guys what do you'all think should be a proper topic to start a dialouge

The price of tea in China.....and whether or not it contains lead based paint........

It does, I put it there. Topic finished.

i drink to that, lily--

well the price of tea in china is $2.00

Key Laboratory of Tea Chemical Engineering, Ministry of Agriculture; Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 3100008, China

and

Agriculture and Environment Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK
Received 10 December 2004; accepted 23 April 2005. Available online 5 July 2005.

conducted a survey and found that Lead concentrations in 1225 tea samples collected nationally between 1999 and 2001 varied from <0.2 to 97.9 mg kg−1 dry weight (DW), with 32% of the samples exceeding the national maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of 2.0 mg kg−1 DW and a significant difference between tea types. There was an increasing trend in tea Pb concentration from 1989 to 2000. Proximity to highway and surface dust contamination were found to cause elevated Pb concentrations in tea leaves. Furthermore, Pb concentration in tea leaves correlated significantly and positively with soil extractable Pb, and negatively with soil pH, suggesting that root uptake of Pb from soils also contributed to Pb accumulation in tea. Potential contributions to human Pb intake from drinking tea were small at the median or national MPC Pb values, but considerable at the highest concentration found in the study.

more or less yes..it has lead in there

Shadowdog, my friend!

Abe, you must have been pretty bored......

So how about the effect of gamma rays on man in the moon marigolds for a topic???

Certain dialog from Paul Zindel's play remained in the script for the movie. Even though the movie was filmed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, certain references to the location of the play, which takes place in Staten Island, New York (Zindel's hometown) remain. Ruth mentions "Prince's Bay" when reading a classified ad about some property for sale, and Matilda tells her mother that a photographer is going to take pictures of the Science Fair finalists for "The Advance". Prince's Bay is a neighborhood located on the South Shore of Staten Island, and the Staten Island Advance is the local newspaper.

besides
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds is Paul Zindel's best-known play. It is an autobiographical drama loosely based on his experiences growing up in a single-parent household. The play's main character, Beatrice, is modeled on Zindel's mother, who became a bitter and disillusioned woman after the departure of her husband. The play was first produced in 1964 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. It eventually opened off-Broadway in 1970, and in 1971 made a brief jump to Broadway. Overall, the play enjoyed a very successful New York run of 819 performances. Zindel's portrayal of the painful side of family life struck a chord with audiences who found they could easily relate to the themes of loneliness and shattered dreams. The play was critically acclaimed and earned several awards, including an Obie Award for best play of the season (1970), the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best American play of the year (1970), and the Pulitzer Prize for drama (1971). It was so popular that in 1972 Twentieth-Century Fox released a film version starring Joanne Woodward.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds has been widely read and performed up to the present day. Its realistic portrayal of the struggles of young adults still resonates with audiences, even though it was written more than thirty-six years ago. An edition with a new introduction by Zindel was published in 1997. In it Zindel talks about the direct parallels between the characters and his own family, and notes how pleased he is that the play still speaks to modern audiences.

Why is bellybutton lint always blue?


Who decided we need 365 days a year and then just to whammy it up a bit every fourth year we will throw in an extra one?

And how did it become some lame tradition that only on that year with an extra day, women can ask men to marry them?

That's nice to know, but my question was what IS the effect of gamma rays on man in the moon marigolds.....the scientific explanation.....

[1] Navel lint consists primarily of stray fibers from one's clothing, mixed with some dead skin cells and strands of body hair.
Contrary to expectations, navel lint appears to migrate upwards from underwear rather than downwards from shirts or tops. The migration process is the result of the frictional drag of body hair on underwear, which drags stray fibers up into the navel.
Women experience less navel lint because of their finer and shorter body hairs. Conversely, older men experience it more because of their coarser and more numerous hairs.
Navel lint's characteristic blue-gray tint is likely the averaging of the colors of fibers present in clothing; the same color as clothes dryer lint.

[2] Our year is actually 365.2422 days and our lunar month (from new moon to new moon) is 29.531 days.

So why did early civilizations around the world use calendars with months of 30 days and years of 360 days? These calendars seemed to function well until sometime in the 8th century BC when suddenly it became necessary to change them. Most civilizations around the world began to modify their calendars to allow for 5 extra days for the year and 6 fewer days for a lunar year. A lunar year is 12 full months; a modern lunar year is 354 days (12 months x 29.5 days).

Were these early civilizations incapable of accurately measuring the astronomical cycles that governed their calendars prior to the 8th century?

