Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi, Merry Mae and me as we jump into this topic. You can leave your poem in the comments or post on your own blog; if you do the latter, please leave a comment to direct us to your blog so we can come along and applaud. Use the topic or choose another; it doesn't matter. The objective is to have fun and give your brain a workout.
*****
I've never delved too deeply into the concept of leap year. Mostly I just rely on the news to tell me whether we are in one or not.
I know, of course, that we need an extra day every so often to make up for the deficiency in our system of time, and that if you can divide the year by the number four then it's a leap year.
But wait! When I googled "leap year" I found additional information that was new to me and made my head feel like it might explode:
Leap years are any year that can be exactly divided by 4
except if it can be exactly divided by 100, then it isn't
except if it can be exactly divided by 400, then it is
Making sense of that is almost asking too much of my arts-and-crafts brain. Please note that that link goes to a children's website called "Math Is Fun". That tells you most of what you need to know about my math-y skills . . . in spite of the fact that my job is bookkeeping . . . which is a whole other post.
*****
Get Away From Me With That Logical Mathy Stuff
You'd think my line of work would mean I'm awfully good at math
And if, by "good", you mean I never felt a teacher's wrath
Then you'd be right; my marks would make you think that I was smart
But in real life, math trips me up and blows my head apart
It's not the numbers, not the basics: those things are okay
It's logic that's the problem, makes me cry and run away
So give me lots of numbers and I'll do the computations
But give me rules for Leap Year? That will just end in frustration
To me they're like the Tax Act, which delights in "if" and "then"
While "and" and "or" will change the gist completely once again
The same with legal documents, with all their "ifs" and "buts"
They're made to cramp the brains of us who need our facts clear cut
I envy those whose minds can follow all those twists and turns
In fact, a mind that's logical is one for which I yearn
But at my stage of life, I think my talents lie instead
In writing dreadful poetry and living in my head
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A different meaning for "leap year" |
Over to you now, Diane! What's the topic for next week?
Update: Diane says ...... CONNECTIONS ......
I hope you have a good week.
And in an effort to help make it so, here are a few random funnies. If the captions are too small to read, just click on the picture to make it larger.
I come from a maths and science oriented family. I was a sad disappointment to them, and in my thirties before I realised that I am not stupid.
ReplyDeleteHowever, washing up one night my brain presented me with this gem.
Did you know that if you add the digits of any mulitple of nine together the answer is nine?
And I smiled at your poem and at the funnies.
Thank you.
It is very hard for kids when they turn out to have different strengths and interests from their parents, unless the parents realize and welcome the differences. I am sorry your talents were not recognized by your family. And indeed, you are right on the "nine" phenomenon - how cool!! I'm glad to have made you smile, EC.
DeleteI totally relate to your poem. Well done! I never knew that the Americas sideways looked like a duck! You learn something new every day.
ReplyDeleteThat's the truth! My mom always asked my kids when she saw them, What did you learn today? It made them think.
DeleteYour last pair of poem lines made me laugh, as did the dog with the mike.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to be able to laugh these days; glad to have caused that :)
DeleteI hear you about the math.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in school, I was advised by more than one adult who I trusted enough to listen to their advice to "take as much math as you can."
So I did, starting in ninth grade.
Algebra one and two. Business math (which actually did teach me some stuff I ended up using), geometry (nearly killed me my sophomore year), physics (junior year, nearly died of boredom) and all of the dedicated math they gave us in the industrial arts program (simplified versions of the math I already had, but even the non-academic kids all got it because we were USING IT TO BUILD STUFF RIGHT THEN.)
What have I used of it past regular old arithmetic, and a few of the business math things from freshmen year?
How to set up a proportion. Maybe four or five times. In fifty years.
I guess I understand the leap year thing, but what impresses me are the leap seconds.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
I had to look up "leap second" and yes, isn't it amazing? Mankind has such potential and this is an example of rising to meet it.
DeleteThat's a lot of math to study! And I agree, for most folks, regular arithmetic and business math are most likely to be useful. The rest is for future professors, scientists, and engineers, I think :)
OMG Geometry! I haaatted geometry. There are leap seconds? What I really like are Leap Frogs. Hey Doug, when is your birthday?
DeleteYes, Doug, WHEN?
DeleteDecember 15. My last birthday present was making it to Zauzs' house to live, and she took me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, where I knew I could get a free dessert by mentioning to the waitress that it was my birthday. It was great, they didn't even try to sing...
Delete-Doug in Sugar Pine
Belated birthday wishes, Doug :) Free dessert is always a plus!
