It turns out, though, that my superstitious side can find good company. When the Roman king Numa Pompilius created his own calendar, he gave each month 29 days, except for February, which got 28 days.

Thank the Romans for that oddity. Before the Gregorian calendar used today, Roman King Numa Pompilius (715-673 BC) set about creating a way to sync the months with the lunar cycle. Doing that ...

Our calendar is a multicultural mishmash: we have the Babylonians to thank for the day with 24 hours of 60 minutes each, divided into 60 seconds. The annual calendar with its 12 months and ...