My aged mother, actually born on February 28 some 74 years ago, has had a running joke going for decades among family and friends and coworkers: that whe was born on a Feb29. This minor falsehood allowed her to claim an age under 40 for about 2 decades past 1978, and caused confusion among Human Resource personnel in her last part time job, where she calmly insisted that yes, she was only 17 years old despite looking every bit of her 68 years (at the time). So all hail the Leap Day! And happy birthday to my mom! That is history enough for me.
it's actually slightly more than 75 percent. Only century years divisble by 400 are leap years, so 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years. 2000 was the first centennial leap year under the modern system, and the next one will be 2400.
But the really cool thing about 2-29 is that without it, no one would have ever gone around singing "Figaro!" anytime they want to pretend they're an opera singer: http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2008/02/happy-52nd-birthday-rossini.html
My aged mother, actually born on February 28 some 74 years ago, has had a running joke going for decades among family and friends and coworkers: that whe was born on a Feb29. This minor falsehood allowed her to claim an age under 40 for about 2 decades past 1978, and caused confusion among Human Resource personnel in her last part time job, where she calmly insisted that yes, she was only 17 years old despite looking every bit of her 68 years (at the time). So all hail the Leap Day! And happy birthday to my mom! That is history enough for me.
ReplyDeleteit's actually slightly more than 75 percent. Only century years divisble by 400 are leap years, so 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years. 2000 was the first centennial leap year under the modern system, and the next one will be 2400.
ReplyDeleteBut the really cool thing about 2-29 is that without it, no one would have ever gone around singing "Figaro!" anytime they want to pretend they're an opera singer:
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2008/02/happy-52nd-birthday-rossini.html
actually it has 75.6997.... ect less not every 4th year is a leap year.
ReplyDelete1896 was, but not 1900
Ah nevah wuz any good at gazintas.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm dealing with folks who ask my b-day and I don't want 'em to know, I say I was born on February 31.
ReplyDelete