Last year’s party at Friend of a Farmer was such a delight—not only did attendees pull out the superlatives, but the restaurant staff thanked us for such a wonderful evening—so why look elsewhere!
From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., we’ll be back in their mellow private upstairs space—close to Union Square, at 77 Irving Place, between 17th & 18th Sts.
See old friends, meet new ones…..good cheer, good networking, great nibbles….. cool door prizes…..and a special gift for the first 40 arrivals.
Admission (covers food and first beverage):
- 2012 Paid Members: $25 in advance/$30 at the door
- Nonmembers: $35 in advance/$40 at the door
- Students: $15 in advance/$20 at the door
- Join/renew your 2012 annual membership ($25) by PayPal or check (details at http://www.swiny.org/join-
swiny/) and pay members’ rate.
RSVP: http://www.swiny.org/2012/02/leap-day-registration/
Directions
- Subways: the N,R,Q,W, 3,4,5,6, & L trains stop just a few blocks away at the Union Square station. The F & M stop at 14th St (use the 16th St exit, or transfer to the L to Union Square).
- Bus: the M 14 along 14th St.
We look forward to seeing you!
Leap Year: Facts & Factoids
The Earth takes 365.24219 days to orbit around the sun, but until 45 BC the year was figured at 355 days. The year ended on February 23. Nothing happened at the right time for long. In 45 BC Emperor Julius Caesar devised the Julian Calendar, adding an extra 24 hours to February—creating February 24th—every 4 years. The solution was imperfect because a year isn’t quite 365.25 days, but it kept the seasons from running behind for extended periods. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII and his Gregorian calendar eliminated the Julian calendar’s slight seasonal drift. He moved the year’s end to December 31st, skipped a bunch of days to accommodate all the unnoted Leap Days since Caesar’s time, and calculated that three Leap Days have to be omitted every 400 years. So any year divisible by 100 (i.e., a century year) but not by 400—e.g., 1900—isn’t a Leap Year.
- The official record for number of children in one family born consecutively on February 29
- The Henriksens from Andenes, Norway. On consecutive February 29ths, Mrs. Karin Henriksen gave birth to her daughter Heidi (1960), then her son Olav (1964), then her son Leif-Martin (1968).
- Some famous people born on February 29
- 1468 – Pope Paul III
- 1792 – Gioacchino Rossini (William Tell, The Barber of Seville)
- 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer
- 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
- Some cool events that happened on February 29:
- 1504 – Christopher Columbus used his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies
- 1936 – Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuted on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
- 1940 – For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award
- 1980 – Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers made NHL history as he scores his 800th goal
- There’s even a website dedicated to all things Leap Year: http://leapyearday.com/