Waiting for the Weekend is a book published in 1991 by Canadian architect, professor and writer Witold Rybczynski. [1]
In Waiting for the Weekend, Rybczynski recounts the evolution of the seven-day week, which came into being with the Babylonian calendar, and the later, more modern, development of the two-day weekend. In so doing, he tells the history of leisure and time off; starting first with "taboo" days, market days, public festivals and holy days and how, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution the practice of "keeping Saint Monday", that is, staying home from work, evolved into the modern weekend.
Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons, specifically to promote the observance of the Christian day of worship, but since then have come to serve secular purposes as well.
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single, specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physical record of such a system. A calendar can also mean a list of planned events, such as a court calendar or a partly or fully chronological list of documents, such as a calendar of wills.
A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tradition of cultural or religious significance. Holidays may be designated by governments, religious institutions, or other groups or organizations. The degree to which normal activities are reduced by a holiday may depend on local laws, customs, the type of job held or personal choices.
A week is a time unit equal to seven days. It is the standard time period used for cycles of rest days in most parts of the world, mostly alongside—although not strictly part of—the Gregorian calendar.
Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries adopting the "Monday-first" convention it is the fifth day of the week. In countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week.
The Thai lunar calendar, or Tai calendar, is a lunisolar Buddhist calendar. It is used for calculating lunar-regulated holy days. Based on the SuriyaYatra, with likely influence from the traditional Hindu Surya Siddhanta, it has its own unique structure that does not require the Surya Siddhanta to calculate. Lunisolar calendars combine lunar and solar calendars for a nominal year of 12 months. An extra day or an extra 30-day month is intercalated at irregular intervals.
The National Day of Sweden is a national holiday observed annually in Sweden on 6 June. Prior to 1983, the day was celebrated as the Swedish Flag Day. At that time, the day was named the Swedish National Day by the parliament of Sweden.
Zbigniew Rybczyński is a Polish filmmaker, director, cinematographer, screenwriter, creator of experimental animated films, and multimedia artist who has won numerous prestigious industry awards both in the United States and internationally including the 1982 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Tango.
There are currently seven official public holidays in mainland China. Each year's holidays are announced about three weeks before the start of the year by the General Office of the State Council. A notable feature of mainland Chinese holidays is that weekends are usually swapped with the weekdays next to the actual holiday to create a longer holiday period.
Witold Rybczynski is a Canadian American architect, professor and writer. He is currently the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor Emeritus of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania.
One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw is a book published in 2000 by Canadian architect, professor and writer Witold Rybczynski.
In the United Kingdom, public holidays are days on which most businesses and non-essential services are closed. Many retail businesses do open on some of the public holidays. There are restrictions on trading on Sundays and Christmas Day in England and Wales and on New Year's Day and Christmas Day in Scotland. Public holidays defined by statute are called bank holidays, but this term can also be used to include common law holidays, which are held by convention. The term "public holidays" can refer exclusively to common law holidays.
The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays, or workweek, is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of the world, the workweek is from Monday to Friday and the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. A weekday or workday is any day of the working week. Other institutions often follow this pattern, such as places of education. The constituted weekend has varying definitions, based on determined calendar days, designated period of time, and/or regional definition of the working week. Sometimes the term "weekend" is expanded to include the time after work hours on the last workday of the week.
2 Columbus Circle is a 12-story building located on a small trapezoidal lot on the south side of Columbus Circle on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Bordered by 58th Street, 59th Street, Broadway, and Eighth Avenue, it stands on the site of the former seven-story Grand Circle Hotel. It opened in 1964, after A&P heir Huntington Hartford hired architect Edward Durell Stone to build a museum for him at the site. Controversy was sparked in 2002 after the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) purchased the building and planned to significantly alter its design, including modifying its facade. Calls had been made since 1996 for the building to be landmarked, so its proposed landmark status was brought into question with this renovation. The renovations were completed in 2008.
WDET-FM is a public radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Broadcasting from Wayne State University in the city's Cass Corridor neighborhood, about a mile south of the New Center neighborhood, WDET broadcasts original programming and shows from National Public Radio, Public Radio International and American Public Media. The station serves Metro Detroit and is the primary provider of news involving the American automotive industry and Michigan politics within the NPR distribution network.
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath or Shabbat is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as God rested from creation. The practice of observing the Sabbath (Shabbat) originates in the biblical commandment "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy".
Natalia Rybczynski is a Canadian paleobiologist, professor and researcher.
Puijila darwini is an extinct species of basal pinniped which lived during the Miocene epoch about 21 to 24 million years ago. Approximately a metre in length, the animal possessed only minimal physical adaptations for swimming. Unlike modern pinnipeds, it did not have flippers and its overall form was otter-like, albeit more specialized; its skull and teeth are the features that most clearly indicate that it is a seal.
Dipoides is an extinct genus of beaver-grouped rodents.