Current Date: February 29, 2004
Current Temperature: 59°
Current Song: "Whereever I May
Roam" by Metallica
Current Mood: Very Peckish
Current Topic: Historical Leap Days
Topic Rating: G
"If you're born on Leap Day, do you celebrate only every four years?"
I don't know exactly when it happened, but I remember there came a time when I realized that
Election Year fell on every Leap Year. I also don't remember exactly what year it was when I first
learned what Leap Year was in the first place. But I do remember how odd the concept was at first,
the fact that we actually added a day to February every four years. Well, astrologically speaking, it
makes a lot of sense. After all, the intervals between the vernal equinoxes is 365.242190 days long,
so a Leap Year is added every four years to make up for that odd fraction.
Actually, if you start counting from the first election, Election Years did not always fall on a
Leap Year. In addition, we use the Gregarian Calendar, and there has been a Leap Year every four
years from it's beginning except for years that are both divisible by 100 but not divisible by 400, so
there was a Leap Year in the year 2000, but not in 1700, 1800 of 1900.
(Science World, http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/LeapYear.html)
Isn't that interesting?
Other Interesting Facts: This Day In History
Births:
1896 Stanley Swash, CEO
(Woolworths)
1908 Balthus
(artist)
1904 Jimmy Dorsey Shenandoah PA, orchestra leader
(Stage Show)
1904 Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald
Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver
Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor
William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberdorft Sr.,
near Hamburg, Germany; had a Christian name for
every letter in the alphabet, shortened it to Mr Wolfe Plus 585 Sr.
1920 James Mitchell, Sacramento CA, actor
(Palmer-All My Children)
1952 Raisa Smetanina, USSR, cross country skier
(Olympics-gold-1976, 80, 92)
1956 Randy Jackson, rocker
(Zebra-Tell Me What You Want)
1968 Cary Conklin, NFL quarterback
(San Francisco 49ers)
1972 Antonio Sabato Jr, actor
(Jagger Cates-General Hospital)
1972 Chris Devine, Allentown PA, diver
(Olympics-96)
Deaths:
1992 Earl Scheib CEO
(Earl Scheib Auto Paint), dies at 85
1992 Johnny Mack British actor
(Time Lord-Dr Who), dies at 70
Events:
1692 Sarah Good & Tituba, accused of witchcraft,
Salem
1784 Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes
fortress to the Bastille
1848 Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland
1892 Britain & US sign treaty on seal hunting in
Bering Sea
1908 Dutch scientists produce solid helium
1940 "Gone with the Wind" wins 8 Oscars
1940 45 U boats sunk this month (170,000 ton)
1940 Hattie McDaniel becomes 1st black woman to win an Oscar
1952 Dick Button wins his 5th consecutive world figure skating title
1956 President Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd term
1960 1st Playboy Club, featuring bunnies,
opens in Chicago
1968 Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
wins Grammy
1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 Hank Aaron becomes 1st baseball player to sign
for $200,000 a year
1980 Michael Bracey ends 59 hours 55 minutes trapped
in an elevator, England
1988 NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the
war on drugs
Hey, I welcome comments you have about Leap Year, Leap Day or anything you found interesting
on this page! Or not. If you just want to say "hello", that will be okay as well .
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