The 8th century BC was a time between 799 BC - 700 BC. Let's look to the Bible in that period of time to see if we can find any changes mentioned. There are a number of books in the Bible that were written during this time. 2nd Kings, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah... In the book of Isaiah we find the story of the sundial going backwards.

This is the earliest mention of a sundial in historical literature.

Isaiah 38 tells us about Hezekiah king of Judah, a man near death, told by Isaiah to put his house in order because God told Isaiah that Hezekiah would die and not live. Hezekiah prays to God and God tells Isaiah that He has heard Hezekiah's prayer and will add 15 years to his life. God even says to Isaiah that He will give Hezekiah a sign that God will do this.

"Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial of Ahaz ten degrees backward." So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down. (Isaiah 38:8)

This story is repeated in 2 Kings 20:1-11

How much time would this 10 degrees take?

360 degree circle (on the sundial), divided by 12 hours of sunlight (average day) = 30 degrees per hour

1/3 of an hour = 20 minutes

10 degrees would = 20 minutes.

Now a modern sundial is round and would only show a 180 degree change for 12 hours, but the sundials from this time were not round but a set of stairs that had two sides that stepped up towards each other and met in the middle. We don't know how many steps this particular sundial of Ahaz had. If it had 360 steps then 20 minutes could be an accurate estimate.

Why 360 steps? The Hebrew in Isaiah can be translated literally as steps (NIV) but it can also mean degrees (KJV), so if the meaning were 10 degrees then 360 degrees would = 360 steps.

A sundial positioned properly with 360 steps could tell you not only what hour of the day it was but also what day of the year it was (if the year had 360 days).

Some commentaries on this sign of the sundial going backwards have said that it could have been due to sun refraction. Would the creator of the universe give a sign that could be confused with natural phenomenon? These commentaries would be written by people of little faith.

Now this gets quite interesting:

The earth is orbiting the sun at 29.79 km/s (kilometers per second) and has been doing so for many thousands of years. This constant speed of 29.79 km/s means that to make one orbit of the sun (one complete circle) will take 365.2422 days.
If we speed up the orbit of the earth to 30.22379 km/s we would end up with a year that is 360 days long

If we had a year of 360 days and slowed the orbit of the earth from 30.22379 km/s back to 29.79 km/s then the year would equal our current solar year; 365.2422 days per year.

The difference in speed between 365.2422 days per year and 360 days per year is equal to 20.9688 minutes per day. This is not a difference in our 24-hour time period but it would take the earth 20.9688 minutes less time per day to travel that same distance in the orbit around the sun.

365.2422 days -20.9688 minutes per day = 360 days

If you had a year = 360 days per year and slowed the orbit of the earth around the sun by 0.433792 km/s (The difference between 30.22379 km/s and 29.79 km/s), you would end up with a year that takes 365.2422 days. This slower speed would cause 5.2422 days extra per year to make one complete revolution around the sun.

There is no time dilation or anything extraordinary here. We have only slowed the speed of the earth down. We have not changed spin of the earth in a 24-hour period and we have not changed the speed of the moon around the earth.

However, if the earth had a year of 360 days per year (= earth's orbital speed of 30.22379 km/s) the moon would now automatically have a 30 day lunar month without changing the speed of the orbit of the moon!

Confused, let me elaborate.
With our modern calendar the Moon takes about 27.3 days to make one complete orbit around the earth with relation to the stars.

But the earth is also moving around the sun draging the moon with it. The earth orbits around the sun once every 365.2422 days (= earth's orbital speed of 29.79 km/s). The earth and moon in 27.3 days have moved as a system about 1/12 of the ways around the sun. This means that from one full moon to the next full moon, the moon must travel 2.2 extra days before it appears full this is due to the curve of the earth's orbit around the sun. The moon is still making one complete orbit (circle) in 27.3 days, but to line up with the earth and sun to become a full moon again it takes 29.531 days.

29.531 day lunar months x 12 lunar months = 354.372 days per lunar year
A difference of 10.87 days a year between a lunar year and a solar year of 365.2422 days per year
If we did not speed up the orbit of the earth but had our current speed of 29.79 km/s and let the earth travel half a day further, then after 29.9 days we see that the moon has gone half a day past the full moon. (To achieve a full moon the moon must be in a straight line with the middle of the earth and the sun.)
With a calendar of 360 days per year:
Now if we changed nothing else except to increase the speed of the earth's orbit to 30.22379 km/s to achieve a 360 day year, then the time it takes from one full moon to the next full moon would be 29.96785 days (30 days). The moon would still be making one complete orbit every 27.3 days but the moon would now need to travel 2.6785 extra days (added to the 27.3 days) to become full again.
29.96785 day months x 12 months = 359.6142 days per lunar year
A difference of 9 hours a year between a lunar year and a solar year of exactly 360 days per year.

