LEAP YEAR DAY - 29th FEBRUARY 2012

LEAP YEAR DAY

What is a leap year?

A leap year is a year in which one

extra day has been inserted at the end of February. A leap year consists

 of 366 days, whereas other years, called common years, have 365 days.

The extra day, the 29 February, is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 306 days remaining.

When is the next Leap Year?

Leap years generally occur every four years. The next leap year will fall in 2012.

Why is it called a Leap Year?

Hundreds of years ago the leap year day had no

recognition in English law. The day was 'leapt over' and ignored, hence

the term 'leap year'.

Why do we have a leap Day?

The 29 February is known as a leap day

and it is added to the calendar during a leap year. This extra day is

added every four years to bring the solar year of 365¼ days into line

with the calendar year of 365 days.

A Leap Day Tradition

The one day of the year on which, traditionally, women can propose to men.

 It was considered that as the day also had no legal status, it was

reasonable to assume that tradition had no status, so women took

advantage of this and proposed to the man they wanted to marry.

A law once existed in Scotland

forbidding a man to refuse a proposal made to him. Punishment for such

an offence was a large fine.

This tradition goes back to an old Irish legend concerning St. Patrick and St. Bridget in the 5th Century.

In the 5th century, a nun by the name of

 St. Bridget, petitioned St. Patrick on behalf of all women in that they

 have a more active role in choosing their husbands. As a result of this

 request, women were allowed to propose to men once every four years.

Leap Day Superstition

In Scotland it is thought unlucky to be born on a Leap Year’s Day.

Interesting Fact about Leap Years

You can work out which year will be a year year by

dividing the year by 4. Years which are evenly divisible by 4, such as

2004 and 2008 are leap years. However, there are some exceptions in

century years.

A century year, that is, a year which

ends in two zeroes 1800, 1900, 2000, etc., is not a leap year unless it

is also evenly divisible by 400. This means that the year 2000 was a

leap year and 2400 will also be one, but 1800 and 1900 were not leap

years.

              Can you work out other century years which wont be leap

years either? 

              ( 2100, 2200, and 2300 )

           

THE ARTIST WINS OSCAR FOR BEST PICTURE 2012

French silent film The Artist wins best picture at the Academy Awards.

The award topped off a night of Oscars glory for The Artist, with Jean Dujardin winning best actor and Michel Hazanavicius best director.

Dujardin was the first Frenchman to win an acting Oscar, after beating fellow nominees including George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Hazanavicius, who triumphed over veterans including Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen, had already won a series of gongs for his black-and-white homage to the silent movie era.

"I am the happiest director in the world right now," the 44-year-old said in his acceptance speech.

He is only the second French filmmaker honoured by his Hollywood peers, following in the footsteps of Franco-Polish director Roman Polanski, who won a best director Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist.

The Artist, nominated for 10 awards, also won best costume design

OSCARS 2012 - NOMINEES BEST PICTURES

THE ARTIST: As the era of silent films draws to a close, two actors find their careers and their relationship influenced by the coming of talking pictures.  While popular screen star George Valentin resists the transition to sound, young Peppy Miller embodies a modern age that is leaving Valentin behind.

THE DESCENDANTS: The complexities of life, death and family relations challenge a man faced with losing his wife.  When Elizabeth King is left comatose following an accident, her husband Matt finds himself thrust into the unfamiliar role of caregiver to their two daughters, while at the same time facing a difficult financial decision that may put him at odds with other family members.

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE: A young boy who may have Asperger’s syndrome must deal with the loss of his father on September 11.  When eleven-year-old Oskar discovers a key among his father’s possessions, he becomes convinced that finding the lock it opens will help him understand the tragedy of his father’s death.

THE HELP: In the racially charged climate of Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963, a young white Southerner convinces a group of African-American maids to relate their experiences working in white households.  The stories they share reflect the devastating social inequality governing every aspect of life in Jackson, and place the women at risk of reprisals from their employers.

OSCARS 2012 - NOMINEES BEST PICTURES

HUGO: Hugo Cabret is a young Parisian orphan who lives hidden away in the vast Gare Montparnasse train station.  When he is not eluding the station’s watchful inspector, secretly keeping its many clocks running, or tinkering with a mechanical figure that belonged to his father, Hugo observes the lives of the people who work in the station…including an irascible toy shop owner named Georges Méliès.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS: On a trip to Paris with his fiancée, a screenwriter is filled with nostalgia for the Paris of the 1920s, when artists and writers flocked to the City of Light in a celebrated period of creativity.  For Gil, the romance of that bygone era exerts a pull that places him increasingly at odds with his impatient, unimaginative future wife.

MONEYBALL: Following a devastating loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 playoffs, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane and his assistant, Peter Brand, devise a statistics-based formula for choosing potential players.  Uncertain of his chances of success and following a plan that flouts conventional baseball wisdom, Beane sets out to rebuild his team.

THE TREE OF LIFE: A middle-aged man’s contemplation of the pattern and meaning of his life is interwoven with moments from his childhood in a small Texas town.  As Jack O’Brien and his two younger brothers grow up, they are shaped by both the nurturing love of their mother and their demanding father’s strict discipline and unyielding expectations.

