Thursday, April 3, 2008

Leap Year!

Today, I'm going to write about leap year. This year (2008) is a leap year, which means there's 29th day in February (I'm sure you all should know by now). Even though it's a few days late, but it's still fun to talk about.

I get an inspiration to write about this because on the bus I rode, I "accidently" evasdropped 2 ladies that are gossiping about their friend who's birthday is on February 29! I never thought about this, but then I realize that people whose birthday are on Feb 29, can only officially celebrate their birthday once in 4 years!

Once I came home, I researched about leap year, and found some interesting facts:

1. This one is from wiki: leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing one or more extra days (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, an extra month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal year. For example, in the Gregorian calendar, February would have 29 days in a leap year instead of the usual 28. Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of full days, a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected.

2. Leap year is needed keep our calendar in alignment with the earth's revolutions around the sun.

3. Below are the rules how leap year is determined: Every year that is divisible by four is a leap year; of those years, if it can be divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless the year is divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year. According to the above criteria, that means that years 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years, while year 2000 and 2400 are leap years. (timeanddate.com)

4. Those who were born on Feb 29 are called Leap Year Babies or Leaplings. And there's a Worldwide Leap Year Festival to celebrate their birthday in Anthony, New Mexico/Texas, the Leap Year Capital. (leapyearcapital.com)

5. Superman is a Leap Day Baby! An article in TIME magazine, March 14 1988, proclaimed Superman to be born on February 29. He is a comic book character, so he can have whatever birthday his creator decides to give him.

If you have any more interesting news and facts about leap year and would like me to add on this post, please let me know! Comment away and tell me what you think about leap year. :-)

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