- published: 10 Jan 2012
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In the Gregorian calendar, an end-of-century leap year (often referred to as a century leap year) is a year that is exactly divisible by 400 and, as with every other leap year, qualifies for the intercalation of February 29. End-of-century years that are exactly divisible by 4 but not by 400 are common years. The years 1200 (Proleptic Gregorian Calendar), 1600 and 2000, for example, were end-of-century leap years. The end-of-century years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were common years, as will be 2100, 2200 and 2300. The next end-of-century leap year will be 2400. End-of-century leap years always start on a Saturday, and the resulting February 29 is always on a Tuesday.
The end-of-century year "divisible by 400" rule of the Gregorian calendar was considered an improvement over the previously utilized Julian calendar which had provided for a leap year at four year intervals. Over time, the Julian practice resulted in too many leap days being added to the calendar, thus causing it to gradually drift with respect to the astronomical seasons.
A leap year (or intercalary or bissextile year) is a year containing one additional day (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, a month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat in a whole number of days, a calendar that had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that is not a leap year is called a common year.
For example, in the Gregorian calendar (a common solar calendar), February in a leap year has 29 days instead of the usual 28, so the year lasts 366 days instead of the usual 365. Similarly, in the Hebrew calendar (a lunisolar calendar), Adar Aleph, a 13th lunar month is added seven times every 19 years to the twelve lunar months in its common years to keep its calendar year from drifting through the seasons too rapidly.
Just start listening
And don't you say a word
You'd be better off that way
Say you're missing me
But I hadn't heard
Looks like resignation day
Oh I need more time
To find out what I'm missing
Just to waste it
Or get it right
So I waste my breath
Pretend that I'll be heard
Deaf ears hear everything I say
Keep waiting, wish and see
Until you're shown the word
Either way they'll always make you pay
Oh I need more time
To find out what I'm missing
Just to waste it