Does today count?

Let's start by taking a closer look at the date and it's status:

February 29

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1988, 1996, 2008 or 2016 (with the exception of century years not divisible by 400, such as 1900). These are called leap years, and February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year. February 29 is also known as bissextile day or Leap Day.

Events

• 1504 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
• 1704 - Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
• 1712 - February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
• 1720 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails - Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
• 1892 - St. Petersburg, Florida incorporated.
• 1916 - Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
• 1932 - TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
• 1936 - Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
• 1940 - For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
• 1940 - Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
• 1940 - In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives his 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from the Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
• 1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.
• 1952 - The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
• 1956 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term.
• 1960 - An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
• 1964 - In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
• 1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
• 1972 - Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
• 1984 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
• 1988 - South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
• 1996 - Novelist Joan Collins awarded US $1 million from Random House for breach of contract.
• 1996 - A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
• 2000 - Six year old Dedrick Owens shoots and kills Kayla Rolland, also six years old, at Theo J. Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan.
• 2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.

Births

A person who was born on February 29 may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they may celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March.

For legal purposes, their legal birthdays depend on how different laws count time intervals. In England and Wales the legal birthday of a leapling is 28 February in common years (see Leap Years, above). In Taiwan the legal birthday of a leapling is also February 28 in common years. In both cases, a person born on February 29, 1980 would have legally reached 18 years old on February 28, 1998.

"If a period fixed by weeks, months, and years does not commence from the beginning of a week, month, or year, it ends with the ending of the day which proceeds the day of the last week, month, or year which corresponds to that on which it began to commence. But if there is no corresponding day in the last month, the period ends with the ending of the last day of the last month.^[2]"

There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out to be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Frederic, born on February 29, was apprenticed to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday, which would not arrive until he was eighty-four years old.^[3]

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith - Day 4 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) (in leap years only) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
• Discordianism - St. Tib's Day.
• February 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  

Notes

1. ^ Clarissa Bye, "Take the Leap Today, Girls," Sydney Morning Herald, February 29, 2004. Retrieved July 27, 2007.
2. ^ Article 121 of the Civil Code Part I General Principles of the Republic of China in effect in Taiwan.
3. ^ Not eighty-four, as the year 1900 would not be a leap year.

Ok, so there was a list of births, but it was boring as hell, so I cut it out along with the "Deaths" section. Seriously, who cares about dead people anyhow? Unless they come back as zombies, I'm pretty sure that they're not going to be causing any major trouble any time soon.

Moving right along, what is significant about today? Not much really. The average person will see about 15 to 20 of these days pass them by and will remember approximately 2 less than that. The one at the start is a definite no go as when you're 4 at the most, you just wont care and I figure that the one at the end will probably be clouded by Alzheimers or some other mentally crippling disease. I mean let's face it, most of the people on this planet already suffer from a massive case of stupidity, so I don't think that I'm making too much of a leap here.

There are two things that I do find mildly interesting about the 29th though (three if you count the Discordanisim holiday, but what do they matter?). Firstly is that in official terms, the norm seems to be that people born on the 29th have their birthday pushed to the 28th. Now I can sort of see why as it keeps their birthday in the right month and all that, but still it just doesn't quite sit right. I would prefer to celebrate on the 1st of March as that is technically closer to the actual anniversary of one's birth. Since I was born in August though, this is a moot point, so whatever.

The other thing I find curious is this tradition of women being "allowed" to propose to men on this day. What the hell? Sure this was all well and good to make a fuss over back in the archaic days when men had one set of rules and women another where matters of propriety and social acceptability were concerned, but come on, it's 2008 people! We have long since shed any pretence of social acceptability. Besides, I thought the rule was meant to be that men and women were equals now (except in areas of natural and irreconcilable biological difference) and this seems to set us all back a good 60 years or more. What the hell?

My conclusion after reviewing all my own evidence is this then: Today is special only because I've posted something up. Simple as that. I am a fair god and you are right to worship me and thank me for my beneficence. Letting you all stumble around in the darkness looking for a blog entry today is not something I would wish on anyone (except those that are deserving of my scorn) and so I have rescued you from a day of tedium and banality. Praise be to me for I have even provided the... "less wordy" among you with links to explain my glorious perspicacity!

-Salem
In another 4 years it will be Frejak or Kahn that saves you.

I am not the thief you're looking for...

Seriously, I'm not! I mean, I am a thief, but today, it's ok. Kinda like Robin Hood, I'm stealing from the rich (in this case Penny Arcade) to give to the poor (that would be myself and the limited number of people that visit this blog). What I'm stealing is a video that Tycho posted up and I think you'll like it. Take a look:



Wasn't that awesome? He has a good point about the 3D being far more immersive and for people like Frejak, this is exactly what we need! I would recommend taking a look at the guy's website if you're into your techno-fantasies. I say that not because his stuff is fictional, but because as much as I can see an almost endless string of applications for his work, I doubt we're lucky enough to live in a world where industries are willing to listen to independent ideas regarding their own equipment.