By adjusting the speed of the earth around the sun to give us a year of 360 days we automatically end up with a month that equals 30 days (29.96785 days). It just so happens that all ancient calendars had 12 - 30 day months, which equaled 360 days. These ancient calendars also had 1 solar year = 360 days!

All these 360-day solar/lunar year calendars suddenly begin to change in the 8th century BC to either a 365 day solar year or a lunar year of 354 days per year (or both). Which match our modern calendars.

In the 8th century BC, the Bible tells us the sun moved backward on a sundial, our calculations estimate that this distance on the sundial would equal about 20 minutes. A miracle so subtle you would only notice if you were watching a sundial.

The difference between 360-day year with a 30-day month and our 365.2422-day year with a 29.531-day month is orbital speed, which can also be translated into time, about 20 minutes extra per day.

The original Roman 355 day calendar had an extra 22-day month every few years to maintain the correct seasonal changes. By the time Julius Caesar took reign, the seasons no longer occurred during the same months they once had.
2 This was remedied in 45 B.C. by removing the extra month and adding the extra day to a few months instead.

3 Julius Caesar proclaimed the last day of February as Leap Year Day, skipping it three out of four years. Back then, February 30th was the last day of the last month of the year, which is why he picked it.

4 Julius also threw in a month in honor of himself (Julius - July).

5 Around 10 BC, it was found that the priests in charge of computing the calendar had been adding leap years every three years instead of the four decreed by Caesar (Vardi 1991, p. 239). As a result of this error, no more leap years were added until 8 A.D. Leap years were therefore 45 BC, 42 BC, 39 BC, 36 BC, 33 BC, 30 BC, 27 BC, 24 BC, 21 BC, 18 BC, 15 BC, 12 BC, 9 BC, 8 AD, 12 AD, and every fourth year thereafter (Tøndering), until the Gregorian calendar was introduced

6 In 4 A.D. Emperor Caesar Augustus corrected a counting error in Leap Years. He also had the month of August named after him, and took the last day of February so that August can have 31 days, just like Julius' month. Now February has 29 days in Leap Years.

7 The calendar was finally perfected by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 who predicted Easter and Christmas would eventually fall on top of each other without his intervention.

8 Pope Gregory determined that Leap Day should fall on any year divisible by 4 but not 100 (except when the year is divisible by 400).

9 Century years were made leap years if they were divisible by 400. So, 2000 was a Leap Year, but 1900 was not.

10 At the same time, Pope Gregory moved the end of the year to December 31st.

11 He also moved the end of the year back two months so that Easter would occur in the spring.

12 Today our year is 365.2425 days, off from our solar year by .00031, or one day's error over 4,000 years.

13 Leap Seconds! Some years are longer than others. This is mostly due to weather. Every few years, scientists agreed to add or remove a second from a year right at midnight on January 1st or July 1st. This is called a Leap Second.
Newsflash: Scientists have now discovered that the Earth is not rotating as fast, and have deemed this practice unnecessary!

14 Leap Moons! Many countries use a lunar calendar to celebrate religious holidays. Whenever the lunar calendar falls behind the solar calendar by more than a moon month, a Leap Moon Month is added to the lunar calendar.

15 If you're a "Leaper," you will have beaten the 1,506 odds against being born on Leap Day

16 There is now in existence the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club and the Worldwide Leap Year Festival.

17 Leap Year was the traditional time that women could propose marriage. When the rules of courtship were stricter, women were only allowed to pop the question on one day every four years - February 29th.

18 It is believed this tradition was started in 5th century Ireland when St.Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait for so long for a man to propose. So, according to legend, St. Patrick said women could propose on this one day in February during the Leap Year.

19 According to English law, February 29th was ignored and had no legal status.

20 Folks assumed that traditions would also have no status on that day. It was also reasoned that since the leap year day existed to fix a problem in the calendar, it could also be used to fix an old and unjust custom that only let men propose marriage.

21 The first documentation of this practice dates back to 1288, when Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year.

22 They also made it law that any man who declined a proposal in a Leap Year must pay a fine. The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves.

