t’s a leap year. This year we had a leap day. A man-made day that gave us all an extra day this year. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere have to endure one extra day of winter. Those of you in the Southern Hemisphere get an extra day of summer in which to loll around. It’s not fair. How did the Southern Hemisphere pull that off?
Anyway, this year is one of the years we’ll all get an extra second. That’s right. On June 30, 2012 the day will be one second longer to adjust for the Earth’s slightly flagging rotation. In a few billion years the Earth will stop rotating because it will be eaten alive by the sun, which will then be a big red giant gobbling up all the rocky planets and bringing warmth and loving, red sunshine to Jupiter, Saturn and the planets beyond. Maybe someday someone will be reclining on the shore of a lake filled with liquid metallic hydrogen. Not you. Not me. But someone – a few billion years from now may be getting a tan on some tropical Saturnine beach.
What about this year of 2012? It’s going to be interesting. Did the Mayan’s really know what time it was? Did they really care? Their prophecy of doom has triggered a TV show called “Doomsday Packers” or something like that (not to be confused with the Green Bay Packers).
I don’t know if the world will end on December 21, 2012 or not – I’m not counting on it. If you’re counting on it, you can have a field day with your credit cards beginning the day after the December billing cycle begins. Live it up! Charge everything! You’ll never have to pay the bill because the bill will never come. Enjoy.
Getting back to the leap second: Did you even know there were such things? There are – and this year is one of the years we all get not only an extra day but an extra second. Everyone will get an extra 24 hours and one second this year to celebrate whatever they wish. Right now, International Atomic Time (TAI), is the time standard. It is calculated using a weighted average of signals from atomic clocks, which are located in 70 laboratories around the world.
UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) is occasionally adjusted by adding a leap second to keep it accurate. The extra second is added because of fluctuations in the Earth’s rotation. In the last 50 years a total of 34 leap seconds have been added; a 35th leap second is scheduled to be added on 30 June 2012. So if you’re 50 years or older — by July 1, 2012 you’ll have received a bonus of 35 seconds of additional time. Ask yourself? What did you do with it?
OK. Does anybody really know what time it is? Yes! Does anybody really care? Yes! We all care. Time is something we either have too much of or too little of; it’s all relative to our lives. If you’re stuck in some slimy prison in Moldova, time is passing slowly for you. If you’re having the time of your life with the love of your life — time is racing by too quickly. If you’re 90 and your time is running out — time is a cascade. If you’re a child of ten — time is forever.
And whether you know it or not, our GPS systems could not function without super-accurate clocks. Aviation would be a mess. Satellite communications would be flaky and your favorite show wouldn’t start at exactly 8PM. How about a TV Guide that listed show times as “about 8:00PM”?
So yes. Somebody really knows what time it is; and somebody really cares A LOT!.
I was surprised this morning when I discovered my computer’s clock was running 11 seconds slow. It’s coordinated (or Windows says it is) with an Internet Time Server. It’s about time, then, that these Internet Time Servers served up the right time. I fixed my computer clock – I chose the U.S. Government’s time-server. It was set at the default which is time.windows.com . But now I’m right on time thanks to the government. My tax dollars at work. Now, thanks to Uncle Sam, I won’t be 11 seconds late for anything – thanks to my persnickedyness and the excessive taxes I pay to keep these government atomic clocks running.
Do you really want to know what time it is? Do you really care? If you don’t, then read no further; if you do care, then read on.
What time is it?
http://www.time.is
http://www.time.gov/
What time is it?
Now — don’t be late!
What an interesting article! My computer clock was 4 seconds slow, but now I’m ‘on time’!! Thanks for the info and links.
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