Posted on 02/29/2024 11:35:33 AM PST by DallasBiff
Nearly every four years, we add an extra day to the calendar in the form of February 29, also known as Leap Day. Put simply, these additional 24 hours are built into the calendar to ensure that it stays in line with the Earth’s movement around the sun.
While the modern calendar contains 365 days, the actual time it takes for Earth to orbit its star is slightly longer—roughly 365.2421 days. The difference might seem negligible, but over decades and centuries that missing quarter of a day per year can add up. To ensure consistency with the true astronomical year, it is necessary to periodically add in an extra day to make up the lost time and get the calendar back in synch with the heavens.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
Also a legend, I grew up with, was that April fools day came from the Julian Calendar.
Famous Leap day birthdays, Dinah Shore, and the guy who composed "The William Tell Overture".
Long ago I had a teacher who informed the class that we currently were using the Julian calendar and that it had been created by Pope Julius. None of this, of course, is true.
The calendar is Microsoft Excel incorrectly has the year 1900 as a leap year.
Todays the day girls can ask guys out.
Like Sadie Hawkins.
That’s what I remember about Leap Year when I was young.
“The modern calendar contains 365 days, the actual time it takes for Earth to orbit its star is slightly longer—roughly 365.2421 days. Over decades and centuries that missing quarter of a day per year can add up.”
Missing quarter of a day? Missing? It’s an EXTRA quarter of a day. History.com didn’t learn their math.
When I was a kid, it was called Sadie Hawkins Day. I believe from Little Abner cartoon.
“The calendar in Microsoft Excel incorrectly
has the year 1900 as a leap year.”
The calendar on my phone does not
show 1900 as a leap year.
But it shows 1896 and 1904,
as leap years.
Weird
That would be correct.
Maybe they did that on purpose that year. Maybe they were all freaked out like some were on December 31, 1999. It makes you wonder.
Only every fourth even-hundred year is a leap year. Thus 1900 wasn’t a leap year, 2000 was, 2100, 2200, and 2300 won’t be, and 2400 will be.
Its poorly worded. It's not missing, it is simply not accounted for on a calendar.
Thank you, Al Capp! :-)
Yes, that’s the difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars. The Julian calendar gives you a leap year every four years, resulting in a year that’s exactly 365.25 days long. But the real astronomical year is about 13 minutes shorter than that, so the Gregorian calendar skips a leap year on years divisible by 100, unless they’re also divisible by 400. 2000 (divisible by 400) was a leap year, 1900 (not divisible by 400) was not.
You explained it more clearly than I did.
I wouldn't be surprised by that at all. When I first start working on some charts about the National Debt years ago, M$FT was completely incapable of charting the data. OpenOffice had no problem with it. Haven't used excel since.
Wow, I did not know that.
I thought it was once every four years, no matter what.
So every 400 years we skipped three leap years.
Learn something new every day.
Quote
When will the woke try to get rid of the Gregorian calendar, it has worked for 100’s of years. ...
...
Ezekiel 46:1 exposes the Gregorian and Julian calendars as living on borrowed time..
That bible verse does damage to Islam’s and the Talmud’s calendars too..
Amazing what one bible verse can do. Almost like a smooth stone right to the temple of a giant..
Millenial years are supposed to be skipped for leap years
Per the original Gregorian calendar
Learn something new every day.
****
That’s what I love about Free Republic- there are a lot of SMART PEOPLE here!
😀👍
Every turn of a century is not a leap year (it skips) unless it also the turn of a millennium (it does not skip), like 2000.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.