Welcome vernal equinox

Spring has sprung, arriving on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 12:30 AM EDT

The vernal equinox, with the sun is directly overhead at the equator, was thought to be a time of equinoctial gales.  Although there may be gales at the equinox, storms are not especially prevalent and there's no cause and effect relationship.

In Calendar Curiosities for 29 February, a presentation given at Gresham College in London last 29 February, lecturer Tony Mann points out oddities such as that while the two great writers Cervantes and Shakespeare both died on 23 April 1616 they did not die on the same day.

You may also learn a calendar calculation trick useful for genealogy, and daily life -- if your mental arithmetic skills are up to it.

www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/calendar-curiosities-for-29-february