DeleteLove the poem. I just wish I had a mind that didn't go blank at the mere sight of anything literary or political. completely blank. I can't do those "logic" puzzles either where you have to work out who had the red sweater (or whatever) from a range of clues.
ReplyDeleteUgh, yes, those puzzles make me want to hurl the book across the room! Come sit beside me and we'll see who can throw them the furthest, River!
DeleteI like the logic puzzles. However the ones where you start with the premise that one of the speakers is lying and the other telling the truth does my head in.
DeleteThose ones are extra hard for me too. Care to join River and I on the pitching bench for those, EC? :)
DeleteI will continue to wrestle with them. Cryptic crosswords on the other hand I am happy to pitch.
DeleteThat surprises me about the cryptic crosswords - I'd have thought those would be something you'd enjoy. Doesn't matter, come pitch with us :)
DeleteAnd good for you for keeping on with the others. You are keeping your brain in shape.
We two combined would make one good brain. I understood the ifs and buts of the leap year thingie at once, but doing the actual math has be baffled. :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem and wonderful funny pics.
Glad you enjoyed them. I smiled at your first comment :) I hope my brain would qualify as half; I'm afraid some days it would be less!
DeleteLet me leap to say, “Great job.”
ReplyDeleteI’d rather look at a calendar than figure out the math of leap year!
Thank you, Marie - and me too :)
DeleteI didn't have to be reminded how much I hate math. Thanks for reminded me just why I hate it.
ReplyDeleteA DUCK! lol It is a good reminder to remember that there is more than one way to look at everything.
I always wonder, what sharp-eyed person noticed something like that?!
DeleteLEAP YEAR
ReplyDeleteLeaping for joy
Peace reigns o’er our Earth
People are paid what they are worth
African babies don’t die from diarrhoea
And the mongers of war have disappeared
Rainforests flourish as in paradise
While polar bears thrive on thickening ice
Oh this is how we were meant to be
Living in perfect harmony
Do leopards leap? I have no idea
But let us all be filled with good cheer
Jumping for joy in this happy leap year.
P.S. I am rather sad that you haven't yet displayed your "Blogger of the Year" widget in your illustrious blog.
Even I, who do not ordinarily leap, would do so if we could turn this world around and have the paradise you describe, YP.
DeleteAs to the widget, I am afraid to touch anything in my settings in case I wipe out everything else. Math and technology are closely related and I'm afraid my non-mathy brain will kill my blog. Also, I don't like to brag. Also, I didn't think you would notice, as I rarely see you comment.
Honesty is one of my strengths. And weaknesses. Sorry!
I'll have to work up the courage to put the widget on my sidebar. Or maybe do a post instead.
Okay, I've held my breath and gone ahead and added it . . . and it worked! I can hardly believe it :)
DeleteWell done!...And it doesn't matter too much but you were the only blogger entitled to display the special "overall winner" widget.
DeleteAha - fixed now - thanks for pointing that out; I missed it.
DeleteAlas! A leap year's come, they say;
ReplyDeleteAt that, I'm feeling less than gay.
For what an awful price to pay:
It gives Trump's term an extra day.
Hah! Succinct and accurate :) I hadn't thought of that angle to leap year. Maybe February 29 would be a good day to have a nation-wide protest.
DeleteI have learned something today--I had no idea a leap year was anything other than a year that could be divided by 4, I had no clue of the exception and the exception to the exception!
ReplyDeleteMe too, 37p - how did we live this long and not come across that?! lol
DeleteI absolutely love that last funny.
ReplyDeleteI am a numbers person, or I should say, I “was” a numbers person. Balance and the way I see things is wrapped around math. I loved, loved, loved statistics and analysis. I have lost some of those skills and it is frustrating, but that’s life.
My daughter is expecting a baby girl on February 29th. She is hoping to be a little early or a day late. I think it will be very cool to have a leap year baby.
I wish I had your skills, Arleen! Or even a fraction of them.
DeleteBest wishes to your daughter! I think it would be cool to have a February 29 baby also. And for celebrations on non-leap years, just have a two day party that spans February 28 and March 1; why not, right?
Yep, the rules are convoluted, because adding a day every four years overadjusts the calendar, making us need to back it off once in so often. That's why the year 2000 was not a leap year.
ReplyDeleteYou made a fun poem out of it all, though, and the funnies hit the spot!
Ah, but Google says 2000 WAS a leap year . . . and I guess that's because it was divisible by 400 . . . but 2100 won't be. We won't be around for that one, unless scientists figure out a way around aging pretty darn fast :D
DeleteGlad you liked the funnies, Mimi!
