Wait A Second, 2006

Here comes the year 2006, but WAIT.

A leap second will be inserted in the world’s clocks just before midnight Greenwich mean time on New Year’s Eve, the U.S. Naval Observatory reported Friday.  That means 7 p.m. EST, Dec. 31, will occur one second later than it would have otherwise.  That is, there will be 61 seconds the last minute of 2005 (UTC or Greenwich Time).  Yes, the year 2006 will delay.

Note:  Leap seconds are needed occasionally because modern atomic clocks measure time with great accuracy, while the rotation of the Earth can be inconsistent.  The rotation of the Earth has been slowing down, so leap seconds keep the clocks and the Earth from getting out of synch with one another. Source: U.S. Naval Observatory.

Even though man’s oldest clock (Earth’s rotation and the Sun)is not accurate and uniform, all our other clocks still have to abjust according to it.  Who says that a minute has to consist of 60 seconds?  Come to think of it:  We human can be so good, so accurate, so consistent, yet still be "wrong" about the time. XD

~KKai