leap year

11 Things: Leap year

Thursday, February 28, 2008

1. Fact: One year is actually 365.2421896698 days.
Fiction: 96 hours is actually 96.0636988 hours.

2. Fact: Bissextile is the official name of the leap year.
Fiction: 2008 has a sexual orientation.

3. Fact: Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberdorft Sr. was born on Feb. 29, 1904.
Fiction: He later inspired Edward Gorey's "The Gashlycrumb Tinies."

4. Fact: There is scientific evidence that the Earth's rotation on its axis is slowing down because of global warming.
Fiction: There is scientific evidence that politics never interferes with science.

5. Fact: In 1288, Scotland established Leap Day as a time when a woman could propose marriage to a man.
Fiction: There was no punishment if he refused.

6. Fact: The Leap Year Cocktail was invented at London's Savoy Hotel on Feb. 29, 1928.
Fiction: I'll only be drinking one Friday.

7. Fact: On Feb. 29, 1952, the first "Walk/Don't Walk" signs were installed in New York City.
Fiction: Pedestrians caught on quickly.

8. Fact: On Feb. 29, 1972, the Carpenters received a gold record for the hit single "Hurting Each Other."
Fiction: The song was about the band and its fans.

9. Fact: Feb. 30 was a real date in Sweden and the Soviet Union.
Fiction: Vodka explains most of this.

10. Fact: When you use the "weekday" function in Microsoft Excel 2000 to compute the day of the week for dates before March 1, 1900, the function returns an incorrect result.
Fiction: Microsoft Excel 2000 is otherwise fun.

11. Fact: Anthony, Texas/New Mexico will be holding its Sixth Worldwide Leap Year Festival today through Sunday.
Fiction: There are many other reasons to visit Anthony, Texas/New Mexico.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/28/NSS2V8D1J.DTL

This article appeared on page G - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle