Page 1 of All single men should run for the hills - its Feb29th!!

Copied from an email from ITPRO.

Today is a special time in the calendar - it`s leap year day, when girlfriends propose to their boyfriends, when 29 February babies get to celebrate their actual birthday and when hamburgers eat people. OK, maybe not the last one.

Be warned, Queen Margaret declared in Scotland back in 1288 that on 29 February a woman had the right to propose to any man she liked the look of. Naturally this sent many men running for the nearest hiding place, not necessarily for fear of being proposed to, but to avoid the penalty for saying no. Men who rebuffed the offer of marriage were hit with a fine in the form of a kiss, a silk dress, or a pair of gloves, to be given to the rebuffed proposer.

History records that it was the ancient Egyptians that figured out the solar year and the man-made calendar year don`t quite sync up. Annoyingly, the variance between the two is not a metric that can easily be inserted into a standard year.

That`s because it actually takes the Earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to travel around the Sun, to be exact.

Therefore, every four years we lob an extra day onto the calendar to try and balance everything out, which is how we find ourselves here today.

So why the history lesson? Well today is a special day as it marks the birth of an important, but often overlooked, person in the history of technology - Herman Hollerith.

This American inventor was born on this day in 1860 in Buffalo, New York. His contribution to computing is nothing short of mammoth. His invention paved the way for the data storage and business applications we use today and allowed the software development industry to get off the ground.

Hollerith devised a system of encoding data on cards through a series of punched holes - better known as the punched card processor. Punched cards were the early form of data storage, and allowed early computers to read pre-prepared data, whether that be program information or raw data for analysis.

On 8 January 1889, Hollerith was issued US Patent 395,782 for his invention. His company, the Tabulating Machine Company, merged with three others in 1911 to create Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, a company that still exists today.

You probably use one of its products right now, and don`t even realise it. That`s because it changed its name in 1924 to……….IBM.

So Happy Birthday to Herman Hollerith, whose contribution not only helped propel computing forward, but ultimately, gave birth to Big Blue itself.

Have a Happy Leap Year Day, one and all!

I`m waiting in the food court ? if anyone wants me ????

This item was edited on Friday, 29th February 2008, 10:35

I would have thought that any bloke looking to get hitched would be praying for a proposal on Feb 29th. Anniversary once every four years? Save a fortune...

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Reviewer
www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk

Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn...

And those who dance will spin and turn,
And those who wait will wait no more,
And those who talk will hear the words,
And those who see will fade and die,
And those who laugh will surely fall,
And those who know will always feel their backs against the thin wall...

Si Wooldridge - the thinking man`s romantic. :D

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Brian Elliott is a sports writer for the Belfast Telegraph newspaper, and is a regular contributor to DVD Reviewer and SLAM! Wrestling.

Please visit my website!

My great Nan was born on 29th February she had only had 24 birthdays when she died.

The Jackal

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Confucius say
"Man who go to bed with sex problem on mind,
Wake up with solution in hand"

R.I.P Grandad Ken & Grandad Stan.

Quote:
My great Nan was born on 29th February she had only had 24 birthdays when she died

My nan died when she was 98......

Pity really as we were only half way between giving her the bumps.......


LOL

This item was edited on Friday, 29th February 2008, 14:04

Well iv locked myself away so far but I start work at 3 and am terrified there will be a mass stampede of women desperate to get down on one knee :/ Was thinking of disguise but name tag kinda gives me away........................ :(

Quote:
a mass stampede of women desperate to get down on one knee

Well that`s certain to get your attention. :D

Snaps

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Some days it`s just not worth gnawing through the leather straps.

So did anyone have to face the issue then.....??

Quote:
I would have thought that any bloke looking to get hitched would be praying for a proposal on Feb 29th. Anniversary once every four years? Save a fortune...

Well you;ve deffo got the thinking cap on (and hey any way to make a pound is a got to be a good one) - though surely the wedding needs to be on the 29th Feb and not the proposal?? :-D

Quote:
Si Wooldridge - the thinking man`s romantic.

LOL very very good stuff Brian


Chris

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