Happy Leap Year
Our Solar year is 365.24219 days, tracked on the Gregorian Calendar. Not a nice round number so every four years, we need to tack on an extra day to the shortest month of the year to keep the calendar aligned.
Today is February 29th.
Historically, the Romans originally had a 355 day calendar. To keep up with the seasons, an extra 22 or 23-day month was inserted every second year, or so. They were not consistent in adding this month and by Julius Caesar’s time, the seasons no longer occurred at the same calendar periods as in the past. To correct this, Caesar eliminated the extra month and added one or two extra days to the end of various months. Thus extending the calendar to 365 days. He also intended an extra calendar day every fourth year (following the 28th day of Februarius). However, after Caesar’s death in 44 B.C., the calendars were written with an extra day every 3 years instead of every 4 until corrected in 8 A.D. So again, the calendar drifted away from the seasons.
By 1582, Pope Gregory XIII recognized that Easter would eventually become closer and closer to Christmas. The calendar was modified again so that a leap day would occur in any year that is divisible by 4 but not divisible by 100 except when the year is divisible by 400. Thus 1600 and 2000, although century marks, have a Leap Day.
We use the Gregorian calendar to this day. Our year of 365.2425 days, is only off from our solar year by .00031, which amounts to only one day’s error after 4,000 years.
More at wikipedia.
The Roads In Colorado Springs Aren’t Much Better
While our bike lines are a little wider, the pavement quality is far worse, and that's in the summer. In the winter and spring, the local government provides an extra challenge with inches of anti-ice sand that never gets swept up. I've only lived here for 11 months and ridden 1/30th of my life's mileage here but have had more near death accidents due to the sand than all other hazards in my cycling life.
No Words For This
Yesterday morning, I ordered some Assos Chamois Creme and about six pairs of Pearl Izumi socks from my favorite cycling retailer, Colorado Cyclist. Their retail store/fulfillment center is 9.3 miles from my home. Why didn't I just drive down there and pick this up myself? 1) The past two days have been very busy at work and 2) sometimes it can take them FOREVER to go in the warehouse to find something small like chamois creme. And I didn't need this stuff right away.
I ordered "Colorado ground shipping" and paid $6.95 for it. I just received my UPS shipment info and guess what? They shipped it OVERNIGHT. Surely, they jest, I thought. I gave them a call and was told that they did this because I had been such a good customer lately and they do this from time to time. Ironically, this will probably delay my shipment by two days since UPS will have to reroute it back to the ground shipment center. LOL.
The Pug Gets 15 More Minutes
My little pug movie is apparently still a hit on the 'net. I was watching on of my favorite technology podcasts , CommandN on my I-pod in bed last night and was surprised when they mentioned RCS. Check it out (10 minutes and 50 seconds in to the show):
Last week, RCS was featured on Leo Laport's blog HERE. I've been a fan of his for years and years and was floored when I started getting a ton if traffic from his site.
I've been averaging about 20,000 hits per day and pushing north of 30 GB per day. All because of one little pug...
The Ballad of The Baconsfield Miners
I've always been a fan of those Fighters of Foo and am a little late on the bandwagon for their latest, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace but it's the best album I've heard in years. Here's the lone instrumental track on the album, Ballad of the Baconsfield Miners.
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I highly recommend checking this album out.
