Leap Year 2024

 

Leap Year 2024

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Happy New Year!

2024 is a leap year, a year with an extra day to balance the calendar year with the solar or tropical year. An astronomical year lasts slightly less than 365 and one quarter days. Without an adjustment every four years our calendar would soon become out of synchronisation with the tropical year; in four years, it would be out by about one day and in 100 years it would be out by approximately 25 days.

Julius Caesar introduced the leap year in 45 BC. The Julian calendar ruled that any year number divisible by 4 would be a leap year but this resulted in many leap years. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582 to regulate this. The Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. It is still used in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as in Oriental Orthodoxy and by the Berbers in parts of North Africa.

Leap years occur every four years except for years that are divisible by 100 but not 400. 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was. For most of us, at least until 2100, if the last two numbers are divisible by 4, the year is a leap year.

The summer Olympics are held every four years, usually in a leap year. The 2020 Olympics were postponed for a year because of Covid. This year, Paris is hosting the summer Olympics from 26^th July to 11^th August. 

The opening ceremony is usually entertaining though sometimes needs to be interpreted by the commentators, as the dance/drama sequences can be quite mystifying. I wonder why, when all the nations of the world can put aside their differences for two weeks to participate, such willingness to cooperate cannot translate to daily life. Of course, the athletes are competing for medals, not attempting to annex other people's lands. The spirit of apparent goodwill does not last. Consider the 1936 Olympics in Germany, which so incensed Hitler. 

What state will our world be in by the summer of 2024?

ABC Wednesday Y is for Ypres

During the First World War the Belgian town of Ypres, known to the British Tommies as ‘Wipers’, was subject to sustained battles between the Allies and the Germans. Under almost constant bombardment it was virtually obliterated.

It stood in the way of Germany’s plans to travel from the north across Belgium and into France. Belgium was neutral but when it was invaded by Germany the British entered the war.

The Third Battle of Ypres, better known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was perhaps the costliest in terms of losses. There were nearly half a million casualties on all sides after months of fighting in which just a few miles of ground were secured by the Allies.

Adolf Hitler fought in this battle and was injured when caught in a British gas attack. Would history have been different had he been killed?

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‘The Late War’ by D H Lawrence

The War was not strife

it was murder

each side trying to murder the other side

evilly.

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‘Reconciliation’ by Siegfried Sassoon

When you are standing at your hero’s grave,

or near some homeless village where he died,

Remember, through your heart’s rekindling pride,

The German soldiers who were loyal and brave.

Men fought like brutes; and hideous things were done;

And you have nourished hatred, harsh and blind.

But in that Golgotha perhaps you’ll find

The mothers of the men who killed your son.

To see more Ys please click here. 

Today’s Flowers #82 – White roses for purity

White roses for purity . . .

The White Rose (die Weiße Rose) was a movement founded by University of Munich students and their philosophy professor to resist Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet campaign from June 1942 until February 1943 calling for active, non-violent opposition.

The six founder members were arrested by the Gestapo and beheaded in 1943 but the text of their last leaflet was smuggled out of Germany through Scandinavia and into UK where it was edited.  Allied planes dropped millions of copies over Germany in that year.

The White Rose of York (Rosa alba) is an heraldic symbol of the House of York and is now regarded as a symbol for Yorkshire. It represented the Virgin Mary, often called 'The Mystical Rose of Heaven'. White  symbolises light, innocence, purity, joy and glory.

Thank you to the Today's Flowers team for hosting this lovely meme. If you would like to see more flowers from around the world, please click here.