Stikii takes a LEAP!

As many of you are aware, tomorrow (February 29, 2012) is Leap Day. This is the extra day added to the end of February in a Leap Year, or a year containing 366 days. A common year, however, contains only 365 days, which makes Leap Years extra special. Nearly every 4 years is a Leap Year in our modern Gregorian calendar, and thus, we add an intercalary day in February.

Now, the big question with Leap Year is usually “why on earth do we need to add an extra day?” We don’t blame you, the concept seemed strange and mystifying to us in the beginning as well. After further investigation into the matter, we were able to uncover the true reasoning behind this concept. As it turns out, Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth roughly 365, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to circle around the Sun. The Gregorian calendar is made up of only 365 day, so if we did not add a day to the end of February every 4 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 hours, and 24 days for every 100 years! Thus, every four years during which an extra 24 hours (approximately) have accumulated, Leap Day keeps the count coordinated with the sun’s position.

Here are some interesting tips to help you calculate Leap Years:

In accordance with the Gregorian calendar, there are 3 criteria that constitute a Leap Year…..

  1. Every year is evenly divisible by 4
  2. If the year can be evenly divided by 100, however, then it is NOT a leap year, unless;
  3. The year is also evenly divisible by 400!

After applying these tips, you will find that 2000 and 2400 are Leap Years but 1800, 1900, 2200 and so on, are not!

We would like to thank Julius Caesar for introducing Leap Years in the Roman Empire thousands of years ago. Check out these Stik-ems that would be great to wear on Stikiis in honor of Leap Day this year.

 

Bibbity Ribbity

 

Robbie Ribbets

Visit out our website, www.stikii.com to order a pair today. We hope everyone enjoys their extra day this year – Happy Leap Day!