From: jimp on
In sci.physics Andrew Usher <k_over_hbarc(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> Brian M. Scott wrote:
>
>> >> And trying to come up with a new calendar fixating on
>> >> Christmas is about as logical as fixating on Waitangi
>> >> Day.
>>
>> > This is just West-bashing.
>>
>> Don't be silly: New Zealand is part of the cultural west.
>
> But what the day commemorates is not.
>
> Andrew Usher

What it commemorates is New Zealand becoming a part of the British Empire
and, according to the natives, screwing over the natives in the name of
Western colonializm.

You don't get much more "cultural west" then that.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.
From: PaulJK on
Brian M. Scott wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:49:14 -0000, Androcles
> <Headmaster(a)Hogwarts.physics_u> wrote in
> <news:mmNfn.9989$X_6.9098(a)newsfe22.ams2> in
> sci.math,sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.lang:
>
>> "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott(a)csuohio.edu> wrote in message
>> news:1s2uq5glt3lgu$.1m746rj1287gz$.dlg(a)40tude.net...
>
>>> On Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:12:09 -0800 (PST), Andrew Usher
>>> <k_over_hbarc(a)yahoo.com> wrote in
>>> <news:acc184f6-20cf-4ecf-8065-db72600e9c83(a)15g2000yqi.googlegroups.com>
>>> in
>>> sci.math,sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.lang,alt.usage.english:
>
>>> [...]
>
>>>> And the first day of the week is Sunday, not Monday - that
>>>> is an incontrovertible fact.
>
>>> Don't be ridiculous: it's merely a convention. For many of
>>> us Monday is unquestionably the first day of the week.
>
>> Which day is Mittwoch
>
> The middle of the five-day work week.

Spot on. :-)

That's why, for example, Russian names their days:
Понедельник вторник среда четверг пятница суббота воскресенье

вторник (Tuesday) cognate of 'second'
среда (Wednesday) - " - 'middle'
четверг (Thursday) - " - 'fourth'
пятница (Friday) - " - 'fifth'
:-)

pjk


>> and which god is it holy to?
>
> The great god Muddle, also known as Woden, Mercurius,
> Buddha, Mother Sereda, and Hump.
>
> [...]

From: Yusuf B Gursey on
On Feb 19, 11:25 am, Mike Barnes <mikebar...(a)bluebottle.com> wrote:
> John Atkinson <johna...(a)bigpond.com>:
>
> >Halmyre wrote:
>
> >> I just wish they'd settle on a date for Easter and be done with it.
>
> >But, the whole point of Easter is that it has a full moon!
>
> A full-*ish* moon, actually. The definitions of the equinox and full
> moon used when determining Easter are rather different from the real
> definitions used by astronomers, which would actually give rise to
> different (perhaps several weeks different) Easter dates depending on
> one's longitude.
>
> But I thought that for most people the whole point of Easter is that
> they get time off work.
>

not in the US, at least not in my state.

> --
> Mike Barnes
> Cheshire, England

From: PaulJK on
Andrew Usher wrote:
> Brian M. Scott wrote:
>
>>>> And trying to come up with a new calendar fixating on
>>>> Christmas is about as logical as fixating on Waitangi
>>>> Day.
>>
>>> This is just West-bashing.
>>
>> Don't be silly: New Zealand is part of the cultural west.
>
> But what the day commemorates is not.

Whatever gave you that idea, Andrew?

It commermorates an agreement between some Māori
tribes and British Crown. So even then, when it was being
signed, it was just as 'west' as it was 'southpacific'.

pjk

From: Peter Moylan on
Halmyre wrote:

> I just wish they'd settle on a date for Easter and be done with it.

The present system might sound complicated, but it's a consistently
reliable method - at least in Australia - for predicting the arrival of
the first really rainy weekend in the year. This ensures that all the
people who go camping for the long weekend will be rained out, year
after year.

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.