Feb 29th 2012 08:21 am It takes teamwork
Happy Leap Day! Was anyone born on Feb. 29? I didn’t miss it by much. I suppose you all know that a leap year is any calendar year divisible by four. Or you think you know. Years that also are divisible by 100 are not leap years—unless they also are divisible by 400, then they are leap years. Got it? All this is, of course, necessary because the earth does not revolve around the sun in exactly 365 days. It takes about five hours more. When the Gregorian Calendar was developed back in the 16th century, this was taken into account, so people would not have to wonder if they should wear a coat to the Christmas party.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
34 Responses to “It takes teamwork”
Steve from Royal Oak, MI (very temp. in Japan) on 29 Feb 2012 at 9:06 am #
I remember reading that before the year 2000, but everyone was debating whether it was the end of the millenium, the fact that most turn of the century years do not have a leap year got lost in the shuffle. I guess I won’t make it to 2100.
Symply Fargone on 29 Feb 2012 at 9:35 am #
Today’s Arlo ‘n Janis is why I love this strip and it’s creator. Clever, understated, sublime and just a soupcon(need a cedilla) of sarcasm. JJ, you are the king…over the years you have become my favorite strip supplanting the others, no wonder I save you for last before I leave my PC in the AM, it’s just like what I do with my favorite item of food on the plate, I like to go with a smile on my face. You are Symply Fargone!
Sam in Alabam(a) on 29 Feb 2012 at 9:49 am #
My son is celebrating his “11th” birthday today. He ends up in local newspaper articles on the topic about every other Feb. 29th.
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 29 Feb 2012 at 10:37 am #
Today is Rossini’s 53rd [I think], and also Young Frederic’s 44th [G&S, Pirates of Penzance]. He reached his 21st in 1940. Tomorrow is St. David’s day; kiss someone who is Welsh.
James Pollock on 29 Feb 2012 at 10:45 am #
But if you REALLY want to mess with people (or win a bar bet) ask people how long it takes the Earth to rotate on its axis. You said 24 hours, right? Wrong. The Earth’s period of rotation is actually about 23 hours, 56 minutes. The thing is, in those 23 hours and 56 minutes, the Earth travels a bit in its orbit, and so after making one complete revolution, it has to turn for four more minutes to bring the sun back into the same position in the sky as when it started.
If you need to illustrate this, do it this way. Have two people stand a couple of feet apart, facing each other. Have one of them turn in a complete circle AND take a step to one side. Now point out that they have to turn a tiny bit to exactly face the other person again.
Jim Fulton on 29 Feb 2012 at 10:46 am #
Today is my 17th birthday. I’m looking forward to my 18th in only four more years. I just hope that I can remember what it is that 18-year-olds are able to do.
Mark from Maine on 29 Feb 2012 at 11:35 am #
The retro strip reminds me of a great scene from The Wire where everybody is pushing a desk in a doorway from both sides. They make the “heavy” remark a few times too. I don;t think David Simon stole it from here; his was ca. 2006.
And I loved today’s comic: a lagniappe! Like the whole day! Couldn’t they have put the leap day in the spring or summer? I’m just sayin’.
Dave in MA on 29 Feb 2012 at 12:17 pm #
A friend commented this morning that his granddaughter was born 8 years ago today, so today was her 2nd birthday.
Made perfect sense to me, but a few others around sort of looked confused.
Mindy, how’s that truck re-upholstering going?
Happy Sadie Hawkins Day everyone! Got your running shoes on?
billinbossier on 29 Feb 2012 at 12:24 pm #
I mentioned on Facebook, and got some positive results that because this day only happens once every four years, it should be a holiday.
Also, if you have never realized it, leap year is always, in this country anyway, presidential election year.
Ginger in Auburn on 29 Feb 2012 at 12:39 pm #
emeritus Minnesota biologist – it would be easier for me to kiss someone who is named David; will that work?! Jimmy, thank heavens it’s been a while since my husband and I have provided the model for today’s archived comic. It didn’t take us long to decide first with who would be pushing and who would be pulling!
Bob, near Mark on 29 Feb 2012 at 12:43 pm #
Simply Fargone,
Here’s a ç you can borrow if you still need one.
Tom from the Front Range on 29 Feb 2012 at 1:00 pm #
@billinbossier:
And the summer Olympics. It gives them another day to get ready.
Based on this year’s Republican presidential race, I wish the year were 364 days shorter rather than one day longer.
Dan in SWMo on 29 Feb 2012 at 1:40 pm #
I’m pretty sure my wife will kiss a Welshman on St David’s Day.
Mindy on 29 Feb 2012 at 2:15 pm #
Dave in MA! You weren’t supposed to notice! I thought I could “confess” and get by with it. But I’ll tell you this, Ricardo Montleban is not going to step forward and talk about real Cordoba leather!
Mindy on 29 Feb 2012 at 2:16 pm #
Make that Corinthian! It’s been so long I tend to forget.
CW in 617 on 29 Feb 2012 at 2:47 pm #
For James Pollock (and anyone else): If you can’t find two sober people while in a bar, try this:
Get two quarters (any coin with milled edges), place them side-by-side with the Georges facing the same way. Hold one fixed, and roll the other around the fixed coin. The rolling George will rotate twice (watch the direction he’s facing) while moving around once.
BTW, I’ve been in situations related to work where folks were expected to know this sort of thing. Not all do. Those of us who played with a “Spirograph” (spelling?) as kids learned something.
Crickett on 29 Feb 2012 at 3:10 pm #
Happy 17th Birthday, Jim!
