a construction boom and rapidly growing economy. The Hawaii Republican Party, which was strongly supported by the plantation owners, was voted out of office. In its place, the Democratic Party of Hawaii dominated state politics for forty years. The state also worked toward restoring the native Hawaiian culture. The Hawaii State Constitutional Convention of 1978 heralded what some called a Hawaiian renaissance. Its delegates created programs that sought to revive the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture. In addition, they sought to promote native control over Hawaiian issues by creating the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Languages

Main articles: Hawaiian language, Hawaiian English The state of Hawaii has two official languages as prescribed by the Constitution of Hawaii adopted at the 1978 constitutional convention: Hawaiian and English. Article XV, Section 4 requires the use of Hawaiian in official state business such as public acts, documents, laws and transactions. Standard Hawaiian English, a subset of American English, is also commonly used for other formal business. Hawaiian is legally acceptable in all legal documents, from depositions to legislative bills. The third and fourth most spoken languages are Tagalog and Japanese, respectively.

Origins

Before the arrival of Captain James Cook, the Hawaiian language was purely a spoken language. The first written form of Hawaiian was developed by American Protestant missionaries in Hawaii during the early 19th century. The missionaries assigned letters from the English alphabet that roughly corresponded to the Hawaiian sounds. Later, additional characters were added to clarify pronunciation. The okina indicates a glottal stop while the macron called kahakō signifies a long vowel sound. When a Hawaiian word is spelled without any necessary okina and kahakō, it is impossible for someone who does not already know the word to guess at the proper pronunciation. Omission of the okina and kahakō in printed texts can even obscure the meaning of the word. For example, the word lanai means stiff-necked. However, when spelled as lānai it means veranda while Lānai refers to an island. This can be a problem in interpreting 19th century Hawaiian texts recorded in the older orthography. For these reasons, careful writers use the modern Hawaiian orthography.

Revival

As a result of the constitutional provision, interest in the Hawaiian language was revived in the late 20th century. Public and independent schools throughout the state began teaching Hawaiian language standards as part of the regular curricula, beginning with preschool. With the help of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, also created by the 1978 constitutional convention, specially designated Hawaiian language immersion schools were established where students would be taught in all subjects using Hawaiian. Also, the University of Hawaii System developed the only Hawaiian language graduate studies program in the world. Municipal codes were altered in favor of Hawaiian place and street names for new civic developments.

Pidgin

Over the course of Hawaiian history, a third language was developed that is in common use throughout the state today. Originally considered a mere dialect of Hawaiian English, cultural anthropologists have recently reached consensus that Hawaiian Pidgin is a distinct language on its own. Hawaiian Pidgin finds its origins in the sugarcane and pineapple plantations as laborers from different cultures were forced to find their own ways of communicating and understanding each other. Laborer emigrants from different countries — China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Portugal — began composing their own words and phrases based on their own language traditions, which merged with Hawaiian and Hawaiian English.

Debates

A somewhat divisive political issue that has arisen since the Constitution of Hawaii adopted Hawaiian as an official state language is the exact spelling of the state's name. As prescribed in the Admission Act of 1959 that granted Hawaiian statehood, the federal government recognizes Hawaii to be the official state name. However, many state and municipal entities and officials have recognized Hawaii to be the correct state name. Official government publications, as well as department and office titles, use the traditional Hawaiian spelling. Private entities, including local mass media, also have shown a preference for the use of the okina. While in local Hawaiian society the spelling and pronunciation of Hawaii is preferred in nearly all cases, even by standard English speakers, the federal spelling is used for purposes of interpolitical relations between other states and foreign governments. The nuances in the Hawaiian language debate are often not obvious or well-appreciated outside Hawaii. The issue has often been a source of friction in situations where correct naming conventions are mandated, as people frequently disagree over which spelling is correct or incorrect, and where it is correctly or incorrectly applied.

