What will you do with the extra time today?

Zosimus41 · #1 Jun 30, '12, 4:33 pm

The Leap second.

The next leap second will be added at 23:59:60 UTC on June 30, 2012.

What are leap seconds?

About every one and a half years, one extra second is added to Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) and clocks around the world. This leap second accounts for the fact that the Earth's rotation around its own axis, which determines the length of a day, slows down over time while the atomic clocks we use to measure time tick away at almost the same speed over millions of years.

So, leap seconds are a means to adjust our clocks to the Earth's slowing rotation.

**the phoenix** · #2 Jun 30, '12, 5:34 pm

Just spent my extra time reading this post ...

DaveBj · #3 Jun 30, '12, 5:34 pm

I plan to sleep thru it. I slept thru Y2K; I figure I won't miss anything sleeping thru a leap second

LoyalViews · #4 Jun 30, '12, 5:41 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveBj

I plan to sleep thru it. I slept thru Y2K; I figure I won't miss anything sleeping thru a leap second

So did I, and I expected to wake up to a red sky and my refrigerator trying to eat me, but it didn't

DaveBj · #5 Jun 30, '12, 6:48 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoyalViews

So did I, and I expected to wake up to a red sky and my refrigerator trying to eat me, but it didn't

Gertabelle · #6 Jun 30, '12, 7:06 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoyalViews

So did I, and I expected to wake up to a red sky and my refrigerator trying to eat me, but it didn't

You're so silly. The refrigerator won't try to eat you until the Mayan calendar ends this December

Gert

maltmom · #7 Jun 30, '12, 7:09 pm

I blinked!