Leaping into March
This week’s blog is devoted to something completely un-related to real estate. In honor of Leap Day, I thought it would be a fun diversion to learn a little about our added day.
Leap Year was originally invented over 2000 years ago by Julius Caesar. Back then the Roman Empire operated on the Julian Calendar. The concept was refined over the centuries as new calendars were developed. Today we use the Gregorian Calendar which defines a years as 365 days. However, the Earth takes roughly 365.25 days (365.242199 to be precise) to revolve around the Sun, defining a year. So every 4th year there is an extra day added to the calendar. There is one notable exception. In years evenly divided by 100, there is no extra day added. However, if the year is evenly divided by 400 (which would make it divisible by 100 also), there IS a leap day. Confused? All you need to know is that the next time there will be a year divisible by 100 and, thus, no leap day, will be the year 2100.
Now that the geometry lesson is over, let’s have some fun. Did you know that someone born on February 29 is called a “Leapling.” Some countries have laws defining which date a leapling comes of age in legal terms. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be allowed to vote until you had made 72 trips around the Sun.
Those lucky enough to be leaplings share their real birthday with actress Dinah Shore, motivational speaker Tony Robbins, and baseball player Al Rosen among others.
Even though February 29 happens only once every four years, several notable world events have happened on this date including:
1904 – Panama Canal commission was formed
1940- “Gone With the Wind” wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards
And in 1692 the first arrests were made in the Salem Witch Trials. There’s a certain irony to that!
This year, Leap Day will fall on a Monday and the moon will be 7 days past full moon.
And here are some fun customs and traditions surrounding Leap Day: http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leap-day-february-29.html
Happy Leaping!