Why do we have leap years?

Leap Year 2016: – why does the month have an extra day every four years?

When is it, why does it happen and everything else you need to know about the leap year in 2016

Why do we have leap years?

A leap year, where an extra day is added to the end of February every four years, is down to the solar system’s disparity with the Gregorian calendar.

A complete orbit of the earth around the sun takes exactly 365.2422 days to complete, but the Gregorian calendar uses 365 days. So leap seconds – and leap years – are added as means of keeping our clocks (and calendars) in sync with the Earth and its seasons.

What if you’re born on February 29?

The chances of having a leap birthday are one in 1,461. People who are born on February 29 are referred to as “leaplings”, or “leapers”. In non-leap years, many leaplings choose to celebrate their birthday on either February 28 or March 1, while purists stick to February 29 for the occasion.

Some suggest those born just after midnight on February 29 should celebrate their birthdays on February 28, while those born just before midnight on March 1 should celebrate their birthdays on that day. Those born around midday are less fortunate when it comes to picking a side.

About 4.1 million people around the world have been born on the 29th.

Pisces is the zodiac sign of a person born on February 29, and amethyst is the birthstone for this month.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Season

Share an image evocative of the weather or represent the current “season of your life” in metaphor.

 

Are you a Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime?

Reason, Season, or Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

— Unknown

Photo Challenge of the Week – State of Mind

WordPress Photo Challenge: State of Mind

My life is rushing by.

Sometimes this is very hard to do. I have to remember to stop and take a breath.

Don’t cut the plant,
Just let it grow.
Don’t rush through life,
Go nice and slow.

Don’t cut the blossom,
Just inhale it’s soul,
What grows before you,
Is God’s true gold.

Don’t rush inside,
When it starts to pour.
Just walk through the rain,
As you’ve, done before.

Rise early one day,
And behold the dawn,
And a giant red orb,
Will stifle your yawn.

Wonder at the moon,
High in the night sky.
And the stars all around,
So incredibly high.

Do you remember,
When you were so young,
And a world full of wonder,
Was there to be won.

Some look but don’t see,
And who holds the key?
To the wonders the lord made,
For you and for me.

Some hear, but don’t listen,
They’re too busy by far.
To hear rustling of leaves,
Or see twinkling of stars.

To hear birds in the trees,
Oh such beautiful songs.
To see clouds floating by,
When the wind is so strong.

Don’t rush through your life,
Take a deep breath and then.
Behold all the marvels,
God created for men.

Smell of the flowers,
Along lifes highway.
And your life will be better,
By far in this way.

5/1/05 Alton Texas

Juan Olivarez

February Fun Facts

The 2nd month of the year is an outstanding one In the Georgian calendar, the calendar that most of the world uses, February is the second month of the year. Most of the months have 30 or 31 days in a month but February is shorter. February has 28 days until Julius Caesar gave it 29 and 30 days every four years. This is because the Roman emperor Augustus took one day from February and added that to August because August was a month that was named after him. February is a very cold month followed by January in the northern half of the world. However, there are sunny days in February that indicates that spring is almost here. Different from the northern half, the southern hemisphere usually enjoys midsummer weather. Below are some fun facts about February:

1. The birthstone for February is Amethyst.

2. Two zodiac signs for February are Aquarius (January 20 – February 18) and Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

3. The month has 29 days in leap years, when the year number is divisible by four. In common years the month has 28 days.

4. Viola (plant) and the Primrose are the birth flowers.

5. Black History Month is celebrated in Canada and United States.

6. National Day of the Sun is celebrated in Argentina.

7. In order to complete the Soviet Union’s victory in Stalingrad during World War II, the last German troops surrendered in the Stalingrad pocket.

8. On February 4, 1861, a temporary committee met at Montgomery, Alabama where they organized a Confederate States of America.

9. On February 6, 1933, Amendment 20 to the United States was proclaimed which moved the Inauguration Day to January 20th.

