"--" > wrote in message
...
> it did, once. But the ole orbit is slowing down, and its longer in the
year
> now.

Not in historical times, it hasn't - at least, not by enough to make
a full day's difference in the length of a year. It's simply that the
year has NEVER been exactly 52 weeks long. For that matter,
the sidereal year - how long it takes the Earth to complete exactly
one orbit around the Sun, with respect to the fixed stars, isn't
365 days long, either, or even 365 and 1/4 as commonly stated;
it is very slightly longer, at 365.256363 days. A solar year, on
the other hand - the time required for the Earth to complete
one revolution, based on the vernal equinoxes - is slightly less, at
365.2425 days. (This is the year assumed by the Gregorian
calendar, by the way, and that calendar is very close to being
exactly on.) So not only is the year not the length you think
it is, there's more than one year to worry about!

Bob M.