an extra second in 2008
Some of you are probably preparing your New Year’s Eve celebrations / parties for tonight, but if so, you need to know about this. An extra second has been added to the end of 2008, to keep atomic clocks accurate. So when you’re all counting down the last 10 seconds, you have to allow an extra one or you’ll be celebrating 2009 prematurely.
Just thought you’d like to know… 🙂
(Personally, I wish they’d add an extra Saturday every so often… and to keep that from throwing off all the automated systems, they could delete a Monday or two… I’m sure most people wouldn’t mind.)
If you’re curious why an extra second was added to the year, it’s because the Earth is slowing down. Yep, its rotation is actually slowing. Who knows what will happen if it eventually stops?