10. In February 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

11. On February 6, 1899. The U.S. Senate ratified the peace treaty that led to the end of the Spanish-American War.

12. On February 6, 1952, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

13. February 11 – National Foundation Day in Japan

14. February 12 – Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday

15. February 14 – Valentine’s Day

16. February 21 – International Mother Language Day

17. February 22 – Independence Day in Saint Lucia

18. February 22 – George Washington’s Birthday

19. February 24 – Flag Day of Mexico

20. February 25 – People Power Revolution (Phillippines)

 

Presidents Day

Presidents’ Day, officially Washington’s Birthday,  In the United States, holiday (third Monday in February) popularly recognized as honoring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The day is sometimes understood as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents.

The origin of Presidents’ Day lies in the 1880s, when the birthday of Washington—commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first president of the United States—was first celebrated as a federal holiday. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which moved a number of federal holidays to Mondays. The change was designed to schedule certain holidays so that workers had a number of long weekends throughout the year, but it has been opposed by those who believe that those holidays should be celebrated on the dates they actually commemorate. During debate on the bill, it was proposed that Washington’s Birthday be renamed Presidents’ Day to honour the birthdays of both Washington (February 22) and Lincoln (February 12); although Lincoln’s birthday was celebrated in many states, it was never an official federal holiday. Following much discussion, Congress rejected the name change. After the bill went into effect in 1971, however, Presidents’ Day became the commonly accepted name, due in part to retailers’ use of that name to promote sales and the holiday’s proximity to Lincoln’s birthday. Presidents’ Day is usually marked by public ceremonies in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country.

Happy Valentines Day

Every February 14, across the United States and in other places around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and where did these traditions come from? Find out about the history of this centuries-old holiday, from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England.

Click here for the history of Valentines day

 

Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all.

For more information

Go Orange -Teen Dating Violence Month

February is Teen Dating Violence (DV) Awareness Month! Teen DV Month (sometimes called TDVAM) is a national effort to raise awareness about abuse in teen and 20-something relationships and promote programs that prevent it during the month of February.

Dating violence is more common than many people think. One in three teens in the U.S. will experience physical, sexual or emotional abuse by someone they are in a relationship with before they become adults. Help us spread awareness and stop dating abuse before it starts!

For more information!

1 in 5 teens in a dating relationship report being hit, slapped, or pushed by their partner.

LoveIsRespect.org

Go Red-Symptoms of a Heart Attack in Women

Well-known heart attack symptoms can include chest pain and radiating discomfort in the left arm. But, as Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum explains, there are several other ways your body may tell you when something isn’t quite right, potentially with your heart.

Read on for details on four silent heart attack symptoms that women should most definitely be aware of.

Shortness of breath

According to Steinbaum, director of The Heart and Vascular Institute at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, women often struggle to breathe a few weeks before experiencing a heart attack.

“If you are used to doing a certain amount of activity and then, all of a sudden, you can’t get enough air, that is when I get concerned,” says Steinbaum.

Back pain

Irregular pain in the lower or upper back can indicate stress to the heart muscle, Steinbaum says.

Jaw pain

“I had one patient who would feel her jaw start to hurt every time she got on a treadmill,” Steinbaum says. “But once she stopped, her jaw pain would go away. She went to a dentist, but there wasn’t anything wrong with her teeth.”

This discomfort continued until the woman experienced a heart attack. When she came into Steinbaum’s office after the event, it was evident that the jaw pain was directly linked to what was happening in her heart.

“Sometimes the heart isn’t able to give a good signal and, instead, the pain can radiate to the neck, jaw and back,” she says.

Nausea

Flu-like symptoms are often reported weeks and days before a heart attack. In fact, as Steinbaum explains, TV personality Rosie O’Donnell reportedly regurgitated a few times before she experienced a heart attack in early 2012.

Advice: Trust Your Gut

If you aren’t feeling normal or are experiencing any of the symptoms above, head to you local emergency room. It is better to take care of yourself and prevent damage to your heart, in the event you are having a heart attack.

“A women’s intuition is a very strong thing; don’t ever discount it,” Steinbaum says.

“Ninety percent of my women patients who’ve just had a heart attack tell me that they knew it was their heart all along. That they just had a feeling.”

Learn more about your risk for heart disease as well as  factors that increase your risk on Go Red For Women.

February is Heart Month