It is Sunday, February 28 and there are only 127 days until the Fourth of July.  Don’t wait until the last minute to get your burgers, hot dogs, rolls and chips.  Start looking for ways to get your illegal fireworks home, too.  Today we remember the birthdays of Thomas Newcomen, Berthold Auerbach and Bugsy Siegel.  On this day in 1066 Westminster Abbey opened, in 1784 John Wesley chartered the Methodist Church and in 1935 nylon was discovered by Dr Wallace Carothers.  In Finland it is Kalevala Day and in Luxembourg it is Burgsonndeg, celebrating the end of winter.

As you know, tomorrow is February 29, Leap Day.  Have you ever wondered why 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. 

But why February?  All the other months in the Julian calendar have 30 or 31 days, but February lost out to the ego of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.  Under his predecessor Julius Caesar, February had 30 days and the month named after him - July - had 31.  August had only 29 days. When Caesar Augustus became Emperor he added two days to 'his' month to make August the same as July.   So February lost out to August in the battle of the extra days. 

Just to confuse the issue a little more before moving on, the year 2000 was a leap year, but the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not.   There's a leap year every year that is divisible by four, except for years that are both divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.  The added rule about centuries (versus just every four years) was an additional fix to make up for the fact that an extra day every four years is too much of a correction.  I hope this clears everything up regarding Leap Year.

As I have mentioned in the past, I am convinced that inanimate objects are not really inanimate and they are out to drive me crazy.  Let me give you a couple examples.  I have a pair of jeans that gives me trouble every time I wear them. Just as I am about to put my leg in, the rear waist band of the jeans flops over preventing me from getting my leg in and causing me to hop around until I regain my balance and put my foot back down on the floor.  It usually takes at least two attempts before I get them on.  I have tried different methods, like sitting down (same result without the hopping) or starting with my left foot instead of my right, to no avail.  At one time I was convinced it was just one particular pair of jeans, so I stopped wearing that pair. As a result, a different pair has taken up the responsibility.  Fortunately, so far, it is only one pair that creates the problem … so far.

Another problem I have is with the iron we use.  When I start to fill it with water, I have two issues.  The first is that just as I start to pour in the water, it stops going in and spills all over.  I have tried pouring slowly, trickling it in and doing small amounts at a time, but I still have the same spill over.  I am not sure if the iron problems are caused by the inanimate object demon or the way the iron was manufactured.  There is a fill line that is hard to see (this one to the manufacturer).  As I pour the water in, once I get passed the spillover, it takes forever to see the level come up and then suddenly I am in danger of overfilling (demon).  

Another problem is the fault of the manufacturer.  They tell you to tilt the iron when filling.  I do that and when the water reaches the fill line, I stop.  But I have noticed that when you stand the iron back up, the level is above the fill line.  When things like this happen I feel like I can almost hear the designer chuckling.

There are numerous other incidents that I could bore you with like the problem with bags collapsing just as I go to pour trash in and other things, but I think I sound nuts enough with what I have already mentioned.  The only thing I would say is watch how inanimate objects act when you are trying to do things.  Does everything always go smoothly?  I don’t want to make anyone paranoid, just careful.

This week our fact tells us that during their periods, women’s middle fingers shrink, but no one knows why.  Of course this does not prevent those women from exhibiting said finger if you annoy them or make comments about them during that time.