Today Monday, 29th of February of 2016,
the sun will rise in San Francisco at 6:40 am
and sunset will be at 6:04 pm.
Today we will have 11 hours and 24 minutes of sun. The solar transit will be at 12:22 pm
Today we can see the moonset on the horizon at 251º southwest at 10:30 am.
the first high tide was at 3:28 am
and the next high tide will be at 4:43 pm.
The first low tide will be at 10:06 am
and the next low tide at 9:42 pm.
The lunar phase is a Waning Gibbous.
The moon is 65% illuminated
and will be visible 10 hours and 30 minutes.
National Leap Day
Rare Disease Day
The fourth day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá'í Faith)
Rare Disease Day (in leap years)
Leap Year Day, in Anthony, Texas and Anthony, New Mexico
Most Americans remember February 29 being Sadie Hawkins Day, a holiday created in the comic strip Li'l Abner.
There is a popular tradition known as Bachelor's Day in some countries allowing a woman to propose marriage to a man on February 29.
If the man refuses, he then is obliged to give the woman money or buy her a dress.
In upper-class societies in Europe, if the man refuses marriage, he then must purchase 12 pairs of gloves for the woman, suggesting that the gloves are to hide the woman's embarrassment of not having an engagement ring.
In Ireland, the tradition is supposed to originate from a deal that Saint Bridget struck with Saint Patrick.
In the town of Aurora, Illinois, single women are deputized and may arrest single men, subject to a four-dollar fine, every February 29.
In Greece, it is considered unlucky to marry on a leap day
If today is your special day, Happy Birthday to you!
A person who is born on February 29 may be called a "leapling" or a "leap-year baby".
In non-leap years, some leaplings celebrate their birthday on either February 28 or March 1, while others only observe birthdays on the authentic intercalary date, February 29.
The effective legal date of a leapling's birthday in non-leap years varies between jurisdictions.
In the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, when a person born on February 29 turns 18 in a non-leap year,
they are considered to have their birthday on March 1 in the relevant year.
In New Zealand, a person born on February 29 is deemed to have their birthday on February 28 in non-leap years if you want to apply for your drivers license
In Taiwan (Republic of China), the legal birthday of a leapling is February 28 in common years:
Notable persons born on February 29:
1692 – John Byrom, English poet and educator (d. 1763)
1792 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1868)
1840, John Philip Holland the Irish-American inventor known as the father of the modern submarine, was born.
1896 – Morarji Desai, Indian politician, 4th Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (The California Ramblers, The Dorsey Brothers, and The Charleston Chasers) (d. 1957)
1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
1956 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
1960 – Khaled, Algerian singer-songwriter
1972 – Saul Williams, American singer-songwriter and actor (Wax Poetic)
On this day in history...
1504Christopher Columbus, stranded in Jamaica during his fourth voyage to the West, used a correctly predicted lunar eclipse to frighten hostile natives into providing food for his crew.
1644 – Abel Tasman's second Pacific voyage began.
1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
1904 -- President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a seven-member commission to facilitate completion of the Panama Canal.
1940 – For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
1956An Islamic Republic was proclaimed in Pakistan.
1960The first Playboy Club, featuring waitresses clad in bunny outfits, opened in Chicago.
1968The discovery of the first pulsar, a star which emits regular radio waves, was announced by Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell at Cambridge, England.
1968 -- President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) warned that racism was causing America to move "toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal."
1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
1984Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he was stepping down after more than 15 years in power.
2004''Lord of the Rings: Return of the King'' won 11 Academy Awards, including best picture and best director for Peter Jackson, to tie the record held by 1959's ''Ben-Hur'' and 1997's ''Titanic.''
2012 – Tokyo Skytree construction completed. Now it is the tallest tower in the world, 634 meters high, and second tallest (man-made) structure on Earth, next to Burj Khalifa.