The world spinning only moderately out of control, this March 2nd in 1983.

Save for the worst weather to Southern California in decades, with storms dumping in excess of 21 inches as of this day, compared to 6 inches for the entire season last year, it was a reasonably calm day, as days on planet Earth go.

Pope John Paul II was winging his way to Costa Rica for the first of an 8 country visit to Central America. Billed as an "Appeal for Peace", foremost on his "to-do" list was having a sit-down with his emissaries to figure out why so many priests were joining up with the Sandanista rebels.

Meanwhile, loud calls for increased funding and arms shipments to the Contras were bouncing around Capitol Hill. The old Domino Theory being trotted out for another moth-ridden appearance. Or maybe a smokescreen.

In other Capitol Hill goings-on; the $150bn bailout for Social Security was approved, and the index of Leading Indicator figures were released showing a whopping 3.6% increase - the biggest jump since 1950.

The worst batch of storms in decades was pounding the West Coast of the U.S., soaking Southern California in particular to the tune of 21 inches for this latest storm - a far cry from the 6 inches total for the previous year. And at last report, a whole series of storms was lined up to continue the assault. The weather put a damper on Queen Elizabeth's visit to California, forcing a cruise of the Royal Yacht up the coast to be shelved in favor of flying to Santa Barbara for lunch with the President.

At least it wasn't lava flowing like it was in Hawaii, compliments of the Kilauea Volcano and the 15 foot wall of molten detritus marching relentlessly towards a newly constructed subdivision.

Or the on-going Iran-Iraq War which saw an attack on Iran's Oil fields and the reported sinking of 5 Iranian ships, including oil tankers - that one sent out pangs of apprehension for the gas pump, even though Saudi Arabia and Venezuela proposed to OPEC a lowering of oil prices, rather than raising them.

And Burlington Vermont re-elected their first Socialist Mayor. Bernard Sanders was ushered in for a second term, defeating both the Democratic and Republican candidates for the job. Burlington was the first city in the U.S. to have a Socialist Mayor and all eyes were gazing askance towards New England, wondering if this was going to be a trend or, like Flashdance, just a phase.

And so it went for this March 2nd, 1983 as told to eager ears on The CBS World News Roundup, Newsbreak, the 9:00 am Network news and Reporters Notebook.

Just in case you needed confirmation.

News for this day in 1942 was anything but upbeat. The War in the Pacific had taken a much grimmer turn than was expected. With reports coming from Sydney Australia that, not only had Singapore fallen, but an invasion of Bali was imminent, as was Rangoon and heavy fighting had been going on in Burma and throughout the Dutch East Indies. Fears were now rife that, unless something happenened to stall the advances, an invasion of Australia was only a matter of time.

With Allied forces outnumbered on average of 10-15 to 1, finger pointing and laying blame were now in full bloom. Reports of excessive amounts of bungling, not only in miscalculating Japanese troop and air strength but mismanagement of Allied support were heard all over the Pacific region. From British fliers grounded over lack of orders to U.S. Naval gunners handed ammunition that had expired ten years earlier, the news was going from bad to worse and on-the-scene broadcast reports of the latest news were hard pressed to put an optimistic spin on any of it.

Meanwhile, a state of Martial Law had been declared in Hawaii with a total blackout and curfew being enforced as well as complete prohibition which had been in place since December 8th. Similar measures were being considered throughout the mainland U.S. and already mass internment of Japanese-Americans was taking place on the West Coast. News reports were quick to downplay the internment, saying it was strictly on "a volunteer basis", but reality proved otherwise. Likewise reports that what was going on in American cities was not to be considered Martial Law but a precaution against 5th Column activity and enemy raids, particularly on the West Coast. Even though blackouts and restricted civilian movement were heavily enforced.

On Capitol Hill, debate was underway regarding the War Powers Bill and appropriation of funds was being voted on to establish a Women's Army Corps.

And that's how it sounded, this February 21st in 1942. There are two broadcasts; one is a roundup of War news and the other is a special broadcast from Sydney, Australia by NBC Correspondent Martin Agronsky.

On December 17th 1941 it was 10 days after Pearl Harbor and the country was gearing up for what would become the long haul. Fighting was going on all over the Pacific region and news reports on this day try to keep track of what was happening with varying degrees of results. Heads were rolling in Washington over who was "asleep at the switch" in Pearl Harbor and the Pacific Command was revamped and replaced quickly with heads lined up on the chopping block before any investigation got underway. Despite everything the universal feeling was to keep Christmas going and even the Mayor of San Francisco declared all celebrations would go on as planned. Not even a war was going to stop people from jamming local department stores, even if they were blacked out.

A day with more questions than answers and a December 17th more confusing than most.

(Sixty-nine years ago on this day, the world became a different place)

The event is fading from view because the participants are slowly fading away themselves. The world has changed in infinite ways since it was December 7, 1941. War is still the same though - that will never change. How it's waged has changed, but the politics haven't. The enemy has changed, but the armies of refugees and innocent loss of life is the same.

George Putnam (NBC News): “The flame of ruthless war is burning clear around the world tonight, set off by a wanton Japanese surprise attack on American Pacific outposts from Guam to Hawaii and on shipping off the continental coast of these United States.”

And that was then, this day sixty-nine years ago.

(Okay - admit it: When's the last time you heard Hawaiian guitars?)

I don't know about you, but here we are in the dead of summer where it's 90+ degrees with 90+ percent humidity and the only thing I want to do is go vacant in front of a large air-conditioner and imagine balmy breezes and tiki bars.

So naturally, my fingers wandered over to a stack of Hawaiian 78's, recorded in the 1950's by the great Rudi Wairata and The Mena Moeria Minstrels.

You probably haven't heard of them. And to tell you the truth, neither had I until a few years ago when I got a collection of 78's from a friend in Europe.

It seems The Mena Moeria Minstrels were a combination Dutch Indonesian and Hawaiian and were pretty big in Europe, apart from their popularity on the Islands, and these discs were put out by a Dutch company Omega Records in 1953.

Aside from the historic aspect, I was hooked on this track "Maui Moon" after the first few bars.

The 1950's were loaded with a lot of interesting (and some downright strange) music, aside from the flood of rock n' roll and R&B. Not a whole lot of it has been explored and some of it has been unjustifiably neglected.

This might be one of them.