On This Day: Thursday July 7, 2005 This is the 188th day of the year, with 177 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: Hawaii Hawaii (also Hawai'i) comprises a group of over twenty islands and was first settled by Polynesians. It was visited by Captain James Cook in 1778 who called them the Sandwich Islands for the English earl of Sandwich. Hawaiian Hawai'i came from Proto-Polynesian hawaiki and a couple of theories exist on the origin of the name. One theory has it that the name comes from a combination of the words Hawa and ii and means a small or new homeland. Another theory is that the name comes from the traditional discoverer of the islands, Hawaii Loa. Hawai'i residents aren't referred to as "Hawaiian" unless they have aboriginal native blood, which differs from other states. Holidays Feast day of St Hedda of Winchester, Saints Ethelburga, Ercongota and Sethrida, St Palladius, Saints Cyril and Methodius, St Pantaenus, and St Felix of Nantes. Solomon Islands: Independence Day. Events 1802 - The first comic book was published, in New York, "The Wasp" created by Robert Rusticoat. 1846 - The US annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after the surrender of a Mexican garrison. 1865 - Four people were hanged in Washington, DC., after being convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Lincoln. 1898 - The United States annexed Hawaii. 1930 - Construction began on Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam). 1941 - The neutral United States moves closer to war with Germany when US forces landed on Iceland to protect sea routes from German submarine attack. 1949 - The police drama "Dragnet" premiered on the radio. 1969 - Canada's House of Commons approved making the French language equal to English throughout the national government. 1976 - For the first time, women enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. 1978 - Solomon Islands became an independent nation, ending 80 years of British rule. 1981 - President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman Supreme Court justice in US. Births 1839 - John D. Rockefeller, oil company magnate, philanthropist. 1860 - Gustav Mahler, musician, composer. 1887 - Marc Chagall, artist. 1906 - Satchel (Leroy) Paige, baseball Hall of Famer. 1922 - Pierre Cardin, French fashion designer. 1940 - Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey), drummer of The Beatles.