29 Feb - A Special Day! 30 Feb - Yes It Once Existed!

So is it true that once every four years, on February 29, women can woo men and ask them for their hand in marriage?

As usual I go to the folks at Snopes.com for an answer - read all about it here.

10 famous people born on Feb 29 :

1) Pope John Paul III (1468 - 10/11/1549)
2) Gioacchino Rossini (1792 - 13/11/1868)
3) Morarji Desai (1896 - 10/04/1995)
4) Jimmy Dorsey (1904 - 12/06/1957)
5) Dinah Shore (1916 - 24/02/1994)
6) Tempest Storm (1928 - )
7) Henri Richard (1936 - )
8) Anthony Robbins (1960 - )
9) Saul Williams (1972 - )
10) Ja Rule (1976 - )

Keeing up with the maths :

February 2008 has five Fridays - it starts and ends on a Friday. Between 1904 and 2096, leap years with same day of week for each date repeat every 28 years which means that the last time February had 5 Fridays was in 1980 and next time will be in 2036. (taken from "Life Is Like That")

Did you know that 30 February actually once existed?

Sweden and the Soviet Union once had a February 30 in their calendar. Check it out here.

Frozen Radioactive Finches!

Last night saw the first true snowfall in Johannesburg for 26 years! Listeners to 702 Talk Radio sent in pictures to the station illustrating how much snow fell. My own car needed to be cleared of hard ice before I could drive off this morning!

It seems the unusual weather makes people do very strange things! As I listened to the radio this afternoon I was amazed to hear the story of a lady whose son left two finches outside in their cage during the cold snowy night. In the morning the finches were apparently frozen solid! To rectify the situation she put the finches into the microwave to "defrost" them. According to her, the birds are now 'fine'!!

I wonder sometimes at the intelligence of some people! Has she never heard of radiation sickness? These birds have effectively been given lethal doses of radiation. Did she not think to wrap the birds up and place them in a warm room?

Don't look now, but isn't there a strange glow coming from the bird cage?