See also


- Hawaiian alphabet

Government

The state government of Hawaii is modeled after the federal government with adaptations originating from the kingdom era of Hawaiian history. As codified in the Constitution of Hawaii, there are three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch is led by the Governor of Hawaii and assisted by the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, both elected on the same ticket. The governor, in residence at Washington Place, is the only public official elected for the state government in a statewide race; all other administrators and judges are appointed by the governor. The lieutenant governor is concurrently the Secretary of State of Hawaii. Both the governor and lieutenant governor administer their duties from the Hawaii State Capitol. The governor and lieutenant governor oversee the major agencies and departments of the executive of which there are twenty. The legislative branch consists of the Hawaii State Legislature — the twenty-five members of the Hawaii State Senate led by the President of the Senate and the fifty-one members of the Hawaii State House of Representatives led by the Speaker of the House. They also govern from the Hawaii State Capitol. The judicial branch is led by the highest state court, the Hawaii State Supreme Court, which uses Aliiolani Hale as its chambers. Lower courts are organized as the Hawaii State Judiciary. The state is represented in the Congress of the United States by a delegation of four members. They are the senior and junior United States Senators, the representative of the First Congressional District of Hawaii and the representative of the Second Congressional District of Hawaii. Many Hawaii residents have been appointed to administer other agencies and departments of the federal government by the President of the United States. All federal officers of Hawaii administer their duties locally from the Prince Kuhio Federal Building near the Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor. Hawaii is primarily dominated by the Democratic Party and has supported Democrats in 10 of the 12 presidential elections in which it has participated. In 2004, John Kerry won the state's 4 electoral votes by a margin of 9 percentage points with 54% of the vote. Every county in the state supported the Democratic candidate. The Prince Kuhio Federal Building also houses agencies of the federal government such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and the United States Secret Service. The building is the site of the federal courts and the offices of the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, principal law enforcement officer of the United States Department of Justice in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
Image:Lindalingle.jpg|Linda Lingle
Governor
(Republican) Image:Jamesaiona.jpg|James R. Aiona, Jr.
Lieutenant Governor
(Republican) Image:Bunda.jpg|Robert Bunda
Senate President
(Democrat) Image:Daniel Inouye.jpg|Daniel Inouye
U.S. Senator
(Democrat) Image:Daniel Akaka.jpg|Daniel Akaka
U.S. Senator
(Democrat) Image:Neilabercrombie.jpg|Neil Abercrombie
U.S. Representative
(Democrat) Image:Edcaseofficial.jpg|Edward Case
U.S. Representative
(Democrat) Image:Mayorharrykim.jpg|Harry Kim
Mayor of Hawaii
(Nonpartisan) Image:Mufihannemann.jpg|Mufi Hannemann
Mayor of Honolulu
(Nonpartisan) Image:Bryanjbaptiste.jpg|Bryan J. Baptiste
Mayor of Kauai
(Nonpartisan) Image:Mayoralanarakawa.jpg|Alan Arakawa
Mayor of Maui
(Nonpartisan)
Unique to Hawaii is the way it has organized its municipal governments. There are no incorporated cities in Hawaii except the City & County of Honolulu. All other municipal governments are administered at the county level. The county executives are the Mayor of Hawaii, Mayor of Honolulu, Mayor of Kauai and Mayor of Maui. All mayors in the state are elected in nonpartisan races. The officers of the federal and state governments have been historically elected from the Democratic Party of Hawaii and the Hawaii Republican Party. Municipal charters in the state have declared all mayors to be elected in nonpartisan races.

Economy

The history of Hawaii can be traced through a succession of dominating industries: sandalwood, whaling, sugarcane, pineapple, military, tourism, and education. Since statehood was achieved in 1959, tourism continues to be the largest industry in Hawaii, contributing 24.3% of the Gross State Product (GSP) in 1997. Most recently, new efforts were created to diversify the economy. The total gross output for the state in 2003 was USD $47 billion. Per capita income for Hawaii residents was USD $30,441. Industrial exports from Hawaii include food processing and apparel. However, because of the considerable shipping distance to markets on the west coast of the United States and ports of Japan, these industries play a small role in the Hawaii economy. The main agricultural exports are nursery stock and flowers, coffee, macadamia nuts, pineapple, livestock, and sugar cane. Agricultural sales for 2002, according to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service, were USD $370.9 million from diversified agriculture, USD $100.6 million from pineapple, and USD $64.3 million from sugarcane. Hawaii is known for its relatively high per capita state tax burden. In the years 2002 and 2003, Hawaii residents had the highest state tax per capita at USD $2,757 and USD $2,838 respectively. This rate can be explained partly by the fact that services such as education, health care and social services are all rendered at the state level — as opposed to the municipal level as all other states. Also, millions of tourists contribute to the collection figure by paying the general excise tax and hotel room tax. Therefore, not all the taxes collected come directly from residents. However, business leaders have often considered the state's tax burden as being too high, contributing to both higher prices and the perception of an unfriendly business climate [http://starbulletin.com/2004/05/21/news/story1.html]. For more information about commercial industries in Hawaii, see the list of businesses in Hawaii.

