The South Pacific island nation of Samoa, is planning on switching to the west side of the International Date Line. It is hoping to boost it's economy with it's two biggest trading partners, Australia and New Zealand. At the moment, being on the east side of the line, it is 21 hours behind Sydney. The switch on December 29th, will put it to 3 hours ahead, thereby making it easier to trade. Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said: "In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week."
"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 is located approximately halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii and has a population of 180,000 people.
Sounds logical to me.
ReplyDeletepretty unusual story... great stuff
ReplyDeletethat is very weird but like AJay said, sounds logical.
ReplyDeleteLogical but wouldn't care too much about it
ReplyDeleteI'm sure this won't confused everyone for the first month or so.
ReplyDelete"oh wait its sunday..." >_<
sounds weird
ReplyDeleteMakes since, I'm sure it would be confusing for a while.
ReplyDeleteHaha this was certainly not one of the usual stories you read online. It was interesting reading.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how this will effect the pirate raids!
ReplyDeleteYeah I read about it earlier, must be very annoying being a day after everyone else
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good idea, but still makes me laugh. Hey guys, lets just change time today. It will help our economy.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds pretty crazy but it makes sense and I guess there isn't really much to it!
ReplyDeleteCan't think of a reason why they wouldn't make the change.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense when you think about it!
ReplyDeleteIt does make sense but how are they going to decide which day to switch (lose) for that week? It is of consequence.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. Geography is intriguing to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm betting they do it over a weekend or something. A pretty good idea, hope this works out!
ReplyDeletechanging times like that is so weird ^^
ReplyDeleteWell...dunno if that will actually help the economy, but crazy idea!
ReplyDeletewhat a strange decision
ReplyDeleteThis may make it easier to do simple scheduling, but boost the economy? I don't know...
ReplyDeleteLooks like the bail on the American economy has begun.
ReplyDeletekinda weird
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good move for Samoa, I know wven here in Australia towns will operate on time-zones different to their states' capital city if it is more convenient for their commerce or community's needs.
ReplyDeletesamoa? really?
ReplyDeleteSounds like it could confuse the general population, but if it is for the economy, I guess the population can take another one for the team...
ReplyDeleteThat seems like it could confuse the general population. However, I'm sure everyone in Samoa is willing to take one for the team in the benefit of the economy.
ReplyDelete"NOW WE ARE IN THE FUTURE!!! MUWHAHAAH"
ReplyDelete