[LEAPSECS] thread on slashdot

[M. Warner Losh]

In message: <21513989-9884-4148-9364-C6D813BAD94E at noao.edu>
            Rob Seaman <seaman at noao.edu> writes:

:  rare 30th of February.


According to the timezone Theory file, Feb 30th has happened once before
in Sweden:

	In 1700, Denmark made the transition from Julian to Gregorian.
	Sweden decided to *start* a transition in 1700 as well, but
	rather than have one of those unsightly calendar gaps :-),
	they simply decreed that the next leap year after 1696 would
	be in 1744 -- putting the whole country on a calendar
	different from both Julian and Gregorian for a period of 40
	years.

	However, in 1704 something went wrong and the plan was not
	carried through; they did, after all, have a leap year that
	year.  And one in 1708.  In 1712 they gave it up and went back
	to Julian, putting 30 days in February that year!...

	Then in 1753, Sweden made the transition to Gregorian in the
	usual manner, getting there only 13 years behind the original
	schedule.

	(A previous posting of this story was challenged, and Swedish
	readers produced the following references to support it:
	"Tiderakning och historia" by Natanael Beckman (1924) and
	"Tid, en bok om tiderakning och kalendervasen" by Lars-Olof
	Lode'n (no date was given).)