Did you know that today was LEAP DAY? That means it only happens once every 4 years. That is strange for sure.
It all has to do with how much time it takes the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun. It is supposed to be 365 days but it actually takes the Earth, 365.25 days. So ABOUT every 4 years, they (who are they anyway?) add a leap day. Some calendars, we use one called the Gregorian calendar, actually have a leap month.
People, like Ptolemy III in the 3rd century BC, have been trying to fix this problem forever. In 46 BCE the Julian calendar introduced a leap day every four years, but a problem with the measurement that was used led to a mounting discrepancy throughout several centuries. The Gregorian calendar reformed the concept in 1582 by eliminating leap years in the century years that weren’t exactly divisible by 400. This is why the years 1600 and 2000 were leap years but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. And why 2400 will be a leap year but 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not.
My goodness, these humans make things really complicated sometimes.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year
What are you going to do with your extra day? I am going to nap. – Jolie, the Wise
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: dog blog, dog rescue, DogDaz, Leap year, lorian lipton
Did you know that this is the earliest spring in our lives. That’s right, thanks to a leap year weirdness the equinox is 2 days earlier (March 19 or 20 depending on your timezone) than it used to be. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac equinoxes and solstices are happening earlier and earlier every year because of how leap year is calculated. When I was little it was always March 21st, this year it was on March 19. That means this was the earliest spring since 1896.
I will let The Almanac explain Why Spring Begins Early This Year
It all happens because the number of days in a year isn’t even. A year lasts 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. Call it 365.2422 days. If only the year were 11 minutes longer, or 365.25000 days, we could simply add one day every fourth year and take care of the fraction forever.
But because Earth spins a hair less than 365 ¼ times per year, we must sometimes omit that extra once‑every‑four‑year day, and that’s what creates all this fussing. Skip three leap years every four centuries and you’re accurate to one day in about 3300 years. (We even deal with THAT little glitch by skipping February 29 in the year 4000.)
A calendar that doesn’t accurately divide days into the year starts going weirdly out of sync. Seasons start happening at odd times. In the previous Julian calendar (where all century years were leap years) the annual 11‑minute error accumulated to where equinoxes were happening around March 11. The Easter Bunny was hopping around in the snow!
The present calendar takes care of everything. This leap year will make 2016 have the earliest seasons of our lives (thus far!).
But Louise and Sofie don’t know that spring was early. They just want to chase the ducks. Have a great day!
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, Cat, cats, DogDaz, equinoz, fish, Leap year, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday, Spring
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