COWBOY PAINTER: William Gollings, whose painting, “Indian...

COWBOY PAINTER: William Gollings, whose painting, “Indian Sunset,” above, is on exhibit at the Gene Autry Museum, was a working cowboy who painted and sketched as he tended cattle (F1A). . . . He was an experienced vaquero whose horse learned to wait patiently while Gollings made his art.

SPRING SOUNDS: The CalArts annual Spring Music Festival is an international jambalaya, featuring music from China, Egypt, India, Java and Bali as well as American compositions. . . . The event starts Friday (F1B) and is meant to reflect the diversity of the CalArts music program, producer Bob Clenenden said. “That’s the breadth we try to present because that’s what we do here everyday.”

LEAP YEAR: Leap Year is good for people with Feb. 29 birthdays (B10) and business too, it turns out. The Department of Commerce predicts that having an extra day in the year will mean an extra $25 billion in sales and services. . . . Balancing out the calendar isn’t so simple, however. Adding Feb. 29 every four years actually puts a few too many minutes into the year. So every 400 years we have to cut out three days. Hence the odd rule that centenary years like the upcoming year 2,000 are only leap years if they can be divided by four. Even so, there are 26 extra seconds every leap year, for an extra day every 3,323 years.

LEAPING IN: Traditionally, leap years are the only time when women may propose marriage to men. And in the old days it was hard for the pursued to refuse. In Scotland, bachelors who could not prove they were already betrothed had to pay one pound to maidens they turned down. In the Middle Ages, men who refused had to come across with a kiss and a silk dress or gloves.