WKD - Leap Second - Leap Day - Leap Year

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leap day -
the haiku frogs jump
to new heights





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leap day 閏日 uroobi, junjitsu （うるうび、じゅんじつ）
kigo for early spring

February 29
2012年2月29日

Schalttag, Schaltjahr

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A leap year (or intercalary year)
is a year containing one or more extra days (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, an extra month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal year.

For example, in the Gregorian calendar, February would have 29 days in a leap year instead of the usual 28. Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of full days, a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track.

By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year which is not a leap year is called a common year.

Leap Day
February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, and is called leap day. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365.000 days.

A person born on February 29 may be called a "leapling" or "leaper". In common years they usually celebrate their birthdays on 28 February or 1 March.

Chinese calendar
The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month (二月) then it is simply called "leap second month" (traditional Chinese: 閏二月).

Folk traditions
In the English speaking world, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years. While it has been argued that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or Brigid of Kildare in 5th century Ireland, it is dubious as the tradition has not been attested before the 19th century.

Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap day, 29 February, or to the medieval leap day, 24 February.

According to Felten: "A play from the turn of the 17th century, 'The Maydes Metamorphosis,' has it that 'this is leape year/women wear breeches.' A few hundred years later, breeches wouldn't do at all: Women looking to take advantage of their opportunity to pitch woo were expected to wear a scarlet petticoat -- fair warning, if you will."



In Denmark, the tradition is that women may propose on leap day 24 February and that refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.

In Greece, it is believed that getting married in a leap year is bad luck for the couple[citation needed]. Thus, mainly in the middle of the past century, couples avoided setting a marriage date in a leap year.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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2008 - a LEAP year ...

The 2008 Year of the Frog Global campaign will achieve its goal of helping keep threatened amphibians afloat through the amazing and dedicated efforts of individuals, institutions and regional zoo associations from all around the planet.
http://www.amphibianark.org/YOTFnews.htm



WKD : Basho and his Frog
Hundred Frogs and The Sound of Water
(Mizu no Oto)
.. READ : one hundred frogs


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leap year --
working one day longer
for my pay

Isabelle Prondzynski, 2008


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2012 - a LEAP year ...



. original at illust-library.com


Daruma jumps
to new hights -
this leap day

. Haiku and Daruma san .


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Click on the image to join the fun on facebook !


this leap day -
let's all jump
in the Haiku Pond



source :　webclipart.about.com



leap year
an ol' frog
sleeps in 　

Don Baird





Leap Day... I wonder if Bashou knew?!　

Dennis Chibi




leap year . . .
a last baby step
before march　

Elaine Andre




leap year day . . .
an immigrant asks directions
to his childhood home　

Sandip Sital Chauhan


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a rainbow leaps!
swatting yellow jackets
on Kern River

Jimmy ThePeach


Rainbow Trout - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Kern River - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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leap year ---
a Bronx Zoo tree kangaroo
doesn't know what all the fuss about　


a rain storm---
makes a leap day feel
much longer

Fred Masarani


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Vieillir... mais pas trop vite
son anniversaire
tous les quatre ans.


Aging... but not too fast
her birthday
every four years.

Patrick Fetu


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Uniqlo UK sent out a special advertisement on Leap Day,
with what I take to be a haiku :

take a leap
into our lucky dip --
only today
~Uniqlo ad

And another haiku of mine, same day :

leap day --
walking down the stairs
with an extra bounce

~ Isabelle Prondzynski

May we all have an extra bounce in our step this leap year!



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this leap year -
one day older
than last year　


the end of February
additional day for
salary

Gennady Nov


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I was inspired by the Leap Day Folk Traditions !



iThings -
the world grows
smaller each day


sunlight casts doubt...
will a warm february
leap into a cold march?　

Pat Geyer



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snow dances with limbs
turning fouettes and jétés
this leap year

Kit Nagamura






a cold leap day
it snows in Tokyo
rarely long boots

Hideo Suzuki



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nearly leap day--
the class teacher complains
about salary payment

Eric Mwange




Leap Day --
and where was I now
four years ago?

Catherine Njeri



drunken driver --
a young man was killed
this leap day

Isabelle Prondzynski


MORE

. WKD : Leap Daya in Kenya .



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haiku - leaping begins
first city
to see the light

Benita Kape




the old man takes
his first walk in months -
leap day

Bill Kenney


- Shared at WHC workshop -

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another day
covered in snow -
my leap day


every day
is haiku day -
this leap day



leap day trouble -
my server looses
the connection






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A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied
to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to keep its time of day
close to the mean solar time.
The next leap second will be inserted on
June 30, 2012 at 23:59:60 UTC.

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


leap second --
my shadow becomes
longer

Chen-ou Liu, Canada

Note:
At the earliest moment in the morning, a team of scientists at the Paris Observatory added a leap second "to make up for a gradual slowdown in the Earth's rotation."


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WKD Reference: Calendar Systems of the World


. ichinichi saijiki 一日歳時記 One Day Saijiki .


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