Scientist Add One Second to the Year. Assyrians Add many more
By: Ashur Sada. Jan. 1, 2009
As we were about to celebrate the new year, there was news
reports of an extra second being added to the year, before it was over. One
newspaper reported and explained the need for this extra second as follows:
"Today, time keepers at the Royal Observatory in
Greenwich, England, will add a "leap second" to 2008 because the Earth is
rotating a tiny bit slow and is now out of sync with the clock. The Earth
loses speed mostly because of tidal pulls"
(http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/12/31/20081231B1-talker1231.html)
One second only? that is very cheap. Just look at our Assyrians and their new
year celebration, and you will realize just how generous we are. Unlike these
cheap scientists who only added one second to the year, our Assyrians added many
more seconds. Some added twelve seconds, some twenty seconds, and some up to
thirty five seconds! Now that is generosity. Or maybe laziness, sloppiness and
disorganization.
The extra seconds that our Assyrians added, are in reference
to the time our parties celebrated the arrival of the new year, usually with a
10 second countdown. According to various accounts from people who were present
at these parties, most of these countdowns were pretty late, by up to half a
minute in one
instance! To some it may not be that big of a deal, and to others, they may
not have even felt it. But let us pause for a second here and think about it: if
we can't even coordinate such a simple task, and not just by split seconds, but
within several seconds, then there is something wrong. And it is ironic that it
is happening on the eve of a new year, where science, humanity and technology
can only move forward, and not backward.
The problem of punctuality and tardiness has plagued our Assyrian society for
some time now. But when will it stop or at least be less of an issue than it is
today? nothing is immune from this: whether it is a church mass, a community
rally, a political speech, or in this case something as specific and time
sensitive as a new year countdown. Getting our nation back on its feet starts
from simple acts of time organization like this. Sure there are more important
issues than wasting a few seconds on a new year countdown, but if we can't get
something this simple under control, then how are we able to control bigger and
more complicated tasks and issues?
Add my lost seconds, to your lost minutes, to other Assyrians' lost hours, and
so on, and what you get is very vital time and history lost. Time that could
have been spent doing many important things. Or simply, time lost and in process
making our image look even more shaky to the world. Let us get serious, more
organized and always on time. Let me end this here and compensate for the lost
seconds at your new year party. If you were on time, good for you, and you
probably have time to re-read this article once again.
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