Education

Main article: Hawaii State Department of Education Hawaii is currently the only state in the union with a unified school system statewide. It is also the oldest public education system west of the Mississippi River. Policy decisions are made by the fourteen-member state Board of Education, with thirteen members elected for four-year terms and one non-voting student member. The Board of Education sets statewide educational policy and hires the state superintendent of schools, who oversees the operations of the state Department of Education. The Department of Education is also divided into seven districts, four on Oahu and one for each of the other counties. The structure of the state Department of Education has been a subject of discussion and controversy in recent years. The main rationale for the current centralized model is equity in school funding and distribution of resources: leveling out inequalities that would exist between highly populated Oahu and the more rural Neighbor Islands, and between lower-income and more affluent areas of the state. This system of school funding differs from many localities in the United States where schools are funded from local property taxes. However, policy initiatives have been made in recent years toward decentralization. Current Governor Linda Lingle is a proponent of replacing the current statewide board with seven elected district boards. The Democrat-controlled state legislature opposed her proposal, instead favoring expansion of decision-making power to the schools and giving schools more discretion over budgeting. Political debate of structural reform is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Schools and academies

Hawaii has the distinction of educating more students in independent institutions of secondary education than any other state in the United States. It also has four of the largest independent schools: Mid-Pacific Institute, Iolani School, Kamehameha Schools and Punahou School. Other popular independent schools include: Hawaii Baptist Academy, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Maryknoll School, St. Andrew's Priory, and Saint Louis School. A highly rated public high school often cited as comparable to the state's independent schools is Moanalua High School. It should be noted that independent and charter schools can select their students, while the regular public schools must take all students in their district. For a comprehensive list of independent schools, see the list of independent schools in Hawaii. For a comprehensive list of public schools, see the list of public schools in Hawaii.

Colleges and universities

Graduates of institutions of secondary learning in Hawaii often either enter directly into the workforce or attend colleges and universities. While many choose to attend colleges and universities on the mainland or elsewhere, most choose to attend one of many institutions of higher learning in Hawaii. The largest of these institutions is the University of Hawaii System. Its main campuses are in Hilo, Manoa and West Oahu. Students choosing private education attend Brigham Young University Hawaii, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaii Pacific University and University of the Nations. The Saint Stephen Diocesan Center is a seminary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. For a comprehensive list of colleges and universities, see the list of colleges and universities in Hawaii.

Problems

Public schools in Hawaii have to deal with large populations of children of non-native English speaking immigrants and a culture that is different in many ways from mainland US, where most of the course materials come from and where most of the standards for schools are set. The public elementary, middle, and high school scores in Hawaii tend to be below average on national tests as mandated under the No Child Left Behind Act. Some of this can be attributed to the Hawaii State Board of Education requiring all eligible students to take these tests and reporting all student test scores unlike, for example, Texas and Michigan. Results reported in August 2005 indicate that two-thirds of Hawaii's schools failed to reach federal minimum performance standards in math and reading (of 282 schools across the state, 185 failed [http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/education/4870699/detail.html]). On the other hand, results of the ACT college placement tests show that Hawaii class of 2005 seniors scored slightly above the national average (21.9 compared with 20.9) (Honolulu Advertiser, Aug. 17, 2005, p. B1). It should be noted that fewer students take the ACT examination than take the more widely accepted SAT examination. On the SAT Hawaii's college bound seniors tend to score below the national average except in math. Hawaii, like all other states in the United States, is struggling to provide educational services in its public schools with shrinking budgets.

Media

Newspapers

Two major competing Honolulu-based newspapers serve all of Hawaii. The Honolulu Advertiser is owned by Gannett Pacific Corporation while the Honolulu Star-Bulletin is owned by Black Press of British Columbia in Canada. Both are two of the largest newspapers in the United States, in terms of circulation. Other locally published newspapers are available to residents of the various islands. The Hawaii business community is served by the Pacific Business News and Hawaii Business Magazine. The largest religious community in Hawaii is served by the Hawaii Catholic Herald. Honolulu Magazine is a popular magazine that offers local interest news and feature articles. Apart from the mainstream press, the state also enjoys a vibrant ethnic publication presence with newspapers for the Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Native Hawaiian communities. In addition, there is an alternative weekly, the Honolulu Weekly.