23 In the United States, some people have referred to this date as Sadie Hawkins Day, but that
is in November. They are confusing it with Leap Day, February 29, because Leap Day used to be
considered the only time a women was given the right to run after unmarried men to propose.

24 There is a Greek superstition that claims couples have bad luck if they marry during a leap year. Apparently one in five engaged couples in Greece will avoid planning their wedding during a leap year.

25 Herman Hollerith developed the first computer on Leap Day 1860. He had been a special agent for the US census, and developed punch cards and electric tabulating machines in time to process the census returns, reducing considerably the time needed to complete the clerical work. Hollerith's venture became part of what is now the IBM Corporation.

26 Leapship - A friendship or relationship between 2 Leapies!

27 The Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy was completed on Leap Day 1880.

28 Dutch scientists produced solid helium on Leap Day 1908.

29 The discovery of the first pulsar in space was announced on Leap Day 1968.

30 LeapGramp and LeapGran - The Grandparents of a Leap Day Baby!

31 There are currently around 4.1 million ‘Leapers’ in the world today.

32 Ann Lee (founder of Shakerism) was born in Manchester Leap Day 1736

33 Rossini (composer) was born on Leap Day 1792

34 John Holland, American inventor of the submarine, was born on Leap Day 1792

35 Jimmy Dorsey (bandleader) was born Leap Day 1904

36 Ja Rule (Rap Artist) born Leap Day 1976

37 1964 Olav Henriksen born - The 2nd of 3 siblings born on consecutive Leap Days

38 Leapophile - People who are not themselves Leapies but like and celebrate Leap Day!

39 Leap Year cocktail - never order a Leap Year cocktail by name. Instead, call out the ingredients: 1.5 oz gin, 0.5 oz Grand Marnier, 0.5 oz sweet vermouth, and a squeeze of lemon. Shake with crushed ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

40 Leap Year Day Babies will never have a "Golden Birthday". A Golden Birthday is when your age matches the number of the day of the month you were born on. Leap Year Day Babies will have to be 116 before they turn 29 on the 29th!

41 Longest Reported Leap Day: Jon Hayanga Leap Year Day Baby 1960, had his birthday in Taipei one day then crossed the international date line going
east and had his birthday again the next day in Spokane, WA, USA.

42 Shortest Reported Leap Day: Ed Chatfield Leap Year Day Baby 1940, crossed the date-line in a ship (going west) the night of February 28th and woke up on March 1st. So he lost his birthday entirely.

43 Leapicide - People who celebrate on Feb 28 and Mar 1 as well as Feb 29!

44 Leap Year Day Babies born in 1884 had no birthday during their entire teen-age years. Why? Because 1900 was not a Leap Year.

45 The Order of 29'ers was operated by the Pittsburg, Kansas, Headlight-Sun newspaper, from the 1920's through the 1960's. Their motto was "semel quatuor annis," and they sent out certificates to people born on February 29th. The certificate was yellow and had a picture of a baby, bracketed by a stork on one side and father time on the other.

46 There was a time when Leap Year Balls happened all throughout the Leap Year. Women were given the "right" to ask a man for his hand in marriage. They were afforded a lovely place to display themselves, and propose their man of choice, at lavish and fantastic Leap Year Balls. If the man declined her proposal he had to provide her with a silk dress and a kiss on the cheek.

47 Leap Year Dances were common as well. Here, a woman may do the asking for a dance. The women attending either a Leap Year Ball or a Leap Year Dance may ask her man to marry her. It is "OK" for a woman to ask in a Leap Year.

48 The premise of Gilbert and Sullivan's musical The Pirates of Penzance is based on the birth of the main character on a leap day. Frederic was, as a child, apprenticed to a band of tenderhearted, orphaned pirates by his nurse who, being hard of hearing, had mistaken her master's instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot. Frederic, upon completing his 21st year, rejoices that he has fulfilled his indentures and is now free to return to respectable society. But it turns out that he was born on February 29, Leap Year Day, and he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday (when he's 84!).

49 Make a Leap Year Kiss Cake - Take one armful of pretty girl, 1 lovely face, 2 laughing brown or blue eyes, 2 rosy cheeks and 2 lips like strawberries. Mix well and press to lips. The result will be astonishing. For frosting take 1 piece of dark piazza and a little moonlight, and press into 1 large or small hand so as not to attract attention, 2 ounces of romance and 1 or 2 whiskers. Dissolve half a dozen glances into a quantity of hesitation and 2 ounces of yielding. Place kisses on blushing lips or cheeks. Flavour with a slight scream and set aside to cool.

