Business & Tech

Smashburger, Others Offering Leap Year Specials Feb. 29

Marketers take advantage of this year's extra day.


People born on Feb. 29 only get a real birthday once every four years—when it's a leap year—and so when that day comes they need to make the most of it.

To help local leap day babies celebrate their big day, at 989 Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair will be offering a free Classic Smashburger on Feb. 29 to everyone who can prove that they were born on that day.

Other companies, too, are offering specials on Feb. 29 — whether you were born on that day or not. For example, at McDonald's locations in the New York tri-state area, you can take advantage of "Buy One Get One FREE Sausage McMuffin" during breakfast hours and "Buy One Get One FREE Big Mac" during lunch and dinner hours.

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There are even a whole host of travel deals to take advantage of on Feb. 29. Check them out here.

If you didn't already know, the fact that 2012 is a leap year means that this year has 366 days instead of the usual 365.

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Leap years have to happen so that the calendar keeps working as it should. The 365 days of the regular calendar are supposed to keep pace with the solar year, or the time it takes the earth to complete its orbit around the sun.

But the actual time it takes for the earth to travel around the sun is in fact a tad longer than that — about 365¼ days (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be exact). So the calendar and the solar year don't completely match up — which is why we need a leap year every four years.

According to the website Leap Year Day, which was set up by a group called the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, there are about 200,000 leap day babies in the United States.

Are you a leap day baby? Let us know in the comments section.


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