CJ's World

(a public service announcement)

Also known as an intercalary or bissextile year, because we have to keep our calendar synchronized with the astronomical year. Some cultures add a leap month, but we here add a leap day. And thus, we have today, February 29th.

Did you know:
– 29 is the smallest positive whole number that cannot be made from the numbers {1, 2, 3, 4}, using each exactly once and using only addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
– 29 is the sum of three consecutive squares, 2² + 3² + 4²
– etc, etc

More excitingly:
– “29″ is a song by American singer Demi Lovato, who states, she “feel[s] like the song says it all….but turning 29 was a huge eye-opener for me.”
– “29,” the tv series (2018) tells us, “summer has arrived, and both Julie and Jesper has reached the big 3-0” as they navigate in single life.
– There is U.S. Code 29 law (in fact there are multiple code 29 laws)

Then there are some apropos poems:
Leap Year (Annette Wynne)
Little month of February,
You are small, but worthy–very!
Will you grow up like the others,
Like your sister months and brothers?
Every four years with a bound
With a leap up from the ground,
Trying to grow tall as they–
All you stretch is one small day!
Even then you’re not so tall
But just the shortest month of all.

Mother Goose (bringing back fond memories)
Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

I’m not sure what you’re doing with this great gift of time, but, as I am not able to leap, just like this poor frog, I am sharing my “29” research with you. May you find a more fun way to spend your day!