Crazy Facts About Leap Year

LongIsland.com

We compiled these historical and fun facts about the once-in-four-year (almost) phenomenon.

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2020 is a Leap Year. So at the end of February, if you get paid an annual salary or are serving a one-year prison sentence you get sort of screwed. Want to find out more interesting and crazy facts about Leap Year? Read on.

 

  • The Earth actually takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds to revolve around the sun
  • Without Leap Year our seasons would drift out of sync with the calendar
  • People born on February 29th are called “leapers” or “leapings”
  • Your chances of being born on Leap Day is 1 in 1,500
  • There is an Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies a birthday club for people born on February 29th
  • They have a Facebook page

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  • If you were born on February 29th you’re in good company, so were Pope Paul III (1468), Singer Dinah Shore (1926), Actor Dennis Farina (1944), Life Coach Tony Robbins (1960), and Rapper Ja Rule (1976)
  • James Milne Wilson, the 8th premier of Tasmania, was both born and died on Leap Day in the 1800s
  • In Greece it is considered bad luck to be born in a Leap Year
  • Leap days fall in years that are divisible by 4, like 2020
  • Except in years that are divisible by 100 (like 1900) unless the year is also divisible by 400 (like 2000)
  • Leap Day is also associated with marriage and proposals - so every four years February gets a double dose of romance
  • It is also associated with an old tradition in Ireland where women could propose to men on Leap Day also called Bachelor’s Day

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  • The Egyptians first introduced the idea of Leap Year
  • The Julian Calendar introduced by Julius Caesar also contained a Leap Day but it was slightly off and resulted in drift of the calendar form the solar year
  • The Gregorian Calendar corrected the problem in 1582 and is the one we use today
  • The calendar and solar years are still about 30 seconds off and in 3,300 years they will diverge by a day
  • Many ancient calendars like the Hebrew calendar have entire leap months to correct for the seasons

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  • The Leap Year Bug is a miscalculation by computer programs during Leap Year
  • Microsoft Excel incorrectly assumes that the year 1900 is a leap year
  • Because of the Leap Year Bug, in 2016 a luggage conveyor system at Düsseldorf Airport refused to let 1,200 pieces of luggage onto planes
 

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