Isn't it about time for another leap year?

[_2000Flushes]

This is something that's been stressing me out since I was about ten (so nearly five years now).

Every four years we let little February pick up the slack for the quarter-day that was left out of the previous several years. Of course, this is to say that the earth takes closer to 365.25 days to travel around the sun.

But how close to 365.25 days is it really? If the earth actually takes 365.26 days, then shouldn't we be adding a day to every 100th year? (I propose that it be December 32, and be named after me.) Even better would be if it were 365.24 days. Then we'd have to subtract a day. (I guess we would just forego a leap year, but I'd rather see a year without Halloween.)

If someone here knows the answer, lay it on me. Thanks.

-2kF

[daryn]

i think i remember something about this. i think it IS actually more than 365.25 days.. but there's just no system in place for adding more days. it's just a hare over if i remember correctly, but yeah it adds up.

also the earth's rotation is actually being slowed down due to gravitational forces. i heard somewhere that every 88 years, days get 1 second longer.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
i heard somewhere that every 88 years, days get 1 second longer.

[/ QUOTE ]

We actually had a leap second a few years ago. I think it was added in between 12/31 and 1/1. Does anybody remember what year this happened?

[Thythe]

What is a leap second?

A leap second is a second added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to make it agree with astronomical time to within 0.9 second. UTC is an atomic time scale, based on the performance of atomic clocks. Astronomical time is based on the rate of rotation of the earth. Since atomic clocks are more stable than the rate at which the earth rotates, leap seconds are needed to keep the two time scales in agreement.

The first leap second was added on June 30, 1972, and they occur at a rate of slightly less than one per year, on average. Although it is possible to have a negative leap second (a second removed from UTC), so far, all leap seconds have been positive (a second has been added to UTC). Based on what we know about the earth's rotation, it is unlikely that we will ever have a negative leap second.

Next...on to the matter of 365.242 days per year (the actual number). To compensate for this, all century years that are not evenly divisible by 400 are not leap years. For example, the year 1900 was not a leap year, nor will the year 2100 be.

[andyfox]

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html

Our calendar sucks. A better idea that has some adherents among those who think about such things:

Each year has 364 "regular" days. This would be 52 full weeks. The 365th day would not have a day name (Monday, etc.) or a date. Let's call it World Peace Day. Each 3-month quarter would consist of a month with 31 days and two with 30 days. In this way, if we decided that January 1 would be Sunday, it would always be a Sunday. Every date would always fall on the same day of the week every year.
Every quarter would have 91 days.

On leap years, we would add another dayless, dateless day. World Sex Day, or whatever you like.

There. I've fixed the electoral college and now the calendar. Who knows what's next?

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
In this way, if we decided that January 1 would be Sunday, it would always be a Sunday. Every date would always fall on the same day of the week every year.

[/ QUOTE ]

You just blew my mind with this crazy talk. Seems very strange that so many people would always end up with their birthday on a crappy Wednesday or something. While others would always get a joyous Saturday? Weak.

[ QUOTE ]
There. I've fixed the electoral college and now the calendar. Who knows what's next?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you still have some work on this. When you finish though, can you help end the NHL lockout?

[_2000Flushes]

Andy,

If you don't mind, I'd like the new calendar to be on a base 10 system. Everything would be so much easier. A minute would be a tenth of an hour. A month would be a tenth of a year. Every calculation would just be a matter of moving the decimal. Even if the earth's acceleration around the sun has to be altered with nuclear means, I think we'll be better off in the long run.

Thanks for your help.

-2kF

Oh, and we could also start selling milk by the liter.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and we could also start selling milk by the liter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Communist.

Where's Jimbo when you need him?

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
Andy,

If you don't mind, I'd like the new calendar to be on a base 10 system. Everything would be so much easier. A minute would be a tenth of an hour. A month would be a tenth of a year. Every calculation would just be a matter of moving the decimal. Even if the earth's acceleration around the sun has to be altered with nuclear means, I think we'll be better off in the long run.


[/ QUOTE ]

This has already been tried.... by the French. Yeah, no one paid attention to that back then either.

[_2000Flushes]

I once took a class full of people who had never been exposed to sarcasm. It was a political science class based on economics. Just to get people riled up, I'd always keep a straight face and throw in comments like "You know, I just think Stalin had a lot of good ideas."