ROF on 29 Feb 2012 at 4:33 pm #
Today, I attended our usual & weekly Wednesday breakfast w/those fellow golfers who are still around here (ie: are not snowbirds) & w/whom we’ve meeting for about the past 10 years since we’ve retired.
My research shows that since there are usually 28 years between February 29 falling on the same day of the week, this will be our first (& probably last ~~ for most of us, anyway) breakfast on a Wednesday that falls on the 29th of February.
Our group made a pact this morning: if any of us make it to Wednesday, 29 February, 2040 ~~ we (or he!) will meet at the same restaurant (assuming it survives, too), if any of our grandkids or great-grandkids want to chauffeur upper 90s year old men!! I suppose we’d also have to remember we made a pact. Details. Details!
Happy Birthday, JJ.
Mary in Ohio on 29 Feb 2012 at 5:03 pm #
ROF – isn’t that a tontine? If I correctly remember an excellent episode of M*A*S*H.
Brad, also from MI but further North than Royal Oak on 29 Feb 2012 at 5:15 pm #
I can’t believe it took me until into my 40s to correlate the presidential election year with leap year. It almost seems like an extra day for us to be tortured with rhetoric.
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 29 Feb 2012 at 5:47 pm #
Here’s a bunch of symbols not available on standard keyboards that I have at the botton of a draft form. Some came through only as rectangles, so I deleted them. One of those was actually not available in the WORD symbols bin, but I was able to import it from the old WORDPERFECT bin. Warning: I don’t know what will happen if you copy this to a similar spot in your own files, but, if I want to insert one of the Greek letters, I cannot simply add it as I type. That will cause all subsequent letters to be Greek [e.g., b will become ?. I simply omit the letter and type my next word, then go back and insert the Greek letter. Enjoy, if this doesn’t get quarantined.
¶ ½ ¾ ¼ ? ? ? ? ? ? © @ ® ? Å Æ å á å ? ? æ Ç ç É ? ? é ê è ? ? ë ? ? í ? ? ñ ? ? Œ ó ô ö ? ? œ ? ? ß ? ? ú û ü ý ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ÷ ‰ ? ? ? ± £ ¢ entrée matinée fiancé fiancée
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 29 Feb 2012 at 5:51 pm #
Well, it didn’t get moderated, but all those ???????? are where I had the Greek letters and some other items. But you now have the technique and can delete the ??????? and add to the above to make your own custom symbol bin if you have a file you use as a draft document.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 29 Feb 2012 at 6:55 pm #
My wife’s grandmother was born on Feb. 29, 1896, and she passed in 1999 at the age of 103.
Anonymous on 29 Feb 2012 at 8:49 pm #
copypastecharacter.com
Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 29 Feb 2012 at 8:53 pm #
Oops! Slip of a finger – not even sure which one – and I’ve made an anonymous comment. Anyway, the above website (copypastecharacter.com) is another handy source of symbols. Most of them can be found somewhere in Word but this allows you to create a collection of the ones you use most often.
TruckerRon on 29 Feb 2012 at 9:54 pm #
The presidential primary/general election system here in the USA is a pain… The Brits have us beat with their system that gives candidates a few short weeks to run campaigns, though there are other things about their system that we’d have trouble adopting — I mean, who needs a House of Commons for entertainment (amazing insults, fistfights, sometimes near-riots) when we have Hollywood all to ourselves? And with C-SPAN, we have the perfect cure for insomnia!
Symply Fargone on 01 Mar 2012 at 8:47 am #
@Bob, near Mark,
Thanks for the cedilla!
Symply Fargone
Karla on 01 Mar 2012 at 12:49 pm #
I know it’s a day late (as usual) but you can also press ALT while typing certain numbers to get characters. æ = ALT145, ƒ = ALT159, ? = ALT456, Ç = ALT896. I used to have a list of them all when MSWord was around. I’m sure you could search for it on the internet.
Karla on 01 Mar 2012 at 12:51 pm #
ALT456 does not get “?” – just to clairfy. See emeritus’s explanation
Meryl A on 06 Mar 2012 at 1:46 am #
Leap year- we have a simple system. In the Jewish calender there are a number of leap years in a certain period of years. It is a lunar calender, not a solar one as ours is. All the months have 29 days and in a leap year an extra month is added. This is why Jewish holidays move forward on the calender and then “leap” back 4 weeks. The Muslim calender is also a lunar one, but makes no adjustment for leap years and the holidays move around the year.
Leo in LA on 06 Mar 2012 at 8:12 am #
I like these too ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ¡ ¶ ¢ ½ ¢ ¼ ¾ ° ± § ‡ ? ? ? ? ? ?
Jerry in Fl on 06 Mar 2012 at 11:05 am #
?It’s small, but I think that it’s a smiley face. The things that I learn here! For fantastic guitar solos there is a site for greatest guitar solos and Mark whatshisname from Dire Straits was my favorite. I hope that all of our friends were spared by the weather. We got a small amount of rain and that was it. April tends to be our stormy month so we will see. Hint for the day-try to never change your email address. You’ll confuse yourself and everyone else, at least I did.
Jerry in Fl on 06 Mar 2012 at 11:18 am #
The smiley face turned into a question mark. One of the mysteries of life. So let’s try alt and question mark and see what we get. Nothing. ?Alt and the 6 on the right end of the eyboard gave me the symbol for a spade as on a playing card. Let’s see what I get when I submit the comment.
Jerry in Fl on 06 Mar 2012 at 11:25 am #
Another question mark, as in why can’t I spot the typos before submitting the comment? Anyway, I’ll be away for about 24 hours and see you possibly late tomorrow or the next day.