Giant Leap for Mankind (or, Why is This Man Jumping)?

Since it's Leap Day — that once-every-four-years phenomenon that lets people jokingly claim to age more slowly and stay newlyweds longer — we've been looking for the perfect photo event tied to this Gregorian intercalary anomaly. (We threw in that last $15 term in honor of the late Wlliam F. Buckley Jr.)

One cool contender is an homage to Philippe Halsman's Jump Book — including the classic shot of Richard Nixon at left — staged by Rich Janzaruk, photo editor of the Times-Mail in Bedford, Indiana, called "Leaping for Leap Day." Unfortunately, most of Janzaruk's shots of leaping local celebs are not posted online yet, but the story links to a great Owen Edwards piece recounting Halsman's original series published in 1959 (one of the most inspired leaps of imagination in modern portraiture, IOHO).

Then there is this Leap Day how-to article on adorama.com that tells you all about how to catch people in action (start with a cute and fearless model, as below).

Leap Day traditions abound, of course, the most pervasive being the so-called women's prerogative to ask a man to marry on this day — as chronicled in this article about an historic postcard series posted on a local-news portal in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (While many of these early-20th-century postcards reflect a certain off-the-cuff sexism, one of the more optimistic views is pictured at right.)

And last but not leaped, in an anthropomorphic celebration that would do Mark "Calavaras County" Twain proud, an exhibit called "Toadily Frogs" is setting up shop at Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas, as reported by lufkindailynews.com. The aptly named "red-eyed tree frog" (left) is among the critters on display, along with 13 other new species of frogs and toads. Ribbit! — Jack Crager