White, green signs not erected by GO or Roughriders fans

White, green signs not erected by GO or Roughriders fans

Columns

By: Sean Pearce

Debbie Cyna writes: Hi Sean. My 12-year-old son, Justin, and I have noticed little signs as we drive around on Woodbine Avenue, Leslie Street and Metro Road here in Keswick, and on Hwy. 404 and we have no idea what they are used for or who puts them there.

They are half green and half white triangles on thin posts. They seem to glow in the dark, too. They say absolutely nothing on them, but I think they have something to do with GO Transit as they are the same colours.

I could be totally wrong. Can you please find out what their purpose is and who puts them there so we can have this mystery solved?

Well, since you said please, I suppose I could look into it.

I, too, have seen the signs of which you speak and have often wondered what their purpose is.

My first guess was they might have been put there by some rabid Saskatchewan Roughrider fans to stick it to the Ontario teams, but, as it turns out, I was pretty far off.

After much reflection, I called the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and spokesperson Emna Dhahak set me straight pretty quickly.

As it turns out, the white and green signs are plow markers designed to assist plow operators in keeping their rigs on the road when all other markings are buried in two-foot-high drifts.

I suppose that makes sense.  

Without such markers, I can imagine it likely wouldn’t be all that difficult to careen into a ditch or field with the roadway completely covered in snow.

The markers keep the plows plowing the road and not your front lawn.

Everybody wins.

Peter Patrick writes: My mother has had something gnawing at her since February 2004. She wants to know when the last leap year was. Also, there were five Sundays in February 2004. What year was the last one before 2004 to have five Sundays in February?



Thanks for the question, Peter. That’s a long time for your mother to have had that question gnawing at her. Fear not, however, relief is at hand. I swear, I got here as soon as I could.

First of all, leap years occur once every four years. This year is a leap year, 2004 was a leap year and 2012 will be a leap year.

The reason for this is because it actually takes nearly 365.25 days for the Earth to orbit the Sun and the leap year is designed to account for those extra quarter days and, hence, is 366 days long.

Of course, the year isn’t exactly 365.25 days long, which was the case with the Julian calendar, and this was corrected with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar that created a rule that dictated every year that is divisible by four is a leap year, except for those that are divisible by 100.

However, the centurial years that are exactly divisible by 400 are still leap years. For that reason, 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 will not be.

The adoption of the Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, came about after it was realized 365.25 days per year was actually too many and leading the date of the vernal equinox and, thus, that of Easter, to drift slowly forward in the year.

To correct this, the aforementioned rule was adopted and 10 days were dropped from the year.

Under this calendar, an average year is 365.2425 days or 365 days, five hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds long.

Remember, rounding adds up.

Most of the Western world followed the new calendar, but some countries, such as Russia, continued to follow the Julian calendar,  meaning the October Revolution, which saw the rise of Communism, technically took place in November.

Oops.

As for five Sundays in February, they are, indeed, a rare occurrence. The last time it happened was 1976 and the next time it happens will be 2032.

Beyond that, you can expect 2060 and 2088 to be the next years with five Sundays in February.

It seems to happen roughly every 30 years or so. A rarity, indeed!

Anyway, thanks for the questions, Peter and Debbie. They are much appreciated. Take care for now and, as always, remember, you asked for it.

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