Wednesday, February 29, 2012 Leap day - 29 leap facts for
February 29th 1) Today is the 513th leap day to be observed
since the first in 45BC. 2) Leap years occur every four years.
They're required because a solar year is almost exactly 365¼
days long, and over a four year period those four quarter-days
add up to make one whole extra day. 3) There are only 24 leap
years this century because 2100 won't be a leap year (ditto
2200, 2300, but not 2400). 4) Leap year babies celebrate their
birthday only once every four years. Raenell's one, and her
website celebrates the joy of being special. 5) You have a 1 in
1461 chance of being born on February 29th. The odds are a lot
higher if your parents have sex on May 29th the previous year.
6) Over a 400 year period, the odds of being born on February
29th lengthen to 1 in 1506. 7) About 40000 people in the UK,
200000 people in the USA and 5 million people worldwide are leap
day babies. 8) The Queen sent no centenarian birthday telegrams
on February 29th 2000, because t