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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1984)
Friday, February 17, 1984 5 one in four years Leap Day not an ordinary day By LAURI REESE Staff Writer Even though Feb. 29 only comes once every four years, many significant and interest ing events have occured on that date throughout history. Pope St. Hilarus died on Feb. 29, 468 A.D. In 992, the Arch bishop of York died. It was made legal in Scotland for women to propose to men on Leap Day, 1288, and in 1528, Patrick Hamilton, a Scottish martyr, was burnt at the stake. In Deerfield, Mass., 40 peo ple were killed and 100 were carried off by Indians on Feb. 29,1704. In 1712, General Montcalm, a hero of the French and Indian War, was born. Danish ar chitect Christian I. Hansen was born in 1756, and composer Gioacchino Antonio Rossini was born in 1792. Orders were given for the construction of the first light house on the Great Lakes in 1804. Four years later, the Brit ish astronomer Charles Prit chard was born. The Battle of Trinkitat was fought on Feb. 29, 1884. The Behring Sea Arbitration Treaty was signed in 1892. In 1906, it was written in La dies Home Journal that "wo men of good birth and breeding long ago discarded the use of perfumes. No well-bred woman will exhale any other scent than that indescribable pure sweet aroma which is the result of the daily bath and clean linen." Agadir, Morocco, was hit by earthquake, tidal wave and fire in 1960 and on Feb. 29, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the United States had secretly developed a jet called the A-ll, capable of flying at more than 2,000 miles per hour at altitudes of more than 70,000 feet. Calendar alternatives make consistent dates By LAURI REESE Staff Writer The Gregorian calendar — that's the one used today — has many serious defects. The months are variable — they contain from 28 to 31 days and don't contain an* equal number of weeks. The calendar is non-perpetual — it must be consulted for every new week and month, and an entirely new calendar is nec essary every year. Easter ranges over a period of 5 weeks, and holidays and an niversaries wander through all the days of the weeks. Dates of periodical events can never be fixed with precision. The Gregorian calendar isn't consistent with the solar year. One year out of every four is designated a Leap Year, in which an extra day is added, but the error still amounts to 37.3 minutes ev ery 100 years. Much controversy exists as THE WORLD CALENDAR JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH 0 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S J 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 APRIL MAY JUNE S M T W T F S S M T W T F s S M T W T F S 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER S M T W T F S S M T W T F s S M T w T F s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 V to what should be done now, whether a totally new cal endar should be adopted or whether further changes in the present calendar would be sufficient. Most people agree the per fect calendar would be one in which every year, every month, every week, every hour, every minute and every second would be of uniform length. One popular suggestion is a perpetual calendar of 12 months divided into equal quarters, commonly referred to as The World Calendar. This calendar would pro vide for a year of 364 days, di vided into equal quarters of 91 days each, and an extra day at the end of the year to be called "Year-End Day." The first month of every quarter would have 31 days and the remaining two months would have 30. The first of each quarter would start on Sunday. The fourth of July would always fall on Wednesday. School programs and academic schedules would be more constant. Corporations mak ing financial reports would find figures for each quarter based on the same number of working days. Animals are used to predict spring By KARI WEEKS Reporter Six more weeks of winter have been predicted, but not by your local weatherman. The forecaster is Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog. According to popular tradi tion in the United States, En gland and Germany, if the groundhog or badger sees his shadow Feb. 2, there will be six more weeks of winter. If the groundhog does not see his shadow, it is a sign that spring is coming. The National Geographic So ciety said that over the past 60 years the groundhog has been only 28 percent accurate in pre dicting the weather. But James Means, president of the Punxsutawney Ground hog Club, in Punxsutawney, Pa., finds the annual event cause for celebration. After Punxsutawney Phil makes his prediction, an official notice is sent to Washington, D.C., where Phil’s prediction is kept in the Congressional Record. Because Punxsutawney’s resi dents have been watching groundhogs for 97 years, they claim to have the official groundhog. “We believe in Punxsutawney Phil just like you believe in Santa Claus,” Means said. “Ev ery Feb. 2 people call from all over the world to see if Phil saw his shadow. We receive from 400 to 500 calls. This year about 1,500 people showed for the event and the three major tele vision networks gave us covera ge-” The highlight of Groundhog Day was the marriage of Phil to Philomena, a female ground hog. The ceremonies were per formed by a Jefferson County judge. These ceremonies are a far cry from the original purpose of Groundhog Day. The tradi tion was started orignally by German farmers who immi grated to the United States. The farmers used badgers to predict /the weather. From this predic tion, the farmers could deter mine when to plant their crops. The farmers who settled in the Pennsylvania area could not find badgers, so the groundhog became a substitute. While Groundhog Day is ac knowledged across the United States, many of the states use other animals. A prairie dog in Lander, Wyo., and a rabbit in Irvington, Ky., have predicted more winter weather for 1984. Texas does not have a similar natural forecaster, primarily be cause of the state’s geography and the animals’ biologies. “The groundhog is primarily an animal of the eastern United States,” said Charles Ramsey, a wildlife specialist at the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. “Pm not aware of anyone using any type of animal to determine the weather in Texas. It would have to be an animal in confine ment. Even then, it’s so warm the groundhog might never go into hibernation.” If the groundhog did have any ability to predict the weather, the change in climate in Texas would confuse his nor mal biological time clock, Ram sey said. ’