50 Yes, Superman is a Leap Day Baby! He is a comic book character, so he can have whatever birthday his creator decides to give him. An article in TIME magazine, March 14 1988, proclaimed Superman to be born on February 29. However, If you figure it out, there is no way anyone can be 50 'years' old on February 29, of any Leap Year. They would have to be 48 or 52. And, if someone did turn 50 'Leap Years' old on February 29, 1988, they would have been born in 1784!

The original Roman 355 day calendar had an extra 22-day month every few years to maintain the correct seasonal changes. By the time Julius Caesar took reign, the seasons no longer occurred during the same months they once had.
2 This was remedied in 45 B.C. by removing the extra month and adding the extra day to a few months instead.

3 Julius Caesar proclaimed the last day of February as Leap Year Day, skipping it three out of four years. Back then, February 30th was the last day of the last month of the year, which is why he picked it.

4 Julius also threw in a month in honor of himself (Julius - July).

5 Around 10 BC, it was found that the priests in charge of computing the calendar had been adding leap years every three years instead of the four decreed by Caesar (Vardi 1991, p. 239). As a result of this error, no more leap years were added until 8 A.D. Leap years were therefore 45 BC, 42 BC, 39 BC, 36 BC, 33 BC, 30 BC, 27 BC, 24 BC, 21 BC, 18 BC, 15 BC, 12 BC, 9 BC, 8 AD, 12 AD, and every fourth year thereafter (Tøndering), until the Gregorian calendar was introduced

6 In 4 A.D. Emperor Caesar Augustus corrected a counting error in Leap Years. He also had the month of August named after him, and took the last day of February so that August can have 31 days, just like Julius' month. Now February has 29 days in Leap Years.

7 The calendar was finally perfected by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 who predicted Easter and Christmas would eventually fall on top of each other without his intervention.

8 Pope Gregory determined that Leap Day should fall on any year divisible by 4 but not 100 (except when the year is divisible by 400).

9 Century years were made leap years if they were divisible by 400. So, 2000 was a Leap Year, but 1900 was not.

10 At the same time, Pope Gregory moved the end of the year to December 31st.

11 He also moved the end of the year back two months so that Easter would occur in the spring.

12 Today our year is 365.2425 days, off from our solar year by .00031, or one day's error over 4,000 years.

13 Leap Seconds! Some years are longer than others. This is mostly due to weather. Every few years, scientists agreed to add or remove a second from a year right at midnight on January 1st or July 1st. This is called a Leap Second.
Newsflash: Scientists have now discovered that the Earth is not rotating as fast, and have deemed this practice unnecessary!

14 Leap Moons! Many countries use a lunar calendar to celebrate religious holidays. Whenever the lunar calendar falls behind the solar calendar by more than a moon month, a Leap Moon Month is added to the lunar calendar.

15 If you're a "Leaper," you will have beaten the 1,506 odds against being born on Leap Day

16 There is now in existence the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club and the Worldwide Leap Year Festival.

17 Leap Year was the traditional time that women could propose marriage. When the rules of courtship were stricter, women were only allowed to pop the question on one day every four years - February 29th.

18 It is believed this tradition was started in 5th century Ireland when St.Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait for so long for a man to propose. So, according to legend, St. Patrick said women could propose on this one day in February during the Leap Year.

19 According to English law, February 29th was ignored and had no legal status.

20 Folks assumed that traditions would also have no status on that day. It was also reasoned that since the leap year day existed to fix a problem in the calendar, it could also be used to fix an old and unjust custom that only let men propose marriage.

21 The first documentation of this practice dates back to 1288, when Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year.

22 They also made it law that any man who declined a proposal in a Leap Year must pay a fine. The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves.

23 In the United States, some people have referred to this date as Sadie Hawkins Day, but that
is in November. They are confusing it with Leap Day, February 29, because Leap Day used to be
considered the only time a women was given the right to run after unmarried men to propose.

24 There is a Greek superstition that claims couples have bad luck if they marry during a leap year. Apparently one in five engaged couples in Greece will avoid planning their wedding during a leap year.

25 Herman Hollerith developed the first computer on Leap Day 1860. He had been a special agent for the US census, and developed punch cards and electric tabulating machines in time to process the census returns, reducing considerably the time needed to complete the clerical work. Hollerith's venture became part of what is now the IBM Corporation.

