Abolish the WEEK?

[Stan]

For eons, all manner of animals have lived their lives according to the cycles of the Earth’s rotation on its axis, the moon’s orbit around the Earth, and the Earth’s orbit around the sun. But why do we observe the week? The pattern of living on a seven-day cycle—with one or two of those days set aside for rest—is a relative novelty. Only in the past few centuries, with Western colonization of most of the world, have the majority of human societies adopted it.

The case for the week was never airtight. It’s now weak and getting weaker. Most Westerners no longer observe a weekly Sabbath, and the coordination advantages of keeping everyone on the same uniform schedule have evaporated. So why does this arbitrary time cycle still dictate the rhythm of our lives? Is it time to abolish the week and find a better way to structure time?

The rationale for the day is as clear as, well, day. In a 24-hour period, most points on Earth experience a full cycle of light and darkness. It makes sense that humans and other organisms have evolved to adjust their patterns of behavior according to those daily patterns of light and heat.

Many organisms have also adapted to the annual environmental changes wrought by the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Countless animals migrate, hibernate, or breed on a yearly schedule. Humans have likewise long organized their lives around the annual fluctuations we call seasons.

The environmental influence of the lunar cycle is subtler, but no less real. It affects the tides and the amount of light available at night. While many animals have adapted their biology to the phases of the moon, it remains controversial whether humans have done so. (Despite its name, for example, we still don’t know for sure whether the female menstrual cycle evolved to be in sync with the lunar cycle).

See the FULL STORY HERE...

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/cultu...ods.single.html

[Stan]

See MARK KELLNER article here. (When Mark writes, I read)

Editor's note: This article is part of "The Ten Today," a series that examines the Ten Commandments in modern society. This story explores the fourth commandment: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

Caitlin Rother had finally had enough. The 20-year veteran newspaper reporter got a call on election night in 2002 at 11:30 p.m. Her editor demanded she call a source, regardless of the late hour.

So Rother left the security of a full-time job and a paycheck to become a freelance writer working at her own pace and on her own time. It was then, she later recalled, that things got really hectic.

"I thought this would be less stressful. I was wrong. Now, I'm never off deadline," she said via phone from a San Diego-area coffee shop. "I have a book deadline. (I'm working on) two or three projects at a time. … It's actually very difficult for me to take time off and relax because I have a million things I think I should be doing or could be doing. It's just a different treadmill than before. It's like playing poker with my life."

Rother's experience may be extreme, but it points to a trend. According to the Center for American Progress, the typical American middle-income family worked an average of 11 more hours per week in 2006 than in 1979. Such extended working hours can take their toll. And with the increasing ubiquity of devices such as smartphones and laptops, Americans may be connected to their jobs and work lives more than ever before; "tethered" is the word often used to describe the 24/7 circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Read more at http://national.deseretnews.com/article/...WIZDfUOMlwmb.99

http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1337/247-The-case-for-a-day-of-rest-in-a-digital-age.html

[Stan]

interesting...