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Subscribe to RSSRachel Maddow reports on a peculiar switch in the calendar for Samoa as they move to the other side of the International Date Line and lose a Friday in order to be better aligned with their trading partners.
Just this once, Samoa is making Dec. 30 disappear.
It's the key step in the Pacific island nation's plan to move from the eastern to the western side of the International Date Line and mesh its work week with two of its primary trading partners, New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand territory of Tokelau is making the switch as well.
"In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week," Stuff.co.nz quoted Samoan Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele as saying. "While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand, and when we're at church Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."
Samoa will go directly from 11:59 p.m. Thursday, through midnight to 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
"It hasn't been controversial," the editor of the Samoa Observer, Mata'afa Lesa, told me today. (Yes, definitely still today.) "People are realizing when they sleep tomorrow night, they'll wake up on Saturday."
Hotel guests won't have to pay for an extra night, but employers will be required to pay workers for Friday. "For the business community, it's very difficult," Lesa said, "They'll be paying for a day that doesn't exist."
As for folks born on Dec. 30 ... well, this year they're in the same boat as Feb. 29 birthday babies.
MSNBC
Samoa is on the eastern side of the International Date Line ... until Thursday night.
American Samoa, 100 miles to the east, will not be making the switch. All this means that Samoa and Tokelau will be among the first places in the world to see each day's sunrise. (Stuff.co.nz says the "first light honors" will belong to Fakaofo in Tokelau, although Kiribati and Antarctica also have claims on the title.) Meanwhile, American Samoa will become known as the last place to see each day's sunset. And if you want to celebrate your birthday or anniversary (or New Year's Eve, for that matter) two days in a row, you can just make the hourlong flight from Samoa to American Samoa.
This isn't the first step taken by the Samoan government to bring itself more in line with its bigger Pacific neighbors. Two years ago, drivers were ordered to switch from right-side to left-side driving — to reduce the cost of converting cars brought in from Australia and New Zealand.
It's also not the first time Samoa has switched sides on the calendar: Back in 1892, Samoans gained an extra day when they went from the west side of the imaginary Date Line to the east side. The king made the switch to please U.S. traders — and to celebrate, he gave his subjects a double dose of the Fourth of July that year.
NBC's Lester Holt reports on Samoa's date shift for "Nightly News."
Update for 10:45 p.m. ET: Some of the comments suggest there's been a bit of confusion over how many Fridays will be dropped from the calendar because of Samoa's shift from one side of the International Date Line to the other. It's just one. I've rewritten the headline to make that clearer.
More calendar considerations:
- Is it time to overhaul the calendar?
- Scramble the calendar for palindromes
- Britain may consider time zone switch
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Pelosi's husband can't get all the graft if he loses a day of corruption.
Good god, how do you turn THIS story political. Get over yourself.
It's Bush's fault. Could not resist, you used the force.
I think ProAmerica is more right than any of you want to hear! Sorry the truth hurts your feelings Larry, but if you think this move is not politically motivated then your just not paying attention to the world.
It may be politically motivated -- but it's not our politics. The world does not revolve around the US, no matter what we think. The rest of the world has their own issues and drama.
do we know that it is not pressure from someone, something in the US?
They just want to be on the same time zone as Australia where they do business just as they changed from driving on the right to driving on the left. What does this have to do with politics or America.
It's the "Ugly American" syndrome, in other words, some Americans just absolutely know what is best for everyone else.
Since you brought the subject of political graft up.... How about all the REPUBLICAN and TEA-TAGGER jerks in Washington, D.C. who "just happen" to also be taking bribes and other "political campaign contributions"? Why concentrate ONLY on one political party?
WTF is up with all these people that are so delusional that they think that everything is about US politics?
GET OVER YOURSELVES!!!
WOW, Just WOW!!! Some of you people are truly amazing. This story has "ABSOLUTELY ZERO" to do with American politics, let alone Pelosi and her husband. You dill weeds seriously need to get a damn life. Also, read the story, as it clearly stated they are making the change to be on the same day as New Zealand and Australia. WOW!!!! (as danwill said, GET OVER YOURSELVES!!!)
short version of The Lost Weekend
Pelosi's dealing are in American Samoa.........she supposedly through channels had the Island excluded from the last minimum wage increase to help the parent company of Starkist Tuna which processes 70% of their tuna there and the Pelosis are large stock holders.
