Leap Year

 The earth rotates around the sun in a very precise manner. If that were not so, all sorts of chaos would ensue. If it is so precise though, why then does February have an extra day every four years?  Because while exact, the yearly orbit of the earth can’t be divided into perfect intervals without leftovers.

It takes the earth 365.2422 days to orbit completely around the sun and that little extra is the problem. Are 5.8 hours all that important? Over time, yes. In 1000 years it adds up to 242 days. That is a lot of unaccounted for time that would really play havoc with celebrations. Who would want Christmas in the summertime?

We use the Gregorian calendar to measure time. The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. It attempts to keep the vernal or spring equinox as close to March 21 as possible so that the Easter observance remains close to the vernal equinox.  Although the Gregorian is the most popular, there are dozens of different calendars in use in the world. All calendars have a way to deal with the messiness in the system.

What is even stranger is that since 0.2422x4=0.9688 and not one, adding in a day every four years isn’t a perfect solution either. Now we are overcorrecting for the phenomenon. Pope Gregory XIII and his astronomers recognized that they would need to lose an additional three leap years every 400 years to keep things on track. The Gregorian calendar adjusts for this by making the Centurial years ordinary years unless they are divisible by 400, then they are leap years. So 2000 was a leap year under the Gregorian calendar, as was 1600. But 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years.

What happens if you are born on February 29th? You are called a leapling and technically have only one fourth the birthdays of the rest of us. This can be a plus as you get older or it can be a curse as Frederic the pirate apprentice learned in Pirates of Penzance. He had to serve the pirates until his 21st birthday, which, being on February 29, meant he would be 84 years old!

So, how did February end up with 28 days anyway? It traces back to politics and egos. At one time, August had 29 days. However, Caesar Augustus for whom the month was named was jealous that his predecessor, Julius Caesar’s name sake month, July, had 31 days. He pinched two days from February so his month of August would be the same as July.

All that aside, the bottom line is that every four years we get a bonus, an extra day we can plan for and take advantage of. This gift of time is so rare and precious today.  I must admit that I have been a bit cavalier with this wonderful gift over the years. I have seen February 29 come and go 15 times and I don’t remember a single thing I did to either celebrate the day or to make it of benefit to me or others. I think this year I’ll do something memorable and go visit my Dad.

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Wildlife License Plates

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.