Television

All the major television networks are represented in Hawaii through KFVE (WB network affiliate), KGMB (CBS network affiliate), KHET (PBS network affiliate), KHNL (NBC network affiliate), KHON (Fox network affiliate), KIKU (UPN network affiliate) and KITV (ABC network affiliate), among others. From Honolulu, programming at these stations is rebroadcast to the various other islands via networks of satellite transmitters. Until the advent of satellite, most network programming was broadcast a week behind mainland scheduling. The various production companies that work with the major networks have produced television series and other projects in Hawaii. Most notable were police dramas like Magnum P.I. and Hawaii Five-O. Currently, the hit TV show Lost is filmed in the Hawaiian Islands. A comprehensive list of such projects can be seen at the list of Hawaii television series.

Film

Hawaii a growing film industry administered by the state through the Hawaii Film Office. Several television shows, movies and various other media projects were produced in the Hawaiian Islands taking advantage of the natural scenic landscapes as backdrops. Notable films produced in Hawaii or were inspired by Hawaii include Hawaii, Blue Hawaii, From Here to Eternity, South Pacific, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Outbreak, Waterworld, Six Days Seven Nights, George of the Jungle, 50 First Dates, Pearl Harbor, Blue Crush and Lilo & Stitch. Hawaii is home to a prominent film festival known as the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Culture

:Main article: Culture of Hawaii The aboriginal culture of Hawaii is Polynesian. Hawaii represents the northernmost extension of the vast Polynesian triangle of the south and central Pacific Ocean. While traditional Hawaiian culture remains only as vestiges influencing modern Hawaiian society, there are reenactments of ancient ceremonies and traditions throughout the islands. Some of these cultural influences are strong enough to have impacted the culture of the United States at large, including the popularity (in greatly modified form) of luaus and hula.
- Customs and etiquette in Hawaii
- Folklore in Hawaii
- Hawaiian mythology
- List of Hawaii state parks
- List of Hawaii State Landmarks
- List of Hawaii-related topics
- Literature in Hawaii
- Music of Hawaii
- Polynesian mythology
- Tourism of Hawaii

Demographics

As of 2004, the population of Hawaii was 1,262,840. The population of Hawaii is approximately 1.2 million, while the de facto population is over 1.3 million due to military presence and tourists. Oahu is the most populous island, with a population of just under one million. Hawaii was the first majority-minority state in the United States since the early twentieth century. According to the 2000 Census, 6.6% of Hawaii's population identified themselves as Native Hawaiian, 24.3% were White or Caucasian, including Portuguese and 41.6% were Asian, including 0.1% Asian Indian, 4.7% Chinese, 14.1% Filipino, 16.7% Japanese, 1.9% Korean and 0.6% Vietnamese. 1.3% were other Pacific Islander which includes Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Maori and Micronesian, and 21.4% described themselves as mixed (two or more races/ethnic groups). 1.8% were Black or African American and 0.3% were Native American and Alaska Native. The second group of foreigners to arrive upon Hawaii's shores, after the Europeans, were the Chinese. Chinese employees serving on Western trading ships disembarked and settled starting in 1789. In 1820 the first American missionaries arrived in Hawaii to preach Christianity and teach the Hawaiians what the missionaries considered "civilized" ways. A large proportion of Hawaii's population has become a people of Asian ancestry (especially Chinese, Japanese and Filipino), many of whom are descendants from those waves of early foreign immigrants brought to the islands in the nineteenth century, beginning in the 1850's, to work on the sugar plantations. The first Japanese arrived in Hawaii on February 9, 1885. The largest city is the capital, Honolulu, located along the southeast coast of the island of Oahu. Other populous cities include Hilo, Kāneohe, Kailua, Pearl City, Kahului, and Kailua-Kona. As of 2000, 73.4% of Hawaii residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 7.9% speak Pacific Island languages. Tagalog is the third most spoken language at 5.4%, followed by Japanese at 5.0% and Chinese at 2.6%.
- Religion
  - Christian = 68%
    - Protestant = 42%
      - Congregational/United Church of Christ= 3%
      - Baptist = 2%
      - Methodist = 2%
    - Catholic = 24%
    - Mormon = 2%
  - Agnostic/non-religious = 18%
  - Buddhist = 9%
  - Other(e.g. Shinto, Tao, pagan) = 5%
- See also: Richest Places in Hawaii

