Law Students

The Day That Should Not Be.

By Steve Pirates

Leap year day has always bothered me. I understand that the Earth’s cycle is not precise. I understand that if left unchecked, the quarter-day differential will add up over the years and we’ll have Christmas in July; but really, do we need another day every four years?

Why can’t we just have a long New Years Eve? I mean think about it, just add the extra hours to New Years Eve and be done with the math. It has all the scientific advantages of Leap Year over the long term, without the negative side effect of having Leap Babies who age only once every four years, and as near as I can tell can probably travel through time like Scott Bakula. I’ve always felt both envious and sorry for people who are Leap Babies. My birthday is March 5th, and I was born on a leap year, so I could very well have been a Leap Baby.

On the one hand, being a Leap Baby is kind of cool, because it is rather unique. It’s the sort of “Oh, neat!” thing that people have when they are left handed, or have two heads.

On the other hand, being a Leap Baby must kind of suck, because it means your real birthday never comes. Also, I think it must get kind of tiring to have your birthday be one of the more interesting things about you.

So I am officially lobbying for New Years Eve to get more time every year. Now, I know that some of you will point out that the time lag that causes leap year is only based on the year not on the day, so adding hours every year will just screw up the time of day and we’ll have sunrise at midnight*. And I accept that many people who are not in law school probably actually care about when the sun is up or down. So, let’s compromise people, let’s change Leap Year to January 31st Part 2 every four years. Think about it, two years of New Years Eve…. Now, that’s a Leap Year to get excited about.

*Sunrise At Midnight would be an excellent posthardcore-emo-goth band, and I hereby trademark that name as being my newest band. Look for an EP coming out in Fall of 20X6.

Full post as published by Jolly Lawger on February 28, 2008 (boomark / email).