Journal Entries
Ummm . . . Yeah
Posted Oct 29, 1999
Well been at h2g2 almost a week now, and I'm finding all sorts of neat links to neat links to neat links within the guide. I recommend that everyone check out everything they get a chance to. I mean, there's just so much info floating around in here! Considering the length of my last journal entry, I think I'll cut this one short. Ummm . . . Yeah.
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Latest reply: Oct 29, 1999
Leap Year
Posted Oct 24, 1999
I don't quite understand this crazy idea of February getting an extra day every four years. I mean, why didn't February get the normal allotment of 30 days in the first place? There are plenty of months with 31 who could stand to lose their last day. And why is this extra day added into February, the second month? Why not December at the end?
And what's the deal with the centuries? Only every fourth century gets a leap year? So people born on leap year get a birthday in 2000, but others didn't in 1900. How is that fair? I mean they really should've thought things through before they arbitrarily decided that February was the perfect victim of this silly extra day thing.
I understand the bit about needing to adjust the calendar every few years, since instead of 365 days, there are 365.25 or some such number. But why does it have to work the way it does? The Pre-Colombian cultures of the American continents had a great system of 'dead days' at the end of the year, to account for this need to shift the calendar. Their calendar was more accurate than the European one at the time, so why not adopt the idea? Are we simply too proud to acknowledge a better system? "Not invented by our nifty selves, can't use it."
With regard to the system in place, is there some sort of rule that says only February is affected this way? Why not have a different month each time? They could rotate. That way February would only be affected every 48 years, and the other months would get a chance to have their own extra day.
I feel personally affronted by this whole leap year thing, being born on that oh so fateful day. People are always asking me what it's like not getting birthdays like everyone else, and isn't it cute that I'm only five birthdays old, when really I'm 20 years old? Well, almost anyway.
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Latest reply: Oct 24, 1999
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