WAR HORSE: The horrors of war are seen through the eyes of a valiant horse whose young owner must relinquish him to the army at the start of World War I.  Separated from the farmer’s son who has raised and trained him, Joey enters the war as a cavalry horse and is soon plunged into the nightmarish heart of the conflict.

ANDALUSIA DAY - 28th FEBRUARY

The statutes governing the autonomous region of Andalucía (made up of the eight provinces - Cadiz, Malaga, Cordoba, Granada, Seville, Jaén, Almeria and Huelva) were approved by Andalusian referendum in 1980, and this agreement on the political and cultural identity of the Andalusian people is celebrated every year on February 28th, the Day of Andalucía.  As it is a bank holiday, at our school we celebrate it a few days before. 

On 24th February, in  our school we enjoyed the performances from 3º and 4º ESO with  two plays  "La Sillita"  and "Noviazgo, boda y divorcio" by Hermanos Álvarez Quintero. Some students read two famous poems written by Federico García Lorca (La Tarara and Verde que te quiero Verde) and a group of girls sang a typical andalusian song "soniquete" accompanied by a boy who played a drum. It was really fantastic!  


The Director of the school gave the prizes  to  the best  "love letters": a dinner for two people in a pizza restaurant 

and at the end of the celebration everybody sang the andalusian anthem whose lyrics  were written by Blas Infante who is considered to be the Father of Andalucía (“Padre de la patria andaluza”). 

At 11:30 a.m. we had bread with olive oil for breakfast. 

Congratulations everybody on this andalusian day!!!

                     The Andalusian anthem

The Green and White Flag

returns after centuries of war

to tell of Peace and Hope

under our Land's sunshine.

— Chorus —

Andalusians, Stand up!

Demand Land and Freedom

for a free Andalusia,

Spain and Mankind.

We, Andalusians, want

to become once again

People of Light who to Mankind

gave a Human Soul.

— Chorus —

Andalusians, Stand up!

Demand Land and Freedom

for a free Andalusia,

Spain and Mankind.

EXHIBITION "THE SHROUD" IN MALAGA

Malaga reaches the first exhibition on the Shroud, one of the most studied objects of religious history.

The exhibition will be held at the Cathedral of Malaga in the months of February through May, will feature twelve rooms to be installed in the choir of the church and tries to show, in a fun, all the research that has been carried out in this tissue that allegedly covered the body of Jesus of Nazareth.

This exposure has an audio guide to accompany the visitor on a tour of each of the rooms. Also, the exhibition features dozens of pieces of art, coins and manuscripts, illustrating the course of the famous relic tour to reach Turin (Italy), where it is today.

Of the twelve rooms are perhaps the most attractive room and forensic science room where visitors can see the studies conducted so far by the leading experts in the field, contributing data on the Shroud and the image that contains .

In the forensic room, the viewer will attend a 3D analysis will reveal aspects of torture and death of the man who was wrapped in a sheet from a perspective never seen before. Also, visitors can compare information from different forensic elements of the Shroud.

In this room also shows the forensics of another key, the Holy Shroud which, according to tradition, preserved in the Cathedral of Oviedo. Both objects are compared and analyzed together in a forensic scientific study, providing data on the wearer.

In the science room sets, on the other hand, studies that have attempted to explain how the image may have originated, some scientists have said was formed by the energy transmitted by a body (that Christians linked with the Resurrection of Jesus ).

-Scale recreation of the tomb where Jesus could be buried, according to research conducted in the Holy Land by archaeologist Florentino Díez, an expert in this field.

-The facsimile of the Shroud, made for this exhibition by a laboratory in Turin under the authority of Pope Benedict XVI. Your image and structure is accurate in every one of the original itemize.

-The body of the Man of the Shroud, a key made by the renowned sculptor Juan Manuel Miñarro, scholar and member of EDICE Sindone.

WHITNEY HOUSTON DEAD

Whitney Houston is dead at 48 years old.

The superstar singer and actress was found and pronounced dead at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday afternoon; thus far, no cause of death has been revealed. 

Her self-titled debut album, released in 1985, sold 25 million copies worldwide. In total, she released seven albums and three film soundtracks; a winner of six Grammys, Houston sold over 200 million albums and singles worldwide. She earned 30 Billboard Awards, 22 American Music Awards and two Emmy Awards.

Rest in peace. 

If I should stay, 
I would only be in your way. 
So I'll go, but I know 
I'll think of you every step of the way. 

And I will always love you. 
I will always love you. 
You, my darling you. Hmm. 

Bittersweet memories 
that is all I'm taking with me. 
So, good-bye. Please, don't cry. 
We both know I'm not what you, you need. 

And I will always love you. 
I will always love you. 



I hope life treats you kind 
And I hope you have all you've dreamed of. 
And I wish to you, joy and happiness. 
But above all this, I wish you love. 

And I will always love you. 
I will always love you. 
I will always love you. 
I will always love you. 
I will always love you. 
I, I will always love you. 

You, darling, I love you. 
Ooh, I'll always, I'll always love you.