February 29th ~ Leap Year

It only comes but once every four years!

"Pardon me Boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?  Yes, yes, Track 29!"

The 29th day of February was yesterday… It only come around once every four years and I always wondered why this day appears on our calendar.  For those who don't know, for the Earth to make a complete orbit around the sun takes exactly 365.2422 days to complete.  However, the Gregorian calendar uses only 365 days.  So, Leap Seconds and Leap Years are added as means of keeping our clocks (and calendars) in sync with the Earth and its Seasons.  Seems a bit silly doesn't it?

The Roman calendar used to have 355 days a year with an extra 22 day month every two years which was ludacris until Julius Caesar became Emperor in the 1st Century who demanded a change by the Alexandrian Astronomer Sosigenes to formulate something easier to comprehend.  The Sosigenes decided that a 365 day year with an extra day every four years would be most practical.  This is when February 29th was born.

Nearly 500 years later the formula was tweaked ever so slightly by Pope GregoryXIII's Astronomers who decided to omit three days every 400 hundred years when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in1582.  This math has worked as of late, but most likely will have to be though out again in 10,000 years if and when our globe will still be in existence.

Just a few Fun faces about February 29th:

◆  It is customary for a Woman to propose to the Man she wants to marry on this day.

◆  If you were born on February 29th before 12:00PM, you celebrate it on

     February 28th.  If you were born after 12:00PM, you celebrate on March 1st which

     is also St. Davids Day.

◆  February 29th has brought much campaigning to be a Work Free Day.  However,

     nothing has been decided due to Money Hungry Typhoons losing an extra days

     pay!

On This Day:

◆  1996:  The siege of Sarajevo was lifted after almost four years.

◆  1984:  Pierre Trudeau resigned as Prime Minister of Canada.

◆  1964:  The Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandria, gave birth to a Son, James Ogilvy.

◆  1960:  Thousands perished when an earthquake devastated Agadir, Morocco.

◆  1940:  Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an Oscar for her role in

     "Gone with the Wind."