Drunken revellers will probably notice no difference during tomorrow’s new year celebrations, but thanks to the Earth’s erratic rotation they will have fractionally longer to enjoy the moment and perhaps linger over that celebratory midnight kiss.
British physicists and official timekeepers around the world will insert an extra second or “leap second” into the new year countdown to bring the most accurate atomic clocks in line with the astronomical day.
“The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year’s Eve we will experience a rare 61-second minute at the very end of 2008 and revellers all over the UK will have an extra second to celebrate,” said Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington who is helping to coordinate the time update.
2008 has been a crock of shit.
Why can’t they add the extra second to the start of 2009 so we can all enjoy it properly…?