Did you know? While most years that are evenly divisible by the number 4 have a leap day of Feb. 29, some don’t! If the year is evenly divisible by 100 (but NOT 400) then it has no leap day. Thus there are only 97 leap years in a 400 year period, not 100. The year 2000, being evenly divisible by 400, did have a leap day. This was how Pope Gregory XIII made his Gregorian Calendar more accurate than the previous Julian Calendar. To quote Gilbert & Sullivan: A most ingenious paradox! LEARN MORE.
Did you know? The erroneous, ghost word “dord” was discovered in the Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2nd ed., on Feb. 28, 1939, prompting an investigation. Get your dord on by finding out what this word was said to mean. To paraphrase George McFly in Back to the Future, “I’m your dord.” LEARN MORE.
Did you know? The Roman Emperors Theodotius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II issued the Edict of Thessalonica on Feb. 27, A.D. 380. This decree encouraged adherence to Trinitarian Christianity. It is sometimes regarded as the act that made Christianity the “official” religion of the Roman Empire, but this is disputed. LEARN MORE.
Did you know? The very first jazz recording (“Livery Stable Blues”) was made by the Original Dixieland Jass Band on Feb. 26, 1917. LEARN MORE.
Did you know? Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England on Feb. 25, 1570 for schism and her persecution of English Catholics. LEARN MORE.
Did you know? In the case Marbury v. Madison, issued Feb. 24, 1803, the Supreme Court of the United States first struck down a law as unconstitutional, establishing a precedent that would allow the Court to play an increasingly powerful role over American society. LEARN MORE.
Did you know? The Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia on Feb. 23, A.D. 303, beginning the eight years of the Diocletianic Persecution, the last–and greatest–Roman persecution of the Church. LEARN MORE.
Did you know? In Ezekiel 9:4 the prophet is told: “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a Tau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” Tau–the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet–was written as a cross or X. LEARN MORE.
Did you know? The initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile, on Feb. 21, 1937. FORGET the Segway. I WANT MY FLYING CAR! LEARN MORE.
Did you know? The planet Mars is red because it has rusted–literally! The redness comes from iron oxide (rust) in its soil. LEARN MORE.