Screw those EMO kids who are always talking about dying.
I wish one day was like 80 hours long.
So that I have time to go to the beach, go to work, go on a date, bring that date home and play with her for 10 hours and then play with my xbox, and still have 20 hours to sleep.
And we all lived up to 500 years old, on an 80 hour day.
1hiram, read the article, this is not about american samoa, it was briefly mentioned that AS was not included in this
Ok, hard to understand. Does this mean they get a 3 day weekend every week? Or are we just saying, they are operating as if they are on the other side of the dateline?
No, this is a one time deal. They are simply giving "back" the day they received in 1892.
This is a one time thing that allows them to change their position on the International Dateline.
As I read it, they will be on the other side of the dateline, not just acting as if they were. The dateline is imaginary, afterall -- an arbitrary point decided by human beings to suit our needs. If needs change, especially at the edges like this, the line can be adjusted. If the line is imaginary, anyway, why not imagine it on the other side of these islands if it is more convenient for them? It is no different than areas on the edges of time zones switching from one time zone to another. It happens. Nothing earth shattering.
This Friday won't exist as they "cross" the dateline to Saturday from Thursday. They are doing this to be on the same day as their trading partners. They aren't losing all of their Friday's, Just the Friday on December 30, 2011.
No. It just changes this one time. The headline is once again deceptive. They are not removing Friday from the calendar. They are simply skipping ONE Friday.
Why is it so frequent that these articles have to have commentors to clarify the actual facts. That used to be the job of the reporter.
They will not have a 3 day weekend. They will have a 2 day weekend like normal. It will just be moved up a day.
I can't really understand why they are making the employers pay them for a day that they don't work on. Gov't silliness as usual. How about the Gov't reimburses the businesses since it was the Government's idea to change the date? Nope.
"Why is it so frequent that these articles have to have commentors to clarify the actual facts. That used to be the job of the reporter."
Because the quality of journalism has gone through the floor and now any pundit with a typewriter can extol the facts. Sad really.
oz-abroad -
The headline "Samoa drops Friday from calendar" is deceptive. The could just as easily have said "Samoa drops a Friday from calendar" - and it would have been accurate.
Sloppy or deceptive?
You make the call.
The world would be better off with 13, 28 day months. Then, every 1 st would be a Monday, and every 7th would be a Sunday Etc Every 8th would be a Tuesday. You get the Idea?
The world would be better off with 13, 28 day months. Then, every 1 st would be a Monday, and every 7th would be a Sunday Etc Every 8th would be a Tuesday. You get the Idea?
If all the Samoans in the NFL don't show up for Sunday's games - we'll know why.
Greg Berry -
Except that there are 365.25 days in a year.
So 13 X 28 = 364.
I like your idea, but it won't work without us getting off a day a year. It would add up quickly and around 24 years later we would be a month off.
Whether the headline is deceptive or not, why not just take the time to READ THE ARTICLE? Oh, right, y'all are so busy surfin' the 'net for news articles that you can comment on that y'all ain't got any time to do anything except complain about how little time y'all have to work and how deceptive the headlines are.
And greg berry, if the 1st of the month is always a Monday, it is true that the 7th of the month will always be a Sunday -- but the 8th WILL NOT be a Tuesday. The only way that would happen is if you skip Monday for the second week of every month, something your boss will never let you do.
I want to get rid of Mondays!
Every Monday!
I'm just glad I had taken the time to actually read the article and watch the vid piece. I had assumed from the headline that this was some kind of lame protest over the novel "Robinson Crusoe" and his pal Friday.
My only deal with this issue is: I keep confusing Rachel MadCow with Doogie Howser.
I also noticed that HollyWierd is similarly confused. When Rachel is doing her rant TV show, Doogie's people cannot find him anywhere. And when Doogie is on TV, Rachel is nowhere to be found. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!?
Oh yeah, one more thing... NewsVine article writers are really , REALLY bad at writing articles. That's all.
It's not just dropping "a" Friday from the calendar. It's dropping Friday, as in this Friday, from the calendar. I think that's clear from the article: Dec. 30 is disappearing "just this once." I suppose it makes people feel better to always think of folks like me as sloppy and deceptive, and heaven knows I do get sloppy sometimes, but I do try to make amends. I thought of using "a Friday" or "this Friday" in the headline, but it just didn't sound right. I'll rethink the headline.