Famous people from Hawaii

The list of famous people from Hawaii is a comprehensive, alphabetized list of persons who have achieved fame that presently or at one time claimed Hawaii as their home. Separate registers of members of the Hawaiian royal family and Hawaii politicians are also available.
Image:Fatherdamien.jpg|Father Damien
Beatified towards sainthood by Pope John Paul II Image:Mothermariannecope.jpg|Mother Marianne Cope
Beatified towards sainthood by Pope Benedict XVI Image:Fong.jpg|Hiram Fong
First Chinese American and Asian American elected United States Senator Image:Dukesurfer.jpg|Duke Kahanamoku
Inventor of modern surfing and 1912, 1920 and 1924 Olympics champion Image:Georgeariyoshi.jpg|George R. Ariyoshi
First Japanese American and Asian American elected governor in the United States Image:Ericshinseki.jpg|Eric Shinseki
First Japanese American and Asian American member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Image:Ben cayetano adresses legislature.jpg|Ben Cayetano
First Filipino American and second Asian american elected governor in the United States

See also


- Hawaii Trivia
Image:Akakafalls1.jpg|Akaka Falls Image:Lightmatter haleakala Maui Hawaii.jpg|Haleakalā Image:Kalalau Trail 2004-08-22.JPG|Na Pali Coast Image:Hawaii sts26 big.jpg|Satellite Image

External links


-
- [http://www.state.hi.us Official state homepage]
- [http://www.gohawaii.com Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau]
- [http://www.hawaiianswers.com HawaiiAnswers.com] - a FAQ repository for Hawaii
- [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=15304 Satellite image of Hawaiian Islands] at NASA's Earth Observatory
- [http://www.google.com/maps?ll=20.731201,-157.675781&spn=5.218506,8.107910&t=k&hl=en Google maps]
- [http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/lacroix.hawaii.history Economic History of Hawaii]
Category:States of the United States zh-min-nan:Hawai‘i ja:ハワイ州 ko:하와이 주 simple:Hawaii th:มลรัฐฮาวาย

Great Britain

:For an explanation of often confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). British Isles (terminology) Great Britain is an island lying off the north-western coast of Europe, comprising the main territory of the United Kingdom (UK). Great Britain is also used as a political term describing the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales, the three countries which together comprise the entire island and include some outlying islands. Great Britain is also widely, but inaccurately, used as a synonym for the sovereign state properly known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Geographical definition

With an area of 218 595km² (84,400 sq.mi) the island of Great Britain is the largest of the British Isles. It is the largest island in Europe, and eighth largest in the world. It is the third most populous island after Java and Honshu. Great Britain stretches over approximately ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north-south axis. Geographically, the island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. Before the end of the last ice age, Great Britain was a peninsula of Europe; the rising sea levels caused by glacial melting at the end of the ice age caused the formation of the English Channel, the body of water which now divides Great Britain from the European mainland. The climate of Great Britain is milder than that of other regions of the Northern Hemisphere at the same latitude, because the warm waters of the Gulf Stream pass by the British Isles and exert a moderating influence on the weather. Cool, but not cold, temperatures, clouds more often than sun, and abundant rain are the rule in most years.

Political definition

Politically, Great Britain describes the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales. It includes outlying islands such as the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland but does not include the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. Over the centuries, Great Britain has evolved politically from several independent countries (England, Scotland, and Wales) through two kingdoms with a shared monarch (England and Scotland), a single all-island Kingdom of Great Britain, to the situation following 1801, in which Great Britain together with the island of Ireland constituted the larger United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK). The UK became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 1920s following the independence of five-sixths of Ireland as the Republic of Ireland.

History

The Roman geographer Ptolemy called the larger island Megale Brettania (Great Britain), and the smaller island Micra Bretannia (Little Britain). Hence, originally, the term Great Britain referred to the largest island in the British Isles, just as the largest of the Canary Islands is still called Gran Canaria, and the largest of the Comoros is Grande Comore. Nevertheless, it is sometimes supposed that Great Britain is a translation of the French term Grande Bretagne, which is used in France to distinguish Britain from Brittany (in French: Bretagne), which had been settled in late Roman times by Romano-Celtic refugees from Roman Britain, then under attack by the Anglo-Saxons. Since the English court and aristocracy was largely French-speaking for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest of 1066, the French term naturally passed into English usage. The term was revived during the reign of King James VI of Scotland, I of England to describe the island, on which co-existed two separate kingdoms, both at that time ruled by the same monarch. Though England and Scotland each remained legally in existence as separate countries with their own parliaments, collectively they were sometimes referred to as Great Britain. In 1707, an Act of Union joined both parliaments. That Act used two different terms to describe the new all island nation, a 'United Kingdom' and the 'Kingdom of Great Britain'. However, the former term is regarded by many as having been a description of the union rather than its name at that stage. Most reference books therefore describe the all-island kingdom that existed between 1707 and 1800 as the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, under a new Act of Union, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom of Ireland, over which the monarch of Great Britain had ruled. The new kingdom was from then onwards unambiguously called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, 26 of Ireland's 32 counties gained independence to form a separate Irish Free State. The remaining truncated kingdom has therefore since then been known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom now also formally includes a number of Overseas Territories.

