We gratefully acknowledge the notice of His Lofty Coolness:
I am come as Time, the waster of peoples,
Ready for the hour that ripens to their ruin.
All these hosts must die;
Strike, stay your hand - no matter.
Therefore strike.
Win kingdom, wealth and glory.
Arjuna, arise, O ambidextrous bowman.
Seem to slay. By me these men are slain already."
- Bhagavad Gita
Tuesday is dead, but it took two revolutions to kill him. (see
also War, Tir, God of War, and Time)
Here's
a good graphic from GOALS. (click image or this text to go to that excellent
site)
Monday lasts 48 hours. Perhaps we all feel this way about Mondays, at least in a figurative sense; but not about the other six days of the week - which also last 48 hours. No kidding, I can prove it to you if you allow me to explain. My proof is in the form of a thought experiment.
From a vantage point in space, far above the North Pole of the Earth, look down and see the Earth spinning on its axis. Very far off to your right is the Sun.
It is dawn on the East coast of the North American continent. As the Earth spins, the coast slowly moves into sunlight. The left side of the Earth, facing away from the sun, is in darkness.
From your perspective, you see that the East coast will move through its daylight hours into darkness, with the continent and the West coast following along. That is, from your perspective, the Earth spins in a counter-clockwise direction and any of Earth's visible surface features moves eastward as the Earth spins. On the surface of the Earth, this causes the Sun to appear to rise in the East and set in the West.
You know that the midpoint (or a North-to-South "mid-line") of the illuminated side of the Earth represents noon and that exactly opposite this midpoint, on the dark side of the Earth, is a corresponding midpoint that represents midnight. Both noon and midnight can be represented by a curving line that runs along the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole. These two half-circles can be seen to form one complete circle around the Earth.
The noon and midnight half-circles are similar to lines of longitude except that they are referenced to the sun and Time, rather than to a location on the Earth's surface. The lines do not move with the Earth; rather, the noon line is always directly toward the sun while the midnight line is always directly away from the sun. From your high place in space you see that a straight line drawn from the center of the sun toward and through the center of the Earth will pass through both the light and dark halves of this circle. This is always the case. It is as if the line and the circle were solid and rigid and the line anchored the circle in its place about the spinning Earth.
Now imagine another circle around the Earth. This one is fixed to the Earth's surface along 0 degree Longitude from the North Pole to the South Pole, continuing along 180 degrees Longitude back to the North Pole. The 0 degree Longitude line passes through Greenwich, England and the 180 degree Longitude line traces a path that is approximately the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Together they form a "perfect" circle that moves with the Earth as it spins.
The 180 degree Longitude line is also known as the International Date Line (I'll use "IDL" for brevity). By definition, if it is 6:00 AM Wednesday the 14th on the East edge of the IDL, it is 6:00 AM Thursday the 15th on the West edge of the IDL. Period.
We have established two circles around the Earth that intersect at the North and South Poles. One is fixed in space, is relative to the Sun, and defines noon and midnight on the Earth's surface. The other spins with the Earth and one half of it is the IDL.
Allow the next paragraph to move your perspective from your observation point in space to the surface of the Earth and then back to space.
Looking down at the slowly spinning Earth, you can't see Japan but you know that it is somewhere near the middle of the left (dark) side of the Earth. Let the time there be late evening; say it's the evening of Sunday, June 26th. To the East, at the IDL, let's assume that it is two minutes past midnight. On the West edge of the IDL it is two minutes past a midnight which occurred at the end of Sunday, June 26th. There, it is very early in the wee hours (minutes) of Monday, June 27th. On the East edge of the IDL it is also two minutes past midnight, but it is very early in the morning of Sunday, June 26th. Remember, the West edge of the IDL is always one day (24 hours) ahead of the East edge of the IDL, by definition.
Note that it must only be Monday (no where else but) on that narrow strip of the Earth's surface that lies between the West edge of the IDL and the "midnight line". On the East edge of the IDL it is two minutes into Sunday, June 26th. In Hawaii and North America, farther to the East, it is later in the day of Sunday, June 26th. It must also, of course, be Sunday in Japan, back in the other direction (West, or clockwise) and on the other side of the midnight line.
For the remainder of this experiment, stay with the perspective from your vantage point in space above the North Pole.
It is now that your most critical observation begins. Two minutes ago, it was not Monday anywhere on Earth. Now, as the IDL is carried along with the slow spin of the Earth, the distance back to the midnight line becomes greater. More of the Earth's surface passes into Monday-time. Monday "grows" in the increasing gap between the West edge of the IDL and the midnight line.
Notice what is happening on the other side of the IDL. The East edge of the IDL sweeps along with Sunday, June 26th. Further to the East it is later in the day of Sunday. Still further to the East, further around the globe, it is the evening hours of Sunday, June 26th. It must be Sunday all the way around the globe until one of two lines is reached, either the IDL or the midnight line. Continuing to look Eastward around the globe, you see that the midnight line is reached first. The newly created "Monday gap" follows until, finally your attention comes again to the West edge of the IDL.
As the Earth rotates, the IDL seems to "stretch" Monday into existence out of the East edge of the midnight line, while it inexorably "pushes" Sunday into annihilation against the West edge of the midnight line.
You continue to observe this process for many hours, until the IDL again approaches the midnight line. It is Sunday on only a very narrow wedge of the Earth's surface. It is Monday everywhere else. You have been observing Monday's growth for nearly 24 hours, almost one complete rotation of the Earth. As Monday was stretched across the surface of the Earth, Sunday was correspondingly diminished.
As it took Monday 24 hours to grow and Sunday 24 hours to diminish, it will take Monday 24 hours to diminish and Tuesday 24 hours to grow.
Each day of the week is born at midnight on the West edge of the International Date Line.
Each day of the week is extinguished, dies, at midnight on the East edge of the International Date Line.
As any day dies, not the next, but the second day hence is born.
Monday lasts 48 hours; so do the other six days of the week. I can prove it.
3/29/97
Ed Button
To Main Page >>