I can totally relate here! I guess the accidental duck thing on the map is better than a jackass would be...regarding your post about the horrible crash, penning something on collateral damage came to mind. Hope you are well.
ReplyDeleteLol - are you insulting my jackass brethren, e? ha ha You are absolutely right, though. There are worse things than a duck.
DeleteCollateral damage is exactly the term I would use too.
It's been busy here, but is slowing down a bit now. I'm headed over to your blog now. I have most of the blogs I read on Blogger feed or follow by email, but I don't see any way to get your posts automatically, so I often miss them when they're hot off the press, and end up being late reading.
After 25 years in the biz, I no longer even compute. It's all for those kids, now.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know the problem with a lot of the younger folks in "the biz" . . . they let the computer do the number crunching and don't use any critical thinking to make sure the end result makes sense . . . Not all of them, but a good many.
DeleteI am not a fan of If this then that math. I am a fan of here's a problem, here's a formula, and there's only one right answer kind of math. Well, "fan" is a strong word, but I can occasionally enjoy a math kind of vibe if the stars are aligned. Like super aligned. And maybe only in a Leap Year.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the straightforward math is my kind also. And maybe only in a Leap Year for me, too :D
Deletehaha
Deletei am not different than you dear Jenny when it comes to math :(
oh my i remember so well when during school days i used to yell at one (at heart of cource :) who invented math specially Algebra which almost fused the bulb of my poor brain lol
but now at this stage of life i find math reasonable and worth understanding ,i wish when i have plenty of free time i can devote some of it for doing so
little bit of it atleast
long ago when my eldest son was in collage one day he tried hard and long to make me understand theory of leap year
sending lots of love and hugs!
i enjoyed the funnies so much :)
Deleteskipping the news sounds like great idea :)
I wish I was as open to learning math in my later years as you are, baili. I seem to get more and more set in my ways the older I get :)
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the funnies!
I see you used Canada as the arse end of the duck. Good thing I'm not sensitive eh?
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Good thing I wasn't actually the one who did it,eh? lol
DeleteIt looks a lot less ducklike if you have a map that shows the relative sizes correctly (North and South America are about the same size). Mercator projections are very misleading.
DeleteGood point.
DeleteLike you, unless I hear about it in the news, somewhere online or from someone, I don't keep track of leap year. I was actually surprised recently when I found out this is the year for one :)
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I had a good laugh with all the funny stuff you shared! LOL
Yep, an extra day of winter this year! lol Not really, spring will come when it comes, regardless of the date :)
DeleteThank you for your funny stuff in return, Martha :)
Love the memes
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteI hate maths too. Did you know we Brits call it maths not math? Still it's the same thing and I'm crap at it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memes. I thought Fluffy was going to say she likes all the buff fire fighters rescuing her.
Yes I did know that but I don't know why the difference. Maybe yours includes all the kinds of math?
DeleteFluffy is too pure to have those thoughts, lol
And you know I just got back from Googling "the most important image on the internet." I got a dog but not the one you shared. Mine was a pug.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha! I googled it too, since you mentioned it, and it came up with dozens of images, but I don't see the pug, worse luck :)
DeleteI loved the "Americas duck" and the "Didn't watch the news"!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny - I do bookkeeping, too (for my own business); and it makes my brain explode. I love math and I've always been good at it; but I can NEVER figure out which side of the balance sheet my entries should occupy. I can't count how many times I've put in a journal entry, checked the report, and gone, "Nope. Reverse and try again." You'd think I'd do better when I theoretically have a 50/50 chance of getting it right each time... ;-)
Hah! Yep, math and bookkeeping are further apart than it would appear. Bookkeeping is more about sorting and categorizing, and these days the computer program does the rest. I commend you for doing your own bookkeeping; creative minds don't always do well with the other side of the brain!
DeleteI have a weird mix of "creative" and "analytical". Sometimes it's a good thing; other times not so much... ;-)
DeleteI think it's awesome that you have both!
DeleteEvery three sixty five and a quarter the earth goes ‘round the sun,
ReplyDeleteAnd every four years, to square things up, four quarters become one.
But nothing works out even; it’s just not nature’s way,
So in years that end with double oughts, we skip the extra day.
But we are still not finished; for just to be a pain
Every four centuries, we put it back again.
I am a week late. Sorry
Oh, well done! I wanted to write a poem to explain the process, but just couldn't figure out how to do it. This is excellent :)
Delete