Freak Day

When I embarked on this journey to spend a whole year learning something new every day, I felt that 365 new facts was a realistic goal. I forgot, however, about the pesky freak day that is February 29th. That's right, today's fact is a freebie, a rogue truth that I had failed to budget for in my charts. If I collapse from mental and physical exhaustion (in other words, laziness) on December 30th, you'll know why. I'm not someone who likes to deviate from the bare minimum - it's bad enough that, technically, I didn't even get paid to go to work today.

Luckily, Freak Day (as I have renamed it) does serve some useful purpose, as it has provided me with a plethora of fact. This site alone has about 30 links for the lonely, embittered people unlucky enough to be born on the 29th; unsurprisingly, they're making a pretty big deal out of today. One of my work colleagues had a baby at 10 past midnight this morning - she had expressly said that she didn't want the poor sprog to be born on Freak Day, although I tried to point out the savings she'd make on presents. Not only will this kid get just 4 proper birthdays before they leave home, it seems that, like their fellow leaplings, it will also be subjected to an adult life beset with administrative difficulties. Still, I'm sure there's some positives - still pretending to be 9 when you're heading into your forties, presumably.

Anyway, on to my fact:

1900 was not a leap year.

Now, this may not sound that remarkable - most years aren't, after all. 1900, however, should have been a leap year, as it is divisible by four, but wasn't because it is also divisible by 100. 2000 was a leap year because (bear with me) it is divisible by 400. So prospective leap years are spared the ignominy of an extra day if they are the first in a new century, with an exception every four centuries. This, apparently, is the best system they could come up with. Children born in 1896 did not get a birthday until 1904, when they would have been eight years old. Still, things improved ten years later when they dodged conscription for having not yet reached their 4th birthday.