Actually Newfoundland is mainly in the news these days because of oil deposits off its coast. It may actually become a "have" province. A Canadian comic used to say that he could always pick out Canadians in the audience by whomever laughed at this: The world will end at 9 PM tomorrow, 9:30 in Newfoundland.
Cheers, Ken Hanly --- Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Eugene Coyle wrote: > > The Financial Times, I;m told (haven't been able > to find it) reports > > that Venezuela is going to the six hour day of > work. > > > > Can someone tell us about that? > > > > Gene Coyle > > > > > > For what it's worth: > > NY Times, August 23, 2007 > Op-Ed Columnist > The Great Clock Plot > By GAIL COLLINS > > This week, The Times reported that President Hugo > Chávez is planning to > move Venezuelas clocks ahead by half an hour. The > story created one of > those wonderful moments of newspaper community, as > readers around the > nation suddenly shared an identical thought: > > Say what? > > Chávez unveiled his plans on his regular Sunday > television show, in what > several other news reports referred to as a > rambling address. Reaction > was swift, with many people recalling the scene in > Woody Allens > Bananas when a revolutionary hero becomes > president of a Latin > American country and announces that from now on, > underwear will be worn > on the outside. > > The other popular comment was that Americans are in > no position to make > fun of countries whose leaders make incoherent > speeches. > > Chávez has always been strong on the grand leftist > gesture. (Remember > the day that he called George W. Bush the devil at > the United > Nations?) But its hard to quite grasp the populist > appeal of having to > use a calculator to figure out when the next plane > arrives from Bogotá. > > In his speech, Chávez connected the time change to > his plan to reduce > the Venezuelan work day in 2008. His administration > believes that: > > 1) Cutting everyones work day to six hours will > increase national > productivity; and 2) That if you change 7 a.m. to > 6:30, it will create a > metabolic effect, where the human brain is > conditioned by sunlight. > > Now I know all this sounds extremely silly, but in > the name of fairness, > remember that: > > 1) You live in a country where the administration > believes that cutting > taxes for the heirs to billion-dollar estates will > lead to increased > prosperity for unemployed steel workers. > > 2) Every year, most Americans spring forward and > fall back so that the > Sun God will send extra rays to we who honor him > with the ceremony of > the changing of the clocks. > > 3) So far, Hugo Chávez hasnt invaded anybody. > > Inquiring minds still want to know about that > half-hour. The Venezuelan > science minister says the government wants to return > the country to the > system it used before 1965. > > When it was changed. For convenience. > > Perhaps President Chávez just isnt a clock-watching > kind of guy. His > weekly TV program is six hours of him talking, which > is an extremely > long time to ramble on unless youre Fidel Castro or > an American sports > commentator. > > But what if theres a trend under way here? The list > of countries who > use the half-hour system does not inspire much > confidence. Theres > Burma. And Afghanistan. And then theres Nepal. When > the countries > around it are at 3 p.m., Nepal believes it to be > 3:45. This may have > something to do with the altitude. > > Newfoundland is on the half-hour system, defying the > rest of Canada to > do anything about it. The reason, as Premier Danny > Williams once > explained, is that Newfoundlanders like to be > different. Their country > is mainly about cod very important, historically > speaking, but not > frequently in the headlines these days. > > So people there like a little attention. They like > having a Newfoundland > Time Zone. They like the fact that the national > broadcasters always have > to say: Stay tuned for the news on the hour. On the > half-hour in > Newfoundland. > > We may be on to something here. How many countries > do you think would > feel better about the world if they just got > mentioned once in a while? > Probably wont work for Afghanistan at this point, > but we could try > getting the networks to say things like: News is up > next, and lets > hope its a nice day in Surinam. > > Sooner or later, somebody in the White House will > notice that the one > other country whose clocks are running to the tune > of a different > drummer is Iran. Chávez and Iranian President > Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are > extremely cozy, always pinning medals on one another > and sending > anti-Bush jokes back and forth. At this very minute, > Vice President Dick > Cheney is somewhere in his basement, working up a > new theory about the > Evil Axis of Half Hours. > > Lets just not go there. Riordan Roett, the director > of the Western > Hemisphere studies program at Johns Hopkins > University, says that the > fact that the president of Venezuela announces > something does not > necessarily mean its a done deal. See if Chávez > repeats it, he > advised. If its just a one-time thing, the > rational people who are > still in the government will just ignore it. > > If only we had a similar system in the United > States, imagine all the > things we might have avoided over the last six > years. > Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html Blog: http://kencan7.blogspot.com/index.html
