It only happens once every four years, and today it
happened. An extra day on the calendar,
and since it is a Wednesday, I have to work.
Is it really fair to have that extra day as a work day ? The Mayans didn’t care, and did not even add
in the variation in the solar orbit, as they were more concerned with the
seasons and when to plant and harvest crops.
There are some interesting things in regard to the Leap day,
how it came to be. This is the first year
that I have really given it much thought.
No calendar used today is perfect. They are off by seconds, minutes, hours or days every year, when compared to the tropical year, as per the table below.
|
Name of calendar
|
When introduced
|
Average year
|
Approximate error introduced
|
|
AD 1582
|
365.2425 days
|
27 seconds (1 day every 3,236 years)
|
|
|
45 BC
|
365.25 days
|
11 minutes (1 day every 128 years)
|
|
|
365-day calendar
|
-
|
365 days
|
6 hours (1 day every 4 years)
|
|
Lunar calendar
|
ancient
|
12-13 moon-months
|
variable
|
Why
do we need Leap Years?
Leap
Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions
around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days,
5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (a tropical year) – to circle once around
the Sun.
Women propose to their men
According
to an old Irish legend, or possibly history, St Bridget struck a deal with St
Patrick to allow women to propose to men – and not just the other way around –
every 4 years. This is believed to have been introduced to balance the
traditional roles of men and women in a similar way to how Leap Day balances
the calendar.
They should never have put Feb. 29 on the
calendar. Imagine what you and I could do with one day in which we didn't have
to bind ourselves to a numbered date, one day with no prescribed obligations,
no appointments, no work, no boss, no meetings, no mail, no media programming.
That day would be a get-out-of-jail-free card, a day with a blank slate, a day
of unordered possibilities, a day wiped clean.
How would you spend such a day?
This day in history” On February 29, 1940, Gone
with the Wind is honored with eight Oscars by the American Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. An epic Southern romance set during the hard
times of the Civil
War, the movie swept the prestigious Best Picture, Director,
Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Film Editing, and Actress categories.
However, the most momentous award that night undoubtedly went to Hattie
McDaniel for her portrayal of "Mammy," a housemaid and former slave.
McDaniel, who won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, was the first
African American actress or actor ever to be honored with an Oscar.”
By the time I write the blog, it is already 9pm, and my phone is ringing. There is a problem at work. As I said above, the day should be a freebie, a day off. Instead, it is almost "gone with the wind".
Hello March !!
No comments:
Post a Comment