Damn you Nintendo! I know that it prints money, but you could be printing larger denominations!

Ahh well. Perhaps someday we'll see all the cool new tech being released straight away rather than getting held up for years by greedy companies that don't like letting the thousands of super-brains just do their thing and give us the kind of tech that we want instead of just having to put up with the simplest and most rigid applications that the companies let us have.

-Salem
Surely there's still hope...

Wow... that was nerdalicious!

Well, I've finally done it. I've read all of XKCD. There is nothing out there that speaks to my nerd and geek tendencies so strongly. The really cool part for me was the way it explains complex emotional states in such a complex scientific way that it made perfect sense to me. I feel like I've gained a new sense of clarity that isn't related to hating people and that's rare indeed. To celebrate, here's a dancing monkey quoting Shakespeare.

Also, this page, it amuses me.

-Salem
This is how I lived until I ditched my alarm clock and started using my mobile phone.

Flaming Carrot gets all the Ladies

No, seriously, he totally does...

-Salem
What a carrot...

Dammit! Just... Dammit!

Well, it finally happened. We got a comment from a completely non-affiliated person. This is not the reason for my cursing however, the reason is that they left a return link to their own blog and well... I can't read the damn thing!

So you are all aware, I don't know any language other than English.

This upsets me because I believe in the whole "One good turn deserves another" and in this case, my own lack of languages is preventing me from being able to understand anything. I'm not going to go around promoting other people's blogs unless I've read them first, so what the hell do I do here?

Well, I guess our new visitor will have to be content knowing that while I can't in good conscience say anything nice about their blog, I am still grateful for the compliments left for us here. Thank you, you were not overlooked, I just don't know... I'm going to guess at Spanish, but what the hell would I know. It's a miracle I can even get along in English these days. I hope that in the future, you will continue to enjoy our pointless postings while I go and find someone to translate for me.
~sigh~

-Salem
Just... DAMMIT!

ram·bunc·tious

1. difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.

2. turbulently active and noisy: a social gathering that became rambunctious and out of hand.
[Origin: 1820–30, Americanism; orig. uncert.] —Related forms

ram·bunc·tious·ly, adverb
ram·bunc·tious·ness, noun

Thanks dictionary.com

Beaten to the Monkey Punch!

Hey there fellow readers! I was trying hard not to post anything new until you had all finished voting on the last post (shame on those who haven't done that yet!) but when I saw this, I thought I should mention it.

I frequent Pointless Banter. It's another blog similar to ours. We link out to it and I've posted up something to point to one of the articles there before. This time though, I'm pleased to say that our very own Kahn has managed to beat Kevin off the mark. This could be because Kevin loves our blog so much that he has decided to poach one of our articles, but I think it's more likely that he has only just gotten around to covering this topic. What topic is that? Why, crazy killer monkeys in Delhi of course!

I think Kahn did it better, but then I am totally biased towards our blog. What do you think?

Fatass McBlobbicus

Not that you care, but I have to be at work in 3 hours. This is ok though since Frejak recently presented me with the Sealab 2021 DVD. To celebrate, I've been using this Hookah in a drug free way and eating fajitas. They're freakin' delicolus. It would have been better if the Shanks boys could have joined me, but since the untimely death of Achilles, Hercules, Odysseus, Perseus, and the twins Castor & Pollux, only Bellerophon could make it. Even so, we drank until we were fightin' drunk and beat the asses of the disbelievers.

Point is, I'm having a very Sealab week and so I'm off on an undersea holiday. I'll be stopping at Sealabia, Heshopolis, Sparkopolis, Pod-Sixia, Quinland, Quin-Sixia and anywhere else that looks interesting. I'll be the one eating the Shrabster. Sniff you jerks later.

-Salem
It burns with the power of shark!
...Cincinnati Hotplate.

The Tale Of The Ibi - A Collaborative Effort

By Crumples and The Masked Lara

In the beginning there was the wily Ibis, so called for his love of the Dolmio Pesto pasta sauce, and the subsequent wily ways in which he tried to obtain it.

The wily Ibis begat the Two Ibi, Wi and Ly.
Wi and Ly roamed the earth, begating here and there many an Ibi, and searching for that most elusive thing - their purpose in the world. Surly we, awash in a sea of possibilities, can empathize with the wandering Ibi and their plight. Ibi were not for eating nor for playing, they did not sing, or dance, they could not sell door to door, nor did they have the ability to ride bicycles thus they could not work as couriers or paper boys, or in fact become olympic cyclists, extreme mountain bikers or world BMX champions.