Usage and nomenclature

Usage of the term Great Britain

Great Britain is also widely, but incorrectly, used as a synonym for the political state properly known as the United Kingdom (see below). This common usage is technically inaccurate as the United Kingdom includes Northern Ireland, in addition to the three countries that make up Great Britain, as shown by its full name "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", and also because the three countries that make up Great Britain itself collectively include over 100 other islands, such as the Isles of Scilly, St Michael's Mount, the Isle of Wight, Lindisfarne, Lundy the Isle of Portland, and Steepholm in England; Flatholm and Anglesey in Wales; and the Isle of Arran, Bute, the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, and inner and outer Hebrides of Scotland. The British themselves occasionally use the abbreviation GB, such as in the Olympic Games where the British team is sometimes informally referred to as 'Team GB'. The UK also uses the international foreign vehicle identification code of GB, although on number plates that include European Identification the code of UK is used. The UK short-code can be confused with the Ukraine. This is discussed further under Britain. There is similar situation with the terms Britain and British, which are used to relate to the whole of the UK and not just the island of Great Britain. This usage is generally considered to be correct. Examples of this are "British monarchs", "British culture" and "British citizens" - which would generally be considered to embrace the whole of the United Kingdom. As if this was not confusion enough, the term "British" also has specific historical and archaeological usage, referring to the Celtic tribes present on the island prior to and during the Roman occupation. In rugby league the RFL fields its representative side under the name Great Britain.

Nomenclature

The name Britain is derived from the name Britannia, used by the Romans from circa 55 BC. The etymology of this term has been the subject of (sometimes fanciful) speculation, but is generally thought to derive from a Celtic word, Pritani, "painted", a reference to the inhabitants of the islands' use of body-paint and tattoos (see Britain for further discussion of etymology). In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (circa 1136), the island of Great Britain was referred to as Britannia maior ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the Gaulish region which approximates to modern Brittany. The term "Bretayne the grete" was used by chroniclers as early as 1338, but it was not used officially until King James I proclaimed himself "King of Great Britain" on 20 October 1604 to avoid the more cumbersome title "King of England and Scotland".

Territories associated with Great Britain


- Kingdom of England
- Kingdom of Scotland
- Principality of Wales
- Duchy of Cornwall

Other lands of the archipelago


- Ireland
  - Republic of Ireland
  - Northern Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Channel Islands

Related topics


- United Kingdom
- UK topics
- British Isles
- Britain
- History of Britain
- History of England
- History of Scotland
- History of Wales
- British Empire
- The Commonwealth of Nations formerly called the British Commonwealth
- List of British monarchs
- Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
- British Prime Ministers
- Constitutional status of Cornwall The Cornish question
- Acts of Union 1536-1543 merging Kingdom of England and Principality of Wales
- Act of Union 1707 merging Scotland and England to form Great Britain
- Act of Union 1800 merging Great Britain and Ireland to form the United Kingdom
- Anglo-Irish Treaty facilitating the Irish Free State's exit from the United Kingdom
- SS Great Britain,
- .gb ccTLD

References

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast Coast] – the BBC explores the coast of Great Britain
- [http://www.know-britain.com/general/great_britain.html Know Britain] – one explanation of the terms "Great Britain", "United Kingdom" and so on
- [http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/freegb/index.htm#maps Administrative map of Great Britain] – from the Ordnance Survey; various formats
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles]
- [http://www.walkingtree.com/ Mercator's Atlas] Maps of Cornwall & Wales ("Cornewallia & Wallia"), Ireland ("Irlandia"), Scotland ("Scotia") and England ("Anglia") circa 1564. Category:British Isles Category:Geography of the United Kingdom Category:Islands in the British Isles Category:Islands ko:그레이트브리튼 섬 ja:グレートブリテン島 simple:Great Britain



1988

1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January


- January 1 - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
- January 2 - Georgia celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- January 9 - Connecticut celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- January 26 - Australia celebrates its bicentennial day.

