February 29th

By-the-by, happy Leap Day everyone. Enjoy some random facts.

Quick research shows that the "extra day" added to the calendar every four years (to compensate for the fact that our yearly rotation around the sun takes an actual 365.25 days) has a name: Bissextile Day. Tell that to some sixth graders to make them laugh.

Ask yourself how many people, how many Americans, don't really understand why we have leap years, but assume it's just something that we do.Modern people think they're so smart, but the Romans figured out the need for a "Leap Day" 2054 years ago! Or, to be more correct, they already knew about it then, but that came up with the current system (and calendar) at this point. The old system involved a four-year cycle of years with different lengths: 355 days, 377 days, 355 days, 378 days. Now, repeat that four times (for 16 years elapsed), and then do this: 355 days, 377 days, 355 days. 377 days, 355 days, 377 days, 355 days, 355 days. This was their 24-year cycle, which resulted in a 24 year span where the average length of those years was 365.25.

You can see why the Julius Caesar changed it.

On another note, the Wikipedia entry for today pointed out a legal point I had never considered:

An English law of 1256 decreed that in leap years, the leap day and the day before are to be reckoned as one day for the purpose of calculating when a full year has passed. Thus, in England and Wales a person born on February 29 legally reaches the age of 18 or 21 on February 28 of the relevant year.

So forget Groundhog Day, we're literally reliving yesterday again.¹ Or we would be if we were in England.

So if you made any mistakes yesterday, here's your chance to get it right.

[1 - Actually, I think it means that the two days are treated as a combined day, not a repeat, so you get a day with two sunrises, two sunsets, and two nights. More practical, but less poetic. Although, would you get overtime pay for that second day? Hmmm...] ⇪