Posted on 03/03/2012 1:22:50 AM PST by U-238
Most years, the calendar hops straight from Feb. 28 to Mar. 1. But in almost all years whose numerical value is divisible by four, such as 2012, an extra "leap day" gets tacked on the end of the second month. Cue, today's date: Feb. 29.
The extra day must be added to every fourth calendar year in order to keep our Gregorian calendar synchronized with actual astronomical measures of the passage of time. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the length of Earth's year — as in the time it takes for the planet to complete one revolution around the sun — is not a clean 365 days, but rather 365.2422. Adding an extra day to one-fourth of calendar years compensates for the buildup of partial days.
However, because the astronomical year isn't exactly 365.25 days long, but a hair shorter, the normal leap year schedule is a slight over-compensation. To scale back the full-day leaps and keep the calendar right on track, some century years (years with double zeroes at the end) are not leap years. The rule dictates that only century years which are divisible by 400, such as the year 2000, contain leap days. The numbers 1900, 1800 and 1700 aren't divisible by 400, and so those years were not leap years.
Altogether, the 400-year leap year cycle ensures that Earth is as close as possible to the same point in its orbit in consecutive calendar years. Any further errors that accumulate are corrected when needed through the addition of a leap second onto the last minute of either June or December. During leap seconds, the Coordinated Universal Time follows the sequence 23h 59m 59s - 23h 59m 60s - 00h 00m 00s.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifeslittlemysteries.com ...
Yes, there is a connection of course, just not the connection he is looking for.
1 year = 365.242199~ days
That is a correlation, just not one that is expressed in nice round numbers. It does not follow that this is, therefore, any evidence of randomness, unless one doesn’t understand the everpresent nature of irrational numbers in the universe.
1 Circumference = 3.1415927~ diameters
That is not a nice round number correlation either, yet who would argue that the existence of circles is evidence of randomness vs design?
I’m on the side of design.
Yes, I figured as much, just thought I would ping you since I was responding to elaborate on the point you were making to him, that there is, in fact, a clear correlation.
There's a need for one in my inexpensive Timex. It indicated March 1'st all day on February 29th.
Mark
At this point, I am far from a newbie, right?
Which is where I started and the only point I was making
No, the obvious point I’ve been making is that there is no connection between rotational and orbital periods for the earth. There is either some hidden amusement value in adopting a stance of volitional ignorance on the part of people reading my statements on this matter if there is a depressing degree of genuine ignorance for those people.
I’m not sure what you’re point is here. It’s the Earth’s tilt that accounts for the seasons and to some extent, its elliptical orbit around the Sun.
The Earth’s rotation accounts for the time between Sunrise and Sunset but that’s not exactly 24 hours. The Earth orbits the Sun but not in exactly 365 days.
If our current 24 hour day clock and 365 day calendar didn’t account for this with a leap day every four years, eventually Spring would fall on our calendar sometime in September.
“No, the obvious point I’ve been making is that there is no connection between rotational and orbital periods for the earth.”
Yes, but that is not the whole point of the argument you’ve been making. You have also been saying that this is some evidence that weighs in favor of randomness vs. design.
I don’t think you’ve made a logical argument as to why that would be so, you’ve only used fallacies to support it.
No. You are being obtuse or you really can’t see it. Not my problem
Meh. Call me whatever you want, if I make a controversial assertion, I at least have the courage to try to back it up with valid arguments if someone calls me out on it.
Hah! No. Give me a holler when you've been posting 14 years...nOOb....
:^P
Considering the volume there are people interested. I am far from a noob.
Congratulations for posting for 14 years.
It happens to me every time I stumble into a religion thread and make a simple yet intelligent observation. I never realized I was so deep!
I’m shocked sometimes I’m still here, under the same name. I’m planning on a party next month.
I bring you a case of Jack Daniels to help you celebrate
There will be a thread...so a pic of a case of JD would be grand!
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