February


- February 3 - The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to support Nicaraguan Contras.
- February 6 - Massachusetts celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- February 11 - Anthony M. Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
- February 13 - The 1988 Winter Olympics open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- February 17 - US Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a United Nations group monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon is kidnapped (captors later kill him)
- February 21 - On his own televangelism program being taped in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jimmy Swaggart confesses that he is guilty of an unspecified sin and will be temporarily leaving the pulpit. The "unspecified sin" was an affair with a prostitute.
- February 24 - The Supreme Court of the United States sides with Hustler magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award Jerry Falwell $200,000 for defamation (see Hustler Magazine v. Falwell)
- February 26 - Australia's Bicentennial year - discovered 200 years ago today
- February 28 - The 1988 Winter Olympics close.
- February 29 - Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in WWII deportations

March


- March 1 - Anthony M. Frank is appointed United States Postmaster General
- March 7 - Operation Flavius - The SAS shoot dead three unarmed Irish Republican Army members in Gibraltar.
- March 8 - Two United States Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky killing 17 servicemen
- March 9 - Students at Gallaudet University go on strike for the selection of a Deaf university president
- March 16 - The Halabja poison gas attack was carried out by Iraqi government forces.
- March 16 - Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
- March 19 - British army Corporals Woods and Howes are killed by the IRA in the so-called "Corporals killings".
- March 24 - Israeli court sentences Mordechai Vanunu to 18 years in prison for disclosing Israel's nuclear program to The Sunday Times
- March 29 - Assassination of Dulcie September in Paris

April

Paris
- April 4 - Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
- April 10 - The Great Seto Bridge opened to traffic in Japan
- April 12 - Former pop singer Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs, California
- April 14 - In Geneva Agreement, Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan
- April 14 - USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf while deployed on Operation Earnest Will
- April 16 - Israeli commandos kill PLO's Khalil Wazir (Abu Jihad) in Tunisia
- April 18 - U.S. Navy forces retaliate for the Roberts mining with Operation Praying Mantis, a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels
- April 25 - In Israel John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He was accused of being a notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible" by survivors. Conviction overturned by Israeli Supreme Court.
- April 28 - Maryland celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- April 28 - Aloha Flight 243 loses in flight several yards of its upper fuselage; extraordinarily, the craft lands with only one fatality.
- April 30 - World Expo '88 opens in Brisbane Queensland Australia. The exhibition runs for 6 months hosting pavilions from over
70 countries and thrusts the sleepy city of Brisbane into the international spotlight.

May


- May 15 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdraw from Afghanistan.
- May 16 - A report by the Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
- May 16 - California v. Greenwood: In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States rules that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage.
- May 23 - South Carolina celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- May 24 - Section 28 (outlawing promotion of homosexuality in schools) is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.

June


- June 6 - Queen Elizabeth strips jockey Lester Piggott of his OBE
- June 11 - The name of the General Public License (GPL) is mentioned first time.
- June 21 - New Hampshire celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- June 25 - Virginia celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- June 25 - The Netherlands defeat the Soviet Union 2-0 to win Euro 88.
- June 28 - Four workers asphyxiated at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, in the worst confined-space industrial accident in US history. A fifth victim dies two days later.
- June 29 - United States Supreme Court upholds the law allowing special prosecutor to investigate suspected crimes by executive branch officials.
- June 30 - Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops at Ecône for his apostolate along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer without a Papal mandate.

July


- July 1 - Bologna, Italy: Quartetto Cetra's last concert after over forty years' musical career.
- July 3 - Iran Air Flight 655 shot down by missiles launched from the USS Vincennes ship
- July 6 - The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners.
- July 26 - New York celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- July 30¨- Antonio Gomes dos Santos stands motionless in a Lisbon, Portugal shopping center for 15 hours, 2 minutes and 55 seconds

August


- August 6–7 - "Police riot" in New York City's Tompkins Square Park
- August 8 - Thousands of protestors in Burma (Myanmar) killed during demonstrations against the government.
- August 9 - Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial transactions in hockey history.
- August 17 - Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
- August 19 - Ceasefire begins in the Iran-Iraq war
- August 20 - Iran-Iraq war finished, costing an estimated 1 million lives
- August 26 - Merhan Karimi Nasseri ends up stuck in the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris
- August 28 - A fire destroys part of Chiado quarter, in Lisbon's historical center.

