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The weekend is 100 years old

theguardian.com

111–120 of 171 posts

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#111

Also, the week itself as a 'hard' delineator of time also appears to be fairly recent: > Henkin treats the seven-day week as a social and cultural institution, focusing primarily on the nineteenth-century United States. Unlike years, months, and days, which have astronomical foundations, the week is an entirely historical and social construct with no scientific basis. The study argues that the early American republic…

Have this professor Henkin heard of the moon?

Good question. I checked. The answer is "Yes."

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have this professor Henkin heard of the moon?

Good question. I checked. The answer is "Yes."

Then he would know that the seven day week is just a subdivision of the astronomical month. It is a quarter of a month.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#113

For the elders here, what are the actual ways to not live under the rule of an industrial clock? I’m not talking about starting your own company get rich quick scheme or moving into the woods (unless..), but really, I don’t see many ways about it. You could move somewhere rural, lower expenses, but then you are socially isolated to an extent. So, move to where people are, oh but then the only way to support the lifes…

> You could move somewhere rural, lower expenses, but then you are socially isolated to an extent. I got more social interactions the first week I moved to my house built in the middle of nowhere eastern europe than in my 10 years in a western EU capital. Small communities are much more alive than gigantic ones. You do lose some convenience, but it's not as bad is it used to be, for exemple there is a 24/7 automated…

Small communities have the nasty habit of turning incestuous- sometimes literally.

Some of the greatest works in my country's literary canon are writers dissecting the rural village life. Existential dread indeed.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#114

Also, the week itself as a 'hard' delineator of time also appears to be fairly recent: > Henkin treats the seven-day week as a social and cultural institution, focusing primarily on the nineteenth-century United States. Unlike years, months, and days, which have astronomical foundations, the week is an entirely historical and social construct with no scientific basis. The study argues that the early American republic…

while the seven day week is arbitrary, it is also worth noting that the French Revolution had experimented with a metric ten day week, which ended up being a total bust because laborers only got one week in ten of rest rather than one in seven.

The pick of object is quite random, but the week is duration of a Moon phase.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#115

The 7 day week is completely artificial. Days exist, defined by the rotation of the Earth. Months exist, defined by the orbit of the moon. Seasons exist, defined by the solstices and equinoxes. Years exist, defined by the orbit of the Earth. Pretty much everything else is an invention of man.

> The 7 day week is completely artificial.

Actually it's 1/4 of a month, which is defined by the moon.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s called society and it’s really hard to fight against. I’d suggest you look for a way to fit in that suits you.

Old guy checking in. This is the best reply I could find that matches my view. You might not escape but you can breathe better air if you try. Do you need a big house, do you need a shiny new vehicle, do you need to eat at restaurants twice a week? Life can be more your way if you have more money to make it your way.

It was the very first lesson we had in economics in high school. The difference between a need and a want. Nowadays most people have a lot of wants far beyond any needs.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#117
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very curious to understand the thinking behind this, why should the weekend be E and A? My first approach would be to have the weekend on D and E which would seem to be the end of the week.

Right. WeekEND. It's the end of the week. Not one day at the start and one at the end. It's why, currently, the week starts on Monday.

In Hebrew Sunday doesn't have a name, it's simply called "Day one", this is also true in Portuguese, Arabic, Greek, Chinese, Vietnamese, and others.

So no, the week does not start on Monday, it starts on Sunday.

The name "Weekend" came long long long after Sunday was considered the first day of the week.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#118
post #115

The 7 day week is completely artificial. Days exist, defined by the rotation of the Earth. Months exist, defined by the orbit of the moon. Seasons exist, defined by the solstices and equinoxes. Years exist, defined by the orbit of the Earth. Pretty much everything else is an invention of man.

> The 7 day week is completely artificial. Actually it's 1/4 of a month, which is defined by the moon.

>1/4 of a month

Where does the 4 come from? Human artifice.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#119
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The 7 day week is completely artificial. Actually it's 1/4 of a month, which is defined by the moon.

>1/4 of a month Where does the 4 come from? Human artifice.

4 Earth Quadrants simultaneously rotate inside 4 Time Cube Quarters to create 4 - 24 hour days within one Earth rotation.

Re: The weekend is 100 years old

#120
post #106

The 7 day week is completely artificial. Days exist, defined by the rotation of the Earth. Months exist, defined by the orbit of the moon. Seasons exist, defined by the solstices and equinoxes. Years exist, defined by the orbit of the Earth. Pretty much everything else is an invention of man.

If we are being even more pedantically correct about this: 1. The statement about months is kinda wrong. Solar months just happen because of the earths orbit around the sun, too, and the division by 12 is how many knuckles you can count on one hand by using your thumb. Moon months exist, and there are 13 of them, from January to Undecember [Footnote: 1], or whatever you want to call them. But by happenstance if we ta…

>The statement about months is kinda wrong.

No it isn't.

>Moon months exist, and there are 13 of them

I said the months are defined by the moon. You said it was wrong, then agreed with me. Note that I never said there are 12 months. I said:

>Months exist, defined by the orbit of the moon.

>1: 11th month by name, but some Pope's birthdays reforms happened until we ended up with February at 28 days and no spring's start is the new year, etc.

This refers to calendars, which are an inventions by man.

>2: Even if that was Christmas before the popes changed it and/or Christians like to feast when heathens brethren/converts did, simultaneously. And historically more plausible for a time of travel to do a census.

This is more calendar stuff. I'm not talking about calendars, but periods defined in nature by things that exist independent of mankind. The ones I listed are all very clearly defined by mostly celestial events. Weeks are an arbitrary invention and so are calendars.

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