Posted on 02/29/2008 5:00:01 AM PST by Lucky9teen
February 29th eh?
Why do we have Leap Day?
Observatory: Our solar year (the time required for Earth to travel once around the Sun) is 365.24219 days.
Our calendar year is either 365 days in non leap years or 366 days in leap years (Feb 29th inserted).
A leap year every 4 years gives us 365.25 days, sending our seasons off course and eventually in the wrong months.
To change .25 days to .24219, we need to skip a few leap days (Feb 29ths) .... century marks not divisible by 400. So with a few calculations tweek the calendar by skipping 3 of 4 century leap years to average out our calendar year to 365.2425, which is pretty darn close to the solar year 365.24219.
Here’s the history:
The Romans originally had a 355-day calendar. To keep up with the seasons, an extra 22 or 23-day month was inserted every second year. For reasons unknown, this extra month was only observed now and then. By Julius Caesar’s time, the seasons no longer occurred at the same calendar periods as history had shown. To correct this, Caesar eliminated the extra month and added one or two extra days to the end of various months (his month included, which was Quintilis, later renamed Julius we know it as July). This extended the calendar to 365 days. Also intended was an extra calendar day every fourth year (following the 28th day of Februarius). However, after Caesar’s death in 44 B.C., the calendars were written with an extra day every 3 years instead of every 4 until corrected in 8 A.D. So again, the calendar drifted away from the seasons. By 1582, Pope Gregory XIII recognized that Easter would eventually become closer and closer to Christmas. The calendar was reformed so that a leap day would occur in any year that is divisible by 4 but not divisible by 100 except when the year is divisible by 400. Thus 1600 and 2000, although century marks, have a Leap Day.
The calendar we use today, known as the Gregorian calendar, makes our year 365.2425 days only off from our solar year by .00031, which amounts to only one day’s error after 4,000 years.
He went up to a hole in the fence and peeked in to see what was happening.
Someone inside poked him in the eye with a stick, and they started chanting "Fourteen! Fourteen! Fourteen!"
Nice Smile!
| You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie |
 You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying! |
And I just baked chocolate chip cookies last week.
Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness in a quiet American suburb.
http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/page/1
| You Are a Colon |
 You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon |
bttt
| You Are a Black and White Cookie |
 When you're good, you're sweet as sugar. And when you're bad, you're wicked! |
figgers. i got the same thing.
| You Are a Question Mark |
 And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma |
Now that’s funny. :)
They were pre-ping, I’m post-ping
JERRY: Uhm, The thing about eating the Black and White cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate And yet somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie all our problems would be solved.
ELAINE: Your views on race relations are fascinating. You really should do an op-ed piece for the Times.
JERRY: Um, um, Look to the cookie Elaine. Look to the cookie.
LATER...
ELAINE: What's the matter with you?
JERRY: Uh, I don't feel so good.
ELAINE: What's wrong?
JERRY: My stomach, I , I think it was that cookie.
ELAINE: The black and white?
JERRY: Yeah.
ELAINE: Not getting along?
JERRY: I think I got David Duke and Farrakhan down there.
ELAINE: Well if we can't look to the cookie where can we look?
Roping A Deer
Names have been removed to protect the stupid!
Actual Letter from someone who writes, and farms.
I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall,
feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.
The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that,
since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have
much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come
right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the
truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get
up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie
it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.
The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back.
They were not having any of it.
After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up — 3 of them. I picked out a
lively looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw
my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me.
I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would
have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you
could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.
I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little
tension on the rope and then received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand
there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to
action when you start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT
stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I
could fight down with a rope and with some dignity.
A deer— no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no
controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me
off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to
me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I
had originally imagined.
The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many
other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to
jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me
a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the
blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had
lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil
creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck,
it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere.
At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At
that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the
feeling was mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had
cleverly arrested the deer’s momentum by bracing my head against
various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still
think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that
I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were
in, so I didn’t want the deer to have it suffer a slow death, so I
managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder -
a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute.
I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my
rope back.
Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years
would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very
surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer
grabbed hold of my wrist.
Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where
they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its
head —almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze
and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My
method was ineffective.
It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several
minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.
I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that
claim by now) tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the bejesus
out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that
rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for
the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on
their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and
their hooves are surprisingly sharp.
I learned a long time ago that, when an animal — like a horse —
strikes at you with their hooves and you can’t get away easily, the
best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive
move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a
bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such
trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a
different strategy.
I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.
The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a
horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will
hit you in the back of the head.
Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being
twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to
run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not
immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger
has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and
down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl
and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with
a scope so that they can be somewhat equal to the Prey.
I’ve ordered the on e-bay twice from New York!
“You Are An Exclamation Point “
Jake: What is it?
Elaine: It’s nothing.
Jake: Tell me.
Elaine: Well, I was just curious why you didn’t use an exclamation point?
Jake: What are you talking about?
Elaine: See, right here you wrote “Myra had the baby”, but you didn’t use an exclamation point.
Jake: So?
Elaine: So, it’s nothing. Forget it, forget it, I just find it curious.
Jake: What’s so curious about it?
Elaine: Well, I mean if one of your close friends had a baby and I left you a message about it, I would use an exclamation point.
Jake: Well, maybe I don’t use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do.
Elaine: You don’t think that someone having a baby warrants an exclamation point.
Jake: Hey, I just chalked down the message. I didn’t know I was required to capture the mood of each caller.
Elaine: I just thought you would be a little more excited about a friend of mine having a baby.
Jake: Ok, I’m excited. I just don’t happen to like exclamation points.
Elaine: Well, you know Jake, you should learn to use them. Like the way I’m talking right now, I would put an exclamation points at the end of all these sentences! On this one! And on that one!
Jake: Well, you can put one on this one: I’m leaving!
Hahahahaha!!!
I’m a question mark???? How could that be?????
I want to be an exclamation point.
(Damn, I couldn’t even get one out for that exclamatory sentence. Guess it was right).
We bought $60.00 of cookies from our daughter. Love those Samoas and Thin Mints!
I’ve got my order in. I’m partial to the Caramel Delites.
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