September

Lisbon.]]
- September 1- Acacia pycnantha proclamed Australia's national floral emblem
- September 3- Federal referendums on 4-year terms, recognition of local Government and other issues is defeated in Australia
- September 5 - With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States's largest thrift, American Savings and Loan Association
- September 12 - Hurricane Gilbert devastated Jamaica, it turns towards Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula two days later causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
- September 17 - Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea open
- September 22 - Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea. (See also July 6)
- September 29 - NASA resumes space shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster

October


- October 5 - Thousands riots in Algiers, Algeria against the government of National Liberation Front - by October 10 army has killed and tortured about 500 people in crushing the riots
- October 5 - Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is defeated in a national plebiscite that sought to renew his mandate.
- October 11 - Women are allowed to study at Magdalene College, Cambridge, for the first time. Male students wear black armbands and the porter flies a black flag
- October 12 - two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings in Australia
- October 19 - United Kingdom bans broadcast interviews with IRA members. BBC gets around this by using actors' voices.
- October 28 - Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it would resume distribution of the drug, bowing to pressure from the government of France
- October 30 - Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion.
- October 30 - Expo '88 in Brisbane Australia draws to a close after a 6 month spectacular.

November


- November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1988: George Herbert Walker Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis.
- November 11 - In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente (seven bodies were eventually found and Puente was convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison)
- November 15 - In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on her maiden orbital spaceflight (this was the first and last space flight for the shuttle)
- November 15 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46
- November 16 - The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence
- November 16 - In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister
- November 17 - The Netherlands becomes the second country to get connected to the Internet
- November 18 - War on Drugs: US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers
- November 21 - Canadian Federal Election: Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservative Party win a second majority government
- November 22 - In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed
- November 30 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25.07 billion.

December

RJR Nabisco
- December 2 - Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
- December 2 - Cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless - thousands dead
- December 7 - In Armenia an earthquake 6.9 on the Richter scale killed nearly 25,000, injured 15,000 and left 400,000 persons homeless.
- December 12 - The Clapham Junction rail crash kills 35 and injures 132.
- December 19 - The Consumer Product Safety Commission bans the sale of lawn darts following the deaths of three children.
- December 20 - The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
- December 21 - Pan Am flight 103 is blown up by Libyan terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 on board and 11 on the ground.
- December 22 - Assassination of Brazilian union and environmental activist Chico Mendes.

Environmental change


- Zebra mussels found in the Great lakes

Unknown dates


- Dave Barry won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
- Singer Fish leaves the band Marillion to pursue a solo career.
- Mickey Sadoff elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Births


- January 17 - Nikki Reed, American actress
- February 4 - Carly Patterson, American gymnast
- February 7 - Ai Kago, Japanese singer
- February 8 - Ryan Pinkston, American actor
- February 18 - Rihanna, Barbadian R&B singer
- February 27 - JD Natasha, Latin music artist
- March 25 - Erik Knudsen, Canadian actor
- March 27 - Brenda Song, American actress
- March 28 - Lacey Turner, English actress
- April 10 - Haley Joel Osment, American actor
- May 2 - Brooke Hogan, American singer
- June 1 - Nami Tamaki, Japanese singer
- June 7 - Michael Cera, Canadian actor
- June 27 - Kate Ziegler, American swimmer
- August 8 - Princess Beatrice of York
- August 23 - Niki Leinso, Croatian singer and songwriter
- August 24 - Rupert Grint, English actor
- August 27 - Alexa Vega, American actress
- August 31 - Megan McCauley, American singer
- September 24 - Kyle Sullivan, American actor
- September 26 - Marina Kuroki, Japanese actress
- October 5 - Bobby Edner, American actor
- October 23 - Caleigh Peters, American singer
- November 15 - Zena Grey, American actress
- November 21 - Jamie Mahoney, American actor and rapper
- November 28 - Scarlett Pomers, American actress
- December 7 - Emily Browning, Australian actress

Deaths


- January 2 - Edmund Brisco Ford, British geneticist (b. 1901)
- January 5 - Pete Maravich, American basketball player (b. 1947)
- January 7 - Trevor Howard, British actor (b. 1913)
- January 11 - Pappy Boyington, American pilot (b. 1912)
- January 13 - Chiang Ching-kuo, President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)
- January 14 - Georgi Malenkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party (b. 1902)
- January 15 - Seán MacBride, Irish Republican Army leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
- January 16 - Ballard Berkeley, British actor (b. 1904)
- January 20 - Philippe de Rothschild, French vineyard owner (b. 1902)
- January 22 - Parker Fennelly, American comedian and actor (b. 1891)
- February 1 - Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
- February 15 - Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- February 19 - René Char, French poet (b. 1907)
- February 19 - André Frédéric Cournand, French-born physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
- March 1 - Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
- March 5 - Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian and actor (b. 1933)
- March 7 - Divine, American actor (b. 1945)
- March 8 - Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born violinist (b. 1918)
- March 9 -