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FRENCH TIME LORDS will provide us with a whole extra second in June this year.
But before you get too excited, be warned – it could make computer systems go a little bit haywire.
Scientists carry out this adjustment every few years because the Earth’s rotation is getting gradually slower. Ever since 1972, a second has occasionally been added to super-accurate atomic clocks to accommodate for this.
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, based in Paris, have decided this will take place on June 30, meaning that at 11.59, clocks will count up to 60 seconds past the minute.
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Computers don’t like this, because they use atomic clocks to make sure their time is right. The extra second causes a bit of confusion.
In 2012, the extra second brought down websites like LinkedIn, Reddit, Gawker, and Four Square, according to Buzzfeed, due to the affect it had on systems like Java and Linux.
Some were already prepared.
Gizmodo notes that Google uses something called a Leap Smear. Every time a server is updated, a couple of milliseconds are added to the system’s time, meaning that by the time the big day comes around the clock is already at the correct new time.
The Telegraph reports that there is opposition to introducing the leap second, with some arguing that it could disrupt precision systems required for financial transactions and transport.
Basically, it’s going to be like Y2K all over again. Prepare the for the apocalypse.
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This is great news. I’m really going to use this extra time to catch up on all those little jobs I’ve meaning to get around to, or perhaps a lie in would be better.
Also, most bank software programmers [and this was mostly in COBOL at the time] spent a long time working crazy hours getting sh*t together and correct so that stuff like applying 99 years of credit to accounts wouldnt happen.
There is another one feasibly going to come in 2038 when the unix epoch time rolls over to zero again. Thankfully it only affects 32-bit-integer related systems, but still gonna be hilarious….
A squib was a very little stick of dynamite that you could buy in the boys store before all this health and safety nonsense took hold. When a kid was allowed matches you could light them to blow up little bunkers of sand where the enemy toy soldiers were, classic.
A day lasts 24hrs because that’s how long it takes to spin around once. Except that its always gradually slowing down so the eggheads add an extra second to one particular day every few years to compensate. This angers god hugely, who retaliates by setting off volcanoes and smiting old people, etc.
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