Leap years, seconds don’t bring back lost time

Happy Leap Day! Today is an excellent day for sale shopping, since it's an "extra" day for retailers to clear out winter merchandise before spring officially arrives. I plan to take advantage of it but shhh ... don't tell Jim. :)

Speaking of Jim, he celebrated his golden birthday yesterday (28 on the 28th). He likes a low-key birthday and that's what he got. Tortillas with Spanish rice and refried beans, Grandma Charlotte's angel food cake and watching the latest episode of Castle before heading to a school board meeting (and driving home in a surreal February thunderstorm). His ultra-exciting birthday gift from his wife: A Camelbak water bottle and the go-ahead to pre-order Mass Effect 3. 

Because his work often goes unnoticed, yet frequently criticized (I have yet to figure THAT out), so I want him to feel appreciated and cherished when he comes home. If that means keeping birthdays low-key, that's what I do.   

The Kirks, serving up boring birthdays since 2007.

Happy birthday, my upstanding and sincere husband. I thank God for you every day and I pray your 29th year is full of love and peace.

Ahem. Sorry about that. Here's my column for this week, inspired by my very own not-quite-leapling.    

If my husband had been born just one day later, I’d be married to a seven-year-old. 
In a few years, our children would be “older” than their father.

So much for respecting your elders ...

Fortunately, although Jim’s mother had the option to have a leap year baby 28 years ago, she decided against it — and I’m thankful.

Leap years come around once every four years to synchronize the calendar year with the seasonal year. Because seasons don’t repeat in a whole number of days, a calendar that has the same number of days would, over time, drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. Having an “extra” day inserted once every four years corrects that drift.

Creating Feb. 29 was a complicated and centuries-long process. Various calendars over hundreds of years have compensated for it differently, and even today, Chinese, Hebrew and Islamic calendars differ from the Gregorian calendar we use in the United States.

Traditionally, leap day is when women can propose marriage.

In Danish tradition, if she is refused, her refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.

People who are born on Feb. 29 are called “leaplings,” and most celebrate birthdays every year on either Feb. 28 or March 1.

Leap years happen every four years, and although there’s some informal debate about abolishing it, the leap second is at more risk.

Leap seconds are used to synchronize atomic clocks with the Earth’s rotational cycle. They’re used every few years and most of us, myself included, don’t even notice them.

But for members of the scientific community, a second is a big deal.

In January, 700 delegates from 70 nations met in Geneva to discuss whether the leap second is worth keeping. Those in favor of removing it suggest if it’s forgotten, it could create major problems with global computer and cell phone networks, air traffic control and financial trading markets. Defenders of the leap second say it’s worked for 40 years — why change it now?

Whether we have an extra day or an extra second, I’m mindful of the fact that all of our time is precious.

With a toddler at home, I see every day how quickly time passes and how irrevocably it’s gone once it does.

We’ll never have all the time in the world, but as long as there’s enough time to do what’s important — like telling a little person how special they are — that’s time enough.

On the Lighter Side

Published February 29, 2012