You may not need this if you recall why 2000 was a leap year
Most of us have a general idea as to why today is Feb. 29 instead of March 1, but until this morning, I, at least, had not been well steeped in the nitty-gritty details (or had forgotten them from school). Writes Phil Plait, author of the Bad Astronomy blog:
When I was a kid, I had a friend whose birthday was on February 29th. I used to rib him that he was only 3 years old, and he would visibly restrain himself from punching me. Evidently he heard that joke a lot.
Of course, he was really 12. But since February 29th is a leap day, it only comes once every four years.
And why is it only a quadrennial event?
Duh. Astronomy!
And then he provides the math … lots and lots of math. But I found it interesting anyway.