26 Leapship - A friendship or relationship between 2 Leapies!

27 The Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy was completed on Leap Day 1880.

28 Dutch scientists produced solid helium on Leap Day 1908.

29 The discovery of the first pulsar in space was announced on Leap Day 1968.

30 LeapGramp and LeapGran - The Grandparents of a Leap Day Baby!

31 There are currently around 4.1 million ‘Leapers’ in the world today.

32 Ann Lee (founder of Shakerism) was born in Manchester Leap Day 1736

33 Rossini (composer) was born on Leap Day 1792

34 John Holland, American inventor of the submarine, was born on Leap Day 1792

35 Jimmy Dorsey (bandleader) was born Leap Day 1904

36 Ja Rule (Rap Artist) born Leap Day 1976

37 1964 Olav Henriksen born - The 2nd of 3 siblings born on consecutive Leap Days

38 Leapophile - People who are not themselves Leapies but like and celebrate Leap Day!

39 Leap Year cocktail - never order a Leap Year cocktail by name. Instead, call out the ingredients: 1.5 oz gin, 0.5 oz Grand Marnier, 0.5 oz sweet vermouth, and a squeeze of lemon. Shake with crushed ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

40 Leap Year Day Babies will never have a "Golden Birthday". A Golden Birthday is when your age matches the number of the day of the month you were born on. Leap Year Day Babies will have to be 116 before they turn 29 on the 29th!

41 Longest Reported Leap Day: Jon Hayanga Leap Year Day Baby 1960, had his birthday in Taipei one day then crossed the international date line going
east and had his birthday again the next day in Spokane, WA, USA.

42 Shortest Reported Leap Day: Ed Chatfield Leap Year Day Baby 1940, crossed the date-line in a ship (going west) the night of February 28th and woke up on March 1st. So he lost his birthday entirely.

43 Leapicide - People who celebrate on Feb 28 and Mar 1 as well as Feb 29!

44 Leap Year Day Babies born in 1884 had no birthday during their entire teen-age years. Why? Because 1900 was not a Leap Year.

45 The Order of 29'ers was operated by the Pittsburg, Kansas, Headlight-Sun newspaper, from the 1920's through the 1960's. Their motto was "semel quatuor annis," and they sent out certificates to people born on February 29th. The certificate was yellow and had a picture of a baby, bracketed by a stork on one side and father time on the other.

46 There was a time when Leap Year Balls happened all throughout the Leap Year. Women were given the "right" to ask a man for his hand in marriage. They were afforded a lovely place to display themselves, and propose their man of choice, at lavish and fantastic Leap Year Balls. If the man declined her proposal he had to provide her with a silk dress and a kiss on the cheek.

47 Leap Year Dances were common as well. Here, a woman may do the asking for a dance. The women attending either a Leap Year Ball or a Leap Year Dance may ask her man to marry her. It is "OK" for a woman to ask in a Leap Year.

48 The premise of Gilbert and Sullivan's musical The Pirates of Penzance is based on the birth of the main character on a leap day. Frederic was, as a child, apprenticed to a band of tenderhearted, orphaned pirates by his nurse who, being hard of hearing, had mistaken her master's instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot. Frederic, upon completing his 21st year, rejoices that he has fulfilled his indentures and is now free to return to respectable society. But it turns out that he was born on February 29, Leap Year Day, and he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday (when he's 84!).

49 Make a Leap Year Kiss Cake - Take one armful of pretty girl, 1 lovely face, 2 laughing brown or blue eyes, 2 rosy cheeks and 2 lips like strawberries. Mix well and press to lips. The result will be astonishing. For frosting take 1 piece of dark piazza and a little moonlight, and press into 1 large or small hand so as not to attract attention, 2 ounces of romance and 1 or 2 whiskers. Dissolve half a dozen glances into a quantity of hesitation and 2 ounces of yielding. Place kisses on blushing lips or cheeks. Flavour with a slight scream and set aside to cool.

50 Yes, Superman is a Leap Day Baby! He is a comic book character, so he can have whatever birthday his creator decides to give him. An article in TIME magazine, March 14 1988, proclaimed Superman to be born on February 29. However, If you figure it out, there is no way anyone can be 50 'years' old on February 29, of any Leap Year. They would have to be 48 or 52. And, if someone did turn 50 'Leap Years' old on February 29, 1988, they would have been born in 1784!

Wow !!!


Is this a dialogue???

It feels like an education...but I am grateful, thankyou.

My pleasure...one is happy to be of some assistance...