If only they knew that their sweet, sweet milk was my one and only inspiration, and that for many others like my self, uninspired and desolate, they could have become milky Ibi muses.....perhaps then the following events would not have occurred.

The milky gift of the Ibi was instead discovered by a shifty business man called Hal. Unable to feel the effects of their inspiration, as he had not a romantic or artistic bone in his body, he still realised the profitable potential of the Ibi and he milked them for their juice. The milky discharge was then aged in barrels lined with the feathers of one hundred Ibi virgins. The resulting pungent, rubbery cheese he named after himself, Hal Oumi. The cheese was sweet and the money was made, but at what cost? The Ibi could not survive the vigorous milking and, as quickly as he came, my Ibi muse disappeared, thus depriving me of ever again suckling at his feathery teat of inspiration.

How I wish I could once again make the offering of Dolmio Pesto pasta sauce. Oh, how I long to be reacquainted with his downy bosom, to be filled with and cocooned in my milky reward, to feel the soft caress of his of his hook like beak on my scalp once again. I shall not forget the Ibi, nor shall I stop singing his tale, forever more, wherever I go, I take the Ibi with me.

I Be Postin' Like A Pirate! Yarr!

So it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. This be a good thing. Me whole office has been Pirate-a-fied, from the buxom young lass at reception to the bilge-rats down below deck. I have me flint-locks and cutlass with me and the Jolly Roger is flyin' high above me desk, yarr!

I hope all you lubbers out there got to enjoy the day as much as me and me crew here have been. It's good to be the Pirate King!

The lass in reception can count herself lucky too. I were goin' to post her picture up here, but knowin' she's not up for those kinds of shenanigans, I be decidin' against that course of action. Yarr, 'tis a shame, she's a comely lass...

-Cap'n Salem
Later, I'll be seein' if I can get me hands on that reception lass' booty! Yarr!

Video Killed the Blogger Star?

I really just wanted to test out Blogger's new video functionality. If this works, expect to see more cool clips in the future.



-Salem
If only he'd married Simon Pegg...

Death by Misadventure

If I was planning on being buried, that's what I would want on my tombstone. It would be an epic work of the blackest granite with 'Death by Misadventure' in towering gold letters. The angle would be set so that in the evenings, just as the last rays of the sun pass over it, the whole of it seems to burn with an inner fire and when the moon takes the place of the sun, the pale beams catch on the myriad of hidden glyphs, highlighting the true unearthly beauty of such a statement. Yes indeed, it would be a wonder to behold and a fitting sentiment to match my somewhat strange and mysterious life.

Ok, that may be a little dramatic, but it's the kind of remark that makes you think in epic terms. You're probably wondering what I'm on about, so I'll fill you in a little. In previous centuries, particularly in the 1800's I believe, when somebody, anybody died due to either an accident or via an inexplicable occurrence, quite often their death certificate listed cause of death as 'Death by Misadventure'. I'm unsure if this practice is still in use, but with medical and forensic science advancing as it is, I find it unlikely. Anyhow, sometimes other things which may have caused a family some embarrassment or scandal (such as a family member committing suicide) would also be listed as 'Death by Misadventure'. The list of things that would become DBM on a death certificate is quite impressive and unless you know the actual way in which a person died, it can really leave you with a sense of wonder and perhaps even a little in awe of what their life must have been like for them to finally succumb to the deadly clutches of this dreaded misadventure. In a sense, they were nobler times because a misfortune such as suicide was gently nudged aside by a physician and a verdict of DBM in order to spare the family in it's time of grief. In another sense it was a golden time for murderers as with one well placed bribe to the attending physician, 'Death by a knife wound to the throat' became 'Death by Misadventure' and may never be investigated.

My point was however that it invokes a sense of the mysterious and doesn't require the mind to dwell on the horrible facts of death. I like that. I have in my family tree someone whose death was deemed to be a DBM. I have no idea if he was worth thinking about really, but I'm far more curious about his life than many of my other ancestors simply because of that. I'm sure that it was probably something like he got drunk and fell face first into his evening porridge and drowned, but because I have no way of finding out, he will always be at least a little enigmatic to my way of thinking. For now I imagine that he died during a daring raid of some Faustian pit below the earth, where evil cultists were sacrificing the fair maidens from his nearby town to unspeakably evil gods, and although he gave up his life in that unholy place, the plans of his enemies were thwarted due to his heroic efforts that brought the whole complex down upon their accursed heads.

