Leap Year 2000: Yikes! There are Internet web sites that say 2000 is not a leap year. Ignorant fools! Even though century years are usually not leap years, those that can be divided by 400 certainly are leap years. So we get an extra day, and we can do with it what we will. Working stiffs should seriously consider taking the day off. Single ladies can celebrate Al Cap's "Sadie Hawkins Day" (Look it up on the Internet).

For all the details about why we have a leap day (almost) every four years, visit the Leap Year Internet site at http://www.urc.ukans.edu/News/96N/FebNews/Feb20/leapyear.html. For the history of the calendars, including the Gregorian calendar, which we use and which mandates the insertion of leap days, go to http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html.

If you're looking for something to do on that special day, visit the "leap year capital of the world", the town of Anthony on the Texas-New Mexico border for the quadrennial Worldwide Leap Year Festival, or, if you're short of cash for the air fair, visit the web site at http://www.leapyearcapital.org/.

Leap seconds are a whole different matter, and they are added by international agreement to compensate for small variations in the earth's rotation. Go to http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html for the US Navy's take on leap seconds.