I do get a little tired of references such as "any pundit with a typewriter." I've been in daily journalism for 35 years ... 19 on newspapers and 16 on the Web. So yes, I'm a hack. But I'm an experienced, hard-working hack.
Alan, this article was not too bad... it is the NewsVine articles, in general, with which I am fed up; they are so often full of grammatical and factual errors that the NewsVine commenters are making corrections on them left and right. I guess the junior high school subcontractor team writing up the NewsVine articles is a different group of people than the college graduate MSNBC team. And I KNOW these articles have not been subcontracted out to Bombay -- we'd be giggling ourselves off our seats -- Bombay's news articles read completely differently without the Americanisms.
Yes, OK... I see it now... "This week, Samoa will skip this Friday" does not work. I enjoy "Samoa will skip Friday later this week" (with the with/without the use of the optional word "later"). But now I need this headline to be critiqued by you, Alan.
Alan, now that I have an MSNBC employee's attention; could you please tell Corporate to use Dara Brown and Janet Shamlian more often on televised news articles? They are Beautiful.
I'll be sure to tell folks that, Spidey. I've revised the headline once already and I think I'll ride it out with this one. ;-)
I don't understand why all employees are still getting paid for Friday, when there won't be a Friday that week. They'll all miss one day of work, and get their paychecks one day earlier than they normally would, yet their check will be the same amount as always? That would certainly never happen in the US, given the way our businesses operate.
Time is relative. How abrout daylight savings time and standard time? or central, mountain and pacific time zones. All of it meshes together. Let's just do away with watches altogether and no one would know the difference. Its all about the rotation of the Earth around the sun. Are we cheating our old friends by doing away with whole days and hours? I'm sorry that Samoa will be losing a whole day. That is a day of life to be lived. Just who makes these decisions anyway? I'm just curious. Is it a time zone committee, government officials? Does the whole world have to give it's permission or just Samoa? Inquiring minds want to know.
Alan, I swear, some people would criticize you(or any one actually) if you were to write the best ever masterpiece that stopped babies from crying, rivers from flooding, Tornadoes and Hurricanes from ever occuring, etc. etc. They just have to have something to bitch about, now matter who wrote it or what it is even about. I enjoyed reading the article myself, even if you are a "professed" hack. Happy New Years Alan, and to every body else.
yup it's all about the mighty dollar......this is why the whole friggin world is the way it is. greed greed and more greed. i guess if u don't own more then 5 houses, 10 cars and a couple of yachts u r considered middle class...wtf..oh wait i forgot there is no middle class...btw sometimes you have to yell!!
This is more of a practical business decision than pure greed.
If you read the article, you would have known that also.
What?!? Did you read the same article or do you just post this crap on EVERY story. Middle class? 5 houses and 10 cars? Where the F*** did you get that from this article? Yes, they are shifting to accomodate their economy, but you're right, why would they want to be able to survive as a country? Also, if you read the article, you would have seen that in 1892 they made the switch the opposite way because the US was their main trade partner, so in a sense they are un-doing it for the "mighty dollar". Ugh...
Saddam Hussein switched from the US dollar to the Euro for trade purposes and look what happened to him...we invade Samoa on Saturday ;>)
The Samoa is by far the BEST Girl Scout cookie made.
you post @!$%# like this on every other story i read. get over it marion
But which side of the dateline will the Thin Mints be on? Not enough info, MSN.
Say what you want about Samoa, but they make one hell of a cookie!
Yes, and they are probably made by some of Pelosi's slave labor.
See post #1.
That's a samoSa.
No, the cookie is a Samoa. A Samosa is a stuffed, fried snack, usually with vegetables and spices in it. Both are delicious although probably should never be eaten together.
I love girl scout Samoa cookies! Nom nom nom.....
I like Samoa's big, white fluffy dogs too.
and if you run out, you can always go get...Samoa.
I've never seen a Samoan Girl Scout. Do they threaten to sit on you if you don't buy their cookies?
Do their droppings look like Girl Scout cookies?
Clever
Lora, samosas are not cookies. lol
Hey jimreaper, are Pelosi's slave laborers any worse off or treated less fairly than Rick Perry's slave laborers? How do they compare to Ron Paul's slave laborers? Face it, jimreaper (and all you other idjits) -- they're ALL millionaire political wankers who care only about how much money they have and can get.
