How Leap Year came to be...
It was Ancient Egyptians first figured out that the solar year and the man-made calendar year didn't always match up. That's because it actually takes the Earth a little longer than a year to travel around the Sun-365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be exact. Therefore, as the hours accumulated over the centuries, an extra day was occasionally added to the calendar, and over time the practice became more or less official.
The Romans first designated February 29 as leap day, but a more precise formula (still in use today) was adopted in the 16th century when the Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the calculations to include a leap day in years only divisible by four - 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, etc.
Another stipulation ruled that no year divisible by 100 would have a leap year, except if it was divisible by 400. Thus, 1900 was not a leap year...but 2000 was!
Let's all plan to meet at the Marion Culvers on February 29th at 6:30 PM and celebrate Leap Year! We can enjoy some great frozen custard, talk about geocaching, get a LEAP YEAR souvenir for our profile page, and for some of us...finally fill that $*&@# empty spot on our day filler grid that has been mocking us for the last few years! There is also a cache in the parking lot (if you haven't already found it) so you could qualify for a second souvenir, too! You don't have to buy anything to attend the event. I hope to see as many cachers as possible!