Sunday, February 24, 2008

Blah-Blah-Blahg: Food For Nought

Jump for joy! Leap year is hopping on a calendar near you. Thanks to the fact that the Earth does not orbit the Sun in a neat 365 days(but rather 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds) us humans have to make a minor adjustment in our schedules every four years. We add a day to February.

When Julius Caesar rose to power, those Romans were still using an inferior 10 month calendar; that resulted in a disastrous addition of up to 80 days every calendar year! Eventually, the Romans caught on and did as the Egyptians do - that is - they adopted a 12 month calendar. So Caesar named July after himself. Then, along came Augustus, who just had to have his own month as well - the height of narcissism if you ask me (but that's Greek mythology). So good old Augustus named August after himself and, in a real show of arrogance, stole a day from February to make his month as long as Julius'. We've all heard of penis envy but... ?

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