Ooh Ooh.
Those Girl Scout Samoas ARE GOOD COOKIES.
Did somebody say something about Mimosas? I love Mimosas, think I'll have another...
I think it means that they will be working more like a 3rd shift nation (only during the daylight) . Meaning that Thursday will be their Friday and Sunday they will return to work for the beginning of the week, as in sun thru thurs, friday and saturday off.
Who's on first?
It's "just this once." Folks will go to bed on Thursday night and wake up Saturday morning for their Saturday routine. But next week, Friday returns to the schedule and all's right with the world.
When I was in school that was the norm, go to bed Thursday - wake up Saturday.
Lol B_E_L_I_U.... Alan, you should just let them have their little rants, the poor little things.
Thats not fair! i want to skip the 30th
This move makes FAR more sense than daylight savings time ever could.
Read the freakin story before you comment, you tards!!
Agreed...
Hawkeye, that would actually make sense, ain't never gonna happen. (I love the word ain't, it used to drive one of my English Teachers, absolutely NUTS!!! HAHA!!)
You know, I had always heard that daylight savings time was the brainchild of the upper middle class. The doctors and lawyers who could afford the club fees always wanted more daylight time to get in a few more holes on the golf course.
That makes about as much sense as what I've always heard -- it allows enough daylight after work to mow the lawn. C'est la vie... There are more important battles to fight than daylight savings -- silly as it may be.
It was for the farmers, Einstein
Sorta close. While he probably wasn't "of the upper middle class" George Vernon Hudson, an entomologist, is credited with the idea. The idea was to have more daylight to collect insects. He was also an avid golfer.
Take THAT conservative! Thank you jimreaper. No I dont want to start a fight , lol, its just fun picking up new information and to find that an old wives tale wasnt so off after all.
Settle down, Conservative, although I know it's hard controlling that irrational hostility you conservatives just love spewing forth anonymously on any topic.
FYI - daylight savings time was instituted to disrupt and unbalance the circadian rhythms of the general population in an effort to make them more compliant to authoritarian directives.
All other "explanations" are deliberate lies to misinform the very public that authoritarians are dedicated to keeping in a constant state of confusion, or imbalance. It has nothing to do with an extra hour of daylight or anything else pertinent to the real world. The only way to maintain circadian integrity through the changing seasons is to get an earlier start (or later) by specific, ad hoc, adaptation, day by day. Changing your clock to lie to you, based upon some arbitrary directive, has NO beneficial effect or result.
The Samoan strategy, however, makes perfect sense.
In the days when everyone was a farmer it was enacted so that the farmer could have a couple extra hours to work in the field. As the country became more industrialized and more and more kids had to go to school ( you know 5 miles uphill both ways ) they kept dst so that the kids didn't have to walk in the dark, and those without electricity yet still had the daylight in which to do their schoolwork. Why we hang on to DST is a mystery to me. Here in Arizona, we don't participate in the custom. But like the song says IT'S 5 O'CLOCK SOMEWHERE!
frances is correct. To contend that it was initiated by the upper middle class is ridiculous. Furthermore, very few lawyers nowadays, as well as back then, can afford to belong to a country club. People's perceptions of lawyers are skewed.
papsotherboy- Paranoid much?
Daylight savings time was suggested by my friend Ben Franklin. Well I wish I had more of his portraits in my wallet at least.
By saving one hour of daylight, the United States saves 10 million barrels of oil per day. That was written a few decades ago.
It doesn't make sense. Daylight savings time couldn't have been for farmers. Farmers, that I know, much prefer morning hours to evening hours. There is less heat and mosquitos. You don't get any more daylight you just change when it's daylight
It's pretty hard to stay ahead of the game anywhere. I would opt to keep my two-day weekend no matter what the cost is!!!
Why didn't they just change their workweek to Sunday through Thursday?
it is ONCE. ONE TIME. THIS FRIDAY. DECEMBER 30, 2011 will be skipped. NOT EVERY Friday, not SUBSEQUENT Fridays. JUST ONE. READING IS FUNDEMENTAL!
You know, that's what I'm wondering. Giving everyone Friday off, just this once, doesn't sound like it will do anything to catch up to their "bigger Pacific neighbors" read:competitors. In fact the day off seems that they will only be one more day behind in the actual business part of it. If their competitors' day begins on their sunday, then a sunday to thurs workweek would make way more sense than giving up a work day this week.
