Ever wish you could insert more time into your day? Well, your prayers have been answered, kind of.
At 8am on July 1, one second will be added to the clock, as in accordance to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) keepers.
Though you may be picturing bearded wizards in a secret guarded tower, UTC is actually a very scientific time scale “based on the frequency of atomic oscillations in atomic clocks”. Obviously.
However, because the actual rotation of the earth is always ever so slightly slowing down (if it stops spinning we’ll all die, just FYI), on occasion we have to add a few seconds here or there.
Since the UTC was adopted in 1972, leap seconds have been added 26 times, with the last one being on July 1, 2012.
The government recommends all relevant industries and stakeholders adjust their systems, and “if necessary, consider testing and adjusting their systems to ensure normal operation during and after the introduction of the leap second”.
Y2K, anyone?
So make sure to adjust your clocks accordingly if you don’t want to find yourself in the embarrassing situation of accidentally arriving hundreds of milliseconds early to your appointments.
Photo: Ross Berteig via Flickr
