Statistically, the average white male from Maryland will live approximately 77 years.
Based on that little factoid then and by using some of my Catholic school math, that means I will only celebrate 2 additional Leap Years after today’s. (I may even be cutting that second one in 2028 a little close.)
In other Leap Day-related thoughts on morbidity, Miller Lite has cancelled their free case of Miller Lite beer giveaway following the shooting at their Milwaukee beer plant (click here.) Miller’s initial promotion had them reimbursing folks who purchased a 24 pack case of Miller Lite. The 24 was in recognition of the extra 24 hours added to the calendar in a Leap Year. These gun shootings have reached a new low as they are now interfering with beer promotions and beer drinking. Something’s got to be done wouldn’t you say?
So just exactly why is it called Leap Year? Since we are actually adding a day to the calendar, seems like we’d call it something like a Keep Year or a One Day More Year.
Well, thanks to that google machine, I found that it is called a leap year because the addition of an extra day means that each date on the calendar now jumps ahead 2 days instead of the usual one day(click here.) For instance, last year Christmas fell on a Wednesday. This year, when it should have moved up one day and be celebrated on a Thursday, it will leap to Friday. Adding that extra day makes the dates leap ahead.
My first take on this was “That ain’t correct.” My Feb 12th birthday fell on a Wednesday this year and I knew that it was on a Tuesday last year. It only took me a minute to figure out that the Leap Day occurs AFTER my birthday. The Sheldon in me concluded that Leap Year then is not a full year and thus should really be referred to as Leap 5/6th of a Year. (Francis Wood can explain the math to you if you don’t get it.)
Monkees singer Davy Jones died on Leap Day 2012. The lady he is shown dancing with here is Anita Mann a famous choreographer who is still around and working in Hollywood (click here.) In making this video, it looks like Anita taught Davy a thing or two; the other three maybe not so much.
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