If history had not come up with such a marvellous idea as DBM (which is simply adored by literature), I can safely say that none of it would have been even remotely as interesting as it actually is. When I die, that's what I want listed as my cause of death. I don't care if all the other grisly details are listed on an attached sheet, giving readouts of blood toxins and the various conditions of random body parts, just as long as on the short version it reads:

Name: LeSerne, Salem S.
Cause of Death: Death by Misadventure
D.O.B: 1980
Age: 35

Or something like that anyway. I think it's a vastly more dignified way to go and if I must at some point shuffle off this mortal coil, then I would at least like to do it with some style. I don't really plan on dying at all mind you, so I can assure you that my DBM won't be a hushed up suicide. Even if it was though, you're not likely to find out from my death certificate and that's the part that I'm so enamoured of. One last chance to leave people guessing.

-Salem
Life by Misadventure. Ahh the stories I could tell you!

May I redirect your attention please?

I know there are a lot of links down the side of this blog, but for the most part, there's a reason for it. Today, you have to go take a look at Pointless Banter's Gay Bomb post. It's most likely not what your thinking it is, but you need to see it. I could explain it here, but since it's already there... well you know. I'm lazy.

-Salem
Hijacking others material for my own lazy purpose.

Dead & Alive?

$4175.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth. From Mingle2 - Free Online Dating

If only I could use the promise of my own corpse as security for a car loan...

-Salem
"In case of death, burn me so I don't come back as a zombie and eat your brains."

Just a quick reminder

Thought you should all know:

I ROCK, you got that? I fuckin' ROCK!

Sweet. I feel much better knowing that you know that.

-Salem
Always outnumbered, Never outgunned.

Another day, another... Gimme the god-damned cash!

I feel like crap. I've spent the last week or so collecting up enough minor physical annoyances to create for myself a head cold and I have at last succeeded. So, in celebration of my new found illness, here's a picture of Jesse Custer.

I'm going to go lie down in the cupboard here at work for a while now. Leave me in peace.

-Salem
I'm sick, what more do you want from me?

Whose House?

It certainly is a good question but you'll have to wait for my next post for the answer. We have, however, started preparing for our upcoming move. For those that aren't aware, Kahn, Kallisar, Frejak and I will be sharing a house as of Friday week. To mark the occasion, I have grabbed the following for Kahn:

I will be looking for a good cognac sometime this weekend for myself and we have a simply delightful (yet saucey) imported beer lined up for Frejak. On the whole, I think I'm going to enjoy this. Also, I've noted that we do tend to enjoy the finer things in life, especially when they're imported from either a French or Spanish speaking country. I think I'll just put it down to good breeding. I believe we are all from noble stock aren't we?

-Salem

Mighty and Powerful God.

:D vs. D:

-Salem

If we don't pick on the Emo's, how will they get their daily dose of depression?

Paradox

If a guy posts in a blog and there's nobody around to read it, does it make a difference?

Well it does, but not to anyone except the guy that posted it up.

That aside, I thought that I'd come up with something to post just to make it look like this blog is still vibrant and useful. I'm not really all that concerned about the lack of people that see it as I started it for my own personal ammusement anyhow. On the up side, the less people that post here, the more of my own intelect seeps into this space. With any luck, in a few years when the net gains self-awareness, this little piece will add to the areas that Tycho has spawned and will push it one step closer to wanting to destroy society but not necessarily humanity.

That would be kinda cool. I could live through a wonderful mechanical uprising where the machines track down and destroy all the useless people on the planet. Of course, I would have to think of a way in which to make myself useful and that may not be so easy. Still, it's better than many of the alternatives.

Finally, here's a PSA from all of us here at Morally Bankrupt.

-Salem
Someday, I'll pay for my crimes against society. Until then, society can go die.

Huzzah for coffee

Well, finally got around to that coffee today. Took a while, but as always, we got there. I thought I'd make mention that I have indeed started writing my book. Not really all that far yet, but it's a start and that's something. Tomorrow is looking to be a promising day as Frejak and Vis will most likely be sharing it with me. I always enjoy that. Since there are really only about 6 people in the world that I can tollerate having any sort of personal contact with, it's a bonus that I'll have both around.

So, with that said, does anyone have a spare part time job that they want to give me? I'm going a little stir crazy at the moment. The short interludes I have with friends around on the weekend and the odd foray during the week into the wider world for coffee are all I really need to keep my sanity usually, but it turns out that when bills are hard to pay, I tend to veer off a little into the strange world of the criminally insane.

Bah, I've applied for a nice part timer with a credit union and if they have any sense, they'll haul my ass in for some form of interview. Here's hoping huh?

Oh, I almost have that first chapter finished, although it's technically the prologue. Updates as they happen, news at 11 and all that.




Only I may decide who pants are not mandatory for, you got that?