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Community Corner

Leap Year Facts

A brief history of how we got an extra day every four years

Tomorrow is February 29th - Leap Day in the Leap Year of 2012.

The ancient Egyptians discovered that the solar year and the man-made calendar year didn't always match up. It actually takes the Earth about 6 hours longer than 365 periods of 24 hours (aka 'days') to travel around the sun.

According to National Geographic, the Romans tried to do something about it by adding days, weeks, even months to certain years. But it was not very official and depended on the whim of the emperor.

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Eventually, in the 1500's, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar to replace the Julian Calendar that had everyone confused. At that time, they created a precise formula that is still in use today to determine that February 29 would be the added to the year every four years.

There is an Honor Society of Leap Year Babies with 10,000 members of people born on leap day!

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Astrologers say that those born under the sign of Pisces on February 29 have unusual talents and personalities.

Some famous people born on February 29 are:

1948 Willi Smith, Fashion designer.

1960 Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker

1968 Chucky Brown, NBA forward (Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks)

1968 Cary Conklin, NFL quarterback (SF 49ers)

1972 Antonio Sabato, Jr., Italian-born actor

1972 Saul Williams, Rap Poet, Actor and Member, Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies

1976 Ja Rule, Rapper

1980 Simon Gagne, Canadian Hockey player, NHL player (Philly Flyers) who has been an all-star

1980 Chris Conley, American musician

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