Entire country loses a day

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Nelly

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Sep 23, 2009
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At some point most of us have lost days of our lives to chores, illness, travel or even (seemingly) in queues – but the population of an entire country is about to lose one at once.

Why? Well the South Pacific island nation of Samoa is skipping forwards a day from midnight on Thursday.

As the clock strikes 12 on 29 December, the country will collectively leap a whole day into the future, meaning it will have lost Friday 30 December completely and wake up on Saturday 31 December instead.


It’s happening because the nation is shifting across the International Date Line so it is in line with key trading partners such as Australia, China and New Zealand, which are currently nearly a full weekday ahead of it.

The move will bring an end to the 119-year-old decision that the country should stay a day behind: Samoa is currently 21 hours behind Sydney, but from December 31, it will be three hours ahead of it and 13 hours ahead of Greenwich.

Good for The Economy

Speaking about the move across the International Date Line, Samoan Prime Minister Sailele Malielegaoi said that because the nation’s interests lie more with the Asia-Pacific region, they have decided to switch back to the west side of the international dateline, which runs roughly north-to-south along the 180-degree line of longitude in the Pacific Ocean.

“In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week,” he said.

“While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand and when we're at church on Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane.”

The current arrangement has meant that Samoa’s clocks were only four hours behind those of San Francisco. However, trade with the US is incredibly impractical due to the geographical location of the island.

New Zealand governed Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa, until its independence in 1962 and continues to have a strong cultural influence on the 180,000-strong island nation – so to move the country close to the time in New Zealand is inherently more practical than tying it with a country 4,000 miles away.


Problems as well as benefits

Samoa has traditionally marketed itself to tourists as the last place on Earth to see sunset, so will now have to rethink its strategy (as well as change a lot of signs and leaflets).

Although, any spare tourist material can now be shipped to the nearby island of American Samoa – with the American territory taking over as the new last place on earth to see the sunset.

Not just any day to lose

Of course, while December 30 is just another day for most, there will be exceptions. Anyone with a birthday or anniversary staying on Samoa on that date will simply miss it.

But Samoans (or visitors to the island) with significant celebrations or memorials that day do have an advantage over those born on February 29, they can fly or sail east back across the International Date Line and get their missing day back again.
 

Nelly

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Sep 23, 2009
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ye decision inhon ne kuch reasons ki wajah se liya hai:s raat ko 12 baje poora ek din skip karenge
just to catch up with trading partners like china, australis etc:|
 

Wasif Safi

!!pRaISe D CReAtOr!!
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ji aati hai utna bhi paidal nahi hu mai urdu me, kyu ke mere dad ki urdu bohot hi achi hai unse sikhte rehta hu mai, warna to yaha koi baat b khichdi language me karta hai....:D:D
 

Nelly

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Sep 23, 2009
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ooo nice
its a bit similar as Arabic na:)aur seekhte rahen, its not dat hard:-bd
mujhe tou chinese aur Hindi ek c lagti hain:D:D dono hi mushkil hain likhne aur samajhne main({kopping)}n also sum other langauges .....
 

Wasif Safi

!!pRaISe D CReAtOr!!
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haan ye b baat hai, lekin mai jo state se hu yaha per Telugu language boli jaati hai jab logon ko bolte hue sunta hu to lagta hai ki paagalon ke beech me aagaya hu....:D:D
 

Nelly

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hahahaha bro{(haha)}..
hain tou agar udhar yeh language bolte hain tou aap ne skool main nai seekhi kya?:s fir sab ki baaten kese samajhte hain bro?{(confuse)}
 

Wasif Safi

!!pRaISe D CReAtOr!!
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haan sikhi hai na parhne aata hai aur likhne aata hai lekin samaj me kuch nahi aata aur bolne kuch nahi aata, sirf thori si samaj sakta hu, gaaliyan samaj sakta hu, kyu ke koi diya to sunke maarne use....{(haha)}{(haha)}
 

Wasif Safi

!!pRaISe D CReAtOr!!
Banned
Oct 1, 2009
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hmmm Funny to hai, mai ek sentence bolta hu yaha telugu me u ko bhi hasi aayegi ye kya keh raha hu mai isliye uska meaning next post me deta hu mai....

koncham koncham wastadi....
 
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