None of them ever wanted to be my friend.

-2kF

[Clarkmeister]

The problem is, there are enough dorks on this site that would be serious when posting what you wrote. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[andyfox]

Hockey is for Canadians and other cold-carrying northerners. We here in the temperate climate of Califronia could't care less. We're probably better off without it anyway.

To quote the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, I went to a fight last night and a hockey game broke out.

[andyfox]

I think one of the Mesoamerican civilizations had a 360 day year, knowing that it was astronomically inaccurate, but liking the fact that 360 was divisible by so many factors.

So what do you want: a system where 10 is important, or World Sex Day? My guess is most 2+2ers would say: it isn't close. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Sponger15SB]

There are actually 365.2425 days per year on average over a 400 year period.

Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year (adds an extra day to February),
EXCEPT the last year of each century, such as 1900, which is NOT a leap year . . .
EXCEPT when the number of the century is a multiple of 4, such as 2000, which IS a leap year . . .
EXCEPT the year 4000 and its later multiples (8000, 12000, etc) which are NOT leap years.

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]

Oh, and we could also start selling milk by the liter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yesterday I bought 3.78 Liters of milk. I think they do sell milk by the liter /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
I once took a class full of people who had never been exposed to sarcasm. It was a political science class based on economics. Just to get people riled up, I'd always keep a straight face and throw in comments like "You know, I just think Stalin had a lot of good ideas."

None of them ever wanted to be my friend.

-2kF

[/ QUOTE ]

One of my friends is a political nutcase... every so often I'll say something to her like...

"You know I was thinking the other day how glad I am that GWB is our president and how lucky the Iraqi people are to have us liberate them"

"Hopefully one day we will get enough judges on the supreme court to overturn Roe v. Wade, don't you agree"
(like the seinfeld ep. where elaine asks her boyfriend whether he supports abortion)
...Just to rile her up

[scrub]

[ QUOTE ]
Hockey is for Canadians and other cold-carrying northerners. We here in the temperate climate of Califronia could't care less. We're probably better off without it anyway.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but Californians couldn't care less about baseball either. At least not if it conflicts with beating traffic...

scrub

[Clarkmeister]

"Yeah, but Californians couldn't care less about baseball either. At least not if it conflicts with beating traffic..."

The Dodger fans were surprisingly resillient and involved this weekend. Well, for Dodger fans, anyways. I was pretty impressed.

[Thythe]

[ QUOTE ]
There are actually 365.2425 days per year on average over a 400 year period.

Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year (adds an extra day to February),
EXCEPT the last year of each century, such as 1900, which is NOT a leap year . . .
EXCEPT when the number of the century is a multiple of 4, such as 2000, which IS a leap year . . .
EXCEPT the year 4000 and its later multiples (8000, 12000, etc) which are NOT leap years.

[/ QUOTE ]

comeon, didn't I say that exact thing?

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]

comeon, didn't I say that exact thing?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah.... sure "you" did. We didn't steal these from other sites or anything /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Thythe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

comeon, didn't I say that exact thing?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah.... sure "you" did. We didn't steal these from other sites or anything /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

haha, oh the secrets out huh?

[greedy4chips]

This year was leap year btw. So what happens to the .2425 extra day we have this year is it banked somewhere to be added to until it matures to 1 day? /images/graemlins/confused.gif I mean, doesn't it make sense that sunset and sunrise should be off by 6 hours on Feb 28th of next year and 12 hours the following year and so on? Where does the time go? /images/graemlins/confused.gif Is that why my computer clock is always off! Is there a secret conspiracy by the clock makers to make the clocks run slightly off to make up for the extra .2425 days a year? Too many questions so little time to think about them!

Also when you get older the years seem to go by faster, does leap year go by slower, /images/graemlins/confused.gif afterall you have an extra day?

What does Father Time say about all this? /images/graemlins/confused.gif He created time right?

When Rip VanWinkle woke up how many days did he have to add to his watch calendar? /images/graemlins/confused.gif Oh yeah the clock makers had that covered! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

If my kid was born on leap year could I claim them until they were 72 in real people's birthday years?