@kim ... they're not giving anyone a day off. They're advancing their calender. Everyone will still just get a two-day weekend. If you want to think of it as getting Fridays and Saturdays off and working Sunday through Thursday because your pretty little mind can't comprehend it, fine.
whew! glad you cleared that up!! I've been doing it wrong this whole time, thinking it was fundamental. Gonna go back and read about the cookies again......mmmmm....Samoas....
Y'all are not getting the whole picture here...their Friday becomes Saturday and Saturday becomes Sunday. On what WOULD HAVE been their normal Sunday now becomes Monday and everyone starts back to work, begins trading on a normal basis with AU and NZ.
So is spelling. It's spelled "fundamental".
Relax, it's not that important.
Why not advance the Calendar to Tuesday, November 6, 2012 and put Obama out of his own pain and misery.
Justice,
You sorta have it wrong. It should read "Why not advance the calender to Tuesday, November 6, 2011 and put Obama out of OUR pain and misery!!"
Aim High,
John
Why don't you both do us all a favor.....................
this is kind of a fun story... TGINF! :)
What will those wacky samoans come up with next? What a bunch of cut-ups!
Have to agree with Hawkeye- READ the article-not just the headline! This is a ONE time deal! LOL!
you're right... why make Obama go through the election process when we all KNOW he is going to get re-elected... ;)
I really think the Republicans are going to forfeit this election. They'll just wait until 2016 and start over.
I wish they would ALL be on the ballot against Obama. ha ha ha ha
I've always wanted to cancel Mondays.
Interestingly enough, a day that the employers have to pay for that doesn't (or wont) actually exist will make it very tough for the government to tax.
Just to much for the mentally challenged to handle !
What's really interesting is that instead of asking evry citizen to sacrifice a weekend day, and skip one Saturday in the calendar, which would accomplish the same thing, the Samoan govt is asking only business owners to really make a sacrifice, and pay their employees for a day they didn't work.
Sure sounds familiar,,a govt which simpy refuses to tell the hard truth the way it is, and ask Everyone to sacrifice..
Naw,,,let's just pour it to those evil businessmen...they can afford it.
@nedski1 ... you and kim are two peas in a pod. You two should really live by the saying, "It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Idiots.
Better look in the mirror, OVU...
Actually, nedski1, this whole proposal is designed to promote business and trade with Australia and New Zealand. So the government is really actually doing something for business, not against.
Maybe you owe the Samoan gov't an apology?
Skipping saturday would make more sense. In either case they will be watching Monday night Football on Tuesday.
Actually skipping Saturday Dec 31, 2011 would mess up their New Year holiday. If they did this TO Saturday they would get off work on Friday and it would be Sunday the next day with New Years being skipped. That would upset a lot of people including businesses that do big business for New Years.
Gee, if ever you needed proof that the gene pool was under threat you have it here with some of the comments, eg LarryB-3996831
Yeah, pretty skeery, Aus..
Who really cares what Samoa does?
It's not fair! The government needs to step in and make all of us whole. All need to skip a day to make it equal for all. Equality! And those filthy rich will have to pay all of us for the non existent day so we do not fall behind. It's only fair.
Is this sarcasm or are you special?
What?
I am glad this has happened. Samoa no longer has to please U.S trader's. I see this as an opprotunity and an example to other other Pacific Islands held hostage by the U.S, to continue to fight for sovereignty and freedoom from United States of America.
Where are you from @Chelsee?
Chelsee, first there is an American Samoa and just Samoa. Second did you read the artical there biggest trading partners are New Zealand and Australia not the United States and most likely has been that way for a long time.
Goodness, we have had some discussion about when and why daylight savings time was started. I doubt many can remember it was used during World War II. I do because I was walking to school in the dark in the early morning during that period of time. Everyone was expected to make sacrifices for the war effort. Because of the 405,000 souls that made the ultimate sacrifice during that period of time, here we are discussing about something as insignifcant as some group of souls wanting to change their time zone to accomodate their economic well being.
Another America hater. Must have gone to an american university.
Oh, Chelsee....it's so sad. How long have you been brain-dead, dear? Your parents must be devastated. They'll have to pull the plug on you soon, though. You understand...all the costs and all. Actually, you won't even notice. Good bye, dear.....