Samoa Loses a Calendar Day

On the above map, Samoa is the red star in the center.
Photo courtesy MapQuest.com

Samoa is skipping December 30 and moving straight to December 31 in order to make a move west of the International Date Line.  This will put them in the same time zone with their other island-nation neighbors, with whom they do the bulk of their business.  Before this change, for instance, when it was Friday in Samoa it was Saturday in New Zealand, and when it was Sunday in Samoa it was Monday in New Zealand, so they lost two business days each week in which they could work together.  Samoa believes this will help their economy.  For more information click here.

Bark Cloth

Photo courtesy National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka

For centuries cloth has been made out of tree bark by people in parts of Africa, India, Polynesia, Hawaii, Fiji, Malay Peninsula, Samoa, and Central America.  The outer tree bark is stripped away, then the inner bark is cut or stripped from trees such as fig, paper mulberry, and breadfruit.  The soft inner-bark of these trees is flexible to begin with, then it is soaked and beaten until it's very flexible, then decorated and used as clothing, house decoration, and in religious ceremonies.

For more information see the article on Questia.com.