thedeparted
12-26-2011, 04:19 PM
Zakaria: Why Samoa will lose December 30th
By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
Come with me now on a long journey to a far off island nation about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand - Samoa. Its lush volcanic valleys make it a mostly agricultural nation; it has no military whatsoever; and it shouldn't be confused with its neighbor, American Samoa. Now, if you're tempted to visit, do not plan a celebration there on December 30th. Why? Because that day will simply not exist there. The calendar will jump from the 29th of December to the 31st. What in the world?
It's actually a smart economic decision. You see, Samoa is just 20 miles away from the International Dateline. As the name suggests, it's an imaginary longitude that marks a change in date when we fly, sail or steam over it. That line was created more than a century ago, when it was decided Samoa would be 11 hours behind Greenwich Meantime outside of London; it's three hours behind Pacific Time in Los Angeles.
The theory went that being on a similar time zone to the Americas would benefit trade and commerce for Samoa - but the times, quite literally, are changing. Samoa now does most of its business with its neighbors.
But Sydney, in Australia, is 10 hours ahead of London, and - bear with me on the math here - that means Samoa has been conducting most of its trade with a country that is 21 hours ahead of it. So when it's Friday morning at a Samoan factory, Australian clients are already at the beach on a sunny Saturday. And when the Aussies go back to work on Monday, the Samoans are still at Sunday church, or whatever Samoans do on Sundays.
Come December 29th, that's all going to change. Samoa will leap forward a day, and it will be just three hours ahead of Sydney.
Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/06/26/gps.samoa.shorter.2011.cnn)
lol well this is certainly an interesting concept that i really didn't even think was possible..
By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
Come with me now on a long journey to a far off island nation about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand - Samoa. Its lush volcanic valleys make it a mostly agricultural nation; it has no military whatsoever; and it shouldn't be confused with its neighbor, American Samoa. Now, if you're tempted to visit, do not plan a celebration there on December 30th. Why? Because that day will simply not exist there. The calendar will jump from the 29th of December to the 31st. What in the world?
It's actually a smart economic decision. You see, Samoa is just 20 miles away from the International Dateline. As the name suggests, it's an imaginary longitude that marks a change in date when we fly, sail or steam over it. That line was created more than a century ago, when it was decided Samoa would be 11 hours behind Greenwich Meantime outside of London; it's three hours behind Pacific Time in Los Angeles.
The theory went that being on a similar time zone to the Americas would benefit trade and commerce for Samoa - but the times, quite literally, are changing. Samoa now does most of its business with its neighbors.
But Sydney, in Australia, is 10 hours ahead of London, and - bear with me on the math here - that means Samoa has been conducting most of its trade with a country that is 21 hours ahead of it. So when it's Friday morning at a Samoan factory, Australian clients are already at the beach on a sunny Saturday. And when the Aussies go back to work on Monday, the Samoans are still at Sunday church, or whatever Samoans do on Sundays.
Come December 29th, that's all going to change. Samoa will leap forward a day, and it will be just three hours ahead of Sydney.
Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/06/26/gps.samoa.shorter.2011.cnn)
lol well this is certainly an interesting concept that i really didn't even think was possible..