THE workforce of the Western World is in for a treat in August with five weekends on the cards, instead of the usual four .
August 2014 has five Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Hooray!
But, the people who put a post up on facebook about this added bonus, obviously have a problem with numbers.
The post states that this is the only time you will see this phenomenon in your lifetime because it only happens every 823 years.
The post states that the Chinese call this “phenomenon” a “Silver pockets full. ”
The message ends with the usual “send this to .. blah blah,” and the obligatory threat of financial ruin if you do not forward this to the world.
However urban legend buster, Snopes.com has debunked this claim with some simple arithmetic.
It states August always has 31 days, there are always seven days in the week and a standard year is 52 weeks plus one day, so the bonus weekend in August should come around every seven years, but for leap year which throws the calculation slightly out of kilter.
October 2010 had the same five-weekend gift. The five weekend bonus occurs in a cycle in all months which have 31 days.
