On public holidays
In Mexico, Nov. 20th is "Día de la Revolución" (lit. "Revolution day"), commemorating the Revolution War/Civil War that ocurred in the beginning of the 20th century (1910 to be precise) mostly against Porfirio Diaz who had been president of the country for almost 30 years. I'm not well-versed in history, and I partly blame my incredibly boring history teachers throughout childhood for that. My understanding (based on historian friends of mine) is that this war was a lot more complex than grade school teaches us about and I will not make an analysis of the event itself. Wikipedia knows better.
What I do know about is about "moving" public holidays. Traditionally, several major public holidays like this one were observed with a day off (or payed as double time) on the very day that it happened. We have recently adopted other countries' example and now, whenever an important public holiday comes around in the middle of the week, the day off is "moved" to the closest Monday, so that we get an extended weekend rather than a "broken" work week.
However, since 2011 the Federal Government decided to create an artificial holiday (unofficially based on Black Friday) during the Revolution Day weekend. This event, called "El buen fin" ("The Good Weekend") features discounts and promotions of all kinds in participating stores across the country; although they don't have to do it. The idea is to have a lot of people spending a lot of money just like our good American friends do.
In order to encourage spending, a recent change in the Federal Work Laws states that the yearly Bonus known as "aguinaldo" will now be payed in two parts: one half in the first quincena of November (that is, payed by Nov. 15th) and the other in the first quincena of January (by Jan. 15th). before these changes, it was usually payed right before Christmas
I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's an event designed exclusively for spending money, most likely in things that one doesn't need. On the other hand, one of the biggest bookstores in the country had a small discount on Kindle e-readers. The price tag and the ability to have my first Kindle without the shipping fees and hassles made me buy one on the spot.
I'm open to any and all suggestions, tips, hacks and tricks for a new Kindle owner. Also, if you have one and aren't using it to (re-)read the classics in Project Gutenberg, you're missing out.
On Questions for Montag
Hello Montag! It's been a while. Actually, I don't think we've ever /msg'ed each other. However, the catbox tells me that you are demanding questions from your fellow e2 members. So it's my pleasure to give you an interesting set of questions here.
CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING
- "If God created everything (see Genesis, Chap. I), why did he create problems for himself by creating a serpent who would lead his creations astray? Why did God create a tree he did not want Adam and Eve to know about, and then go out of his way to warn them against it? If God had not wanted Adam and Eve to taste the fruit of the forbidden tree,why didn't he warn the serpent? Could God have prevented the serpent from tempting Adam and Eve? If yes, why didn't he? If no, discuss the possibility the serpent was as powerful as God." - Harlan Ellison - "Deathbird"
- Are there common layman misconceptions in your line of work? Which ones?
- Define the Universe. Give three examples.