Why Now?

[Kasko]

I appologize in advance. I know this isn't the place for this thread but I can't help myself.
Every leap year we get an extra day; in February. Who the hell wants another winter day? How about an extra day in the middle of May. It could be a beautiful day. We could play two!
If you could determine which day would be the extra day every leap year, which one would you choose and why?

[cardinalkarp]

moving to rants in 3...2...1

[Hungary Jack]

I would choose my birthday, July 13. Then the French would have to wait another day to celebrate Bastille Day.

[stldogget05]

I don't get why they just didn't put it at the end of the year. I am sure there is a perfectly good explanation, but I am just to lazy to look it up.

[TabascoElvis]

Guess we blame the dang Romans

Unfortunately no mention of why they picked February.

We have Julius and Gregory to thank for Friday's leap day, the extra day that's periodically tacked onto the month of February.

Even before Julius Caesar's reign, the ancients had figured out that a 365-day year came closest to matching the annual round of equinoxes and solstices, which were so important for planting schedules and holy rites linked to astronomical observations. But over the years, the seasons gradually fell out of sync, and extra days had to be stuck in haphazardly to put the year back on track.

With an assist from the astronomer Sosigenes, Julius Caesar instituted the much more reliable Julian calendar, which stuck a 366th day in the month of February every four years. (OK, when the Romans started the leap-year habit in 45 B.C., they added a leap day every three years. Which was bad. But eventually they got it right.)

There was still a slight discrepancy between the calendar cycle and Earth's actual solar year, however, and by the time Gregory entered the picture in the year 1582, the difference added up to 10 days. Armed with updated astronomical advice, the pope revised the calendar again, and added an exception to the four-year leap rule. Leap days would be added to century years divisible by 400 (such as 2000), but not to the other century years (such as 1900 or 2100).

And that's where we're at right now. Even Gregory didn't completely solve the problem. There are still little discrepancies that crop up between the calendar and our planet's yearly rounds. If you could check Earth's precise position in its orbit year over year, you'd find an average yearly discrepancy of 26 seconds.

[Jmodene]

What the article doesn't mention is that the Romans believed February to be an unlucky month. That's why it ordinarily has only 28 days, while the other months have 30 or 31.

My guess is that Caesar decided to go with leap day in February since it already had, by at least two, fewer days.

Putting the extra day at the end of the year makes more sense, of course, but there's no way they're gonna change it now - the calendar is what it is, and unless we institute Star Dates or some other form of decimal system, it ain't gonna change.

[Radbird]

Put it at the end of September and make each leap year 163-game season.