Happy birthday, every four years

This being a leap year, we have a February 29th, and it comes up tomorrow.

In my life, I have only known one person born on a February 29. The great thing for her was turning 20 on her 80th birthday.

If you're fixing to have a baby tomorrow, that child will be called a leapling, and the odds of being born on the extra day we add on a leap year are 1 in 1,461, or .068 per cent.

There are only about five million leaplings in the entire world. Here in the United States, there are about 187,000, plus whoever gets added to the list tomorrow.


As a matter of fact, a baby has a better chance of being born with 11 fingers and toes than being a leap baby. That's called polydactylism, and the odds of it are 1 in 500, and there's also 100% chance of being charged extra for a manicure.

Famous people born on a Leap Day?  Rapper Ja Rule, born Jeffrey Bruce Atkinson this day tomorrow in 1976. He shares a cake with Antonio Sabàto Jr., actor Alex Rocco (Moe Greene in The Godfather), actor Dennis Farina, and composer Gioacchino Rossini, who gave us a close shave with "The Barber Of Seville."

Oh! And Superman. 

We don't know much about Sir James Milne Wilson, Premier of Tasmania from 1869 to 1872, but here's one thing about him: he was born on February 29, 1812 and died on February 29, 1880.

In all my web searches, he is the only person I found who was born and died on a Leap Day.

I'll just bet he was really a Tasmanian devil.