This Friday 12/30/2011 does not exist in Samoa

Posted By on December 29, 2011

dateline_colorI’ve lost my share of days by spinning my wheels or tucked under the covers while sick in bed, but I’ve never heard of literally losing an entire day; that’s what is going to happen this week in Samoa. Samoa is at the tail end of the International Date Line and they have found it challenging to deal with the shorten business weeks when working with their neighbors. People struggle with the day difference between their island and Tonga or New Zealand to their west, who are and entire day ahead. Politicians have decided that for 2012 they will jump ahead a full day. When Thursday morning arrives in Samoa this week and it is Friday morning in Tonga, it will be for the last time, because when the sun goes down in Samoa on Thursday night, the next morning will be Saturday … not Friday. They will have lost an entire day … no births, no deaths, no nothing … on what would have been Friday December 30, 2011. To Tongans the day will never have existed. They’ll go from being 5 hours behind the U.S. eastern time zone, to being 19 hours ahead of us … that’s just strange.

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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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