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2005 to be 31536001 seconds long. Stop them messing with Time!

category international | sci-tech | other press author Monday December 26, 2005 18:45author by o as if Report this post to the editors

before its too late.

Time is very special, and no-one really knows who owns it. One thing is clear - we don't. But over the millenia we have seen the state or church whichever was more powerful at that particular time meddle with both calenders and hours.

On the 31st of December 2005, an extra second will be added to the world's clocks meaning the year will last 31536001 seconds rather than the usual 3156000.

Time Ladies & Gentlemen Please. It waits for no-one
Time Ladies & Gentlemen Please. It waits for no-one

The decision has been made by the US naval observatory and is part of an ongoing established practise of introducing "leap seconds" which was agreed at the creation of "Coordinated Universal Time" in 1958 and the increasing popularity of Atomic clocks.

This year's leap second will be the 23rd since the International time keeping agreement was signed.
of August to be precise.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/25/AR2005122500496.html
CONTROVERSIAL
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=84698

Though that depends on whose article you read.

Some wikipedians reckon that a leap second has been squeezed into every year since 1972.
http://www.answers.com/topic/universal-time
sometimes they slipped in the extra second at the end of June instead of December.
http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/universal+time

SINISTER
http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/office/given/timekeeping.html
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

CONSPIRACY
In many countries the poor and simple mark the New Year by celebrating popular festive occasions ignoring the state medium of television. The extra second will effect their brains and computers. Kiritimati on the Christmas Islands, in Kiribati enters 2006 first. Will these people be properly advised in time?

The last link is for nerds who want to see the countdown to 2006 second by second on their computer screens. But Don't Panic : Just remember its not y2k. :-)

Related Link: http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/newyeara.html
author by iosafpublication date Fri Mar 02, 2007 14:24Report this post to the editors

The Peruvian state has of today at the order of its President synchronised watches and clocks to the Peruvian Navy at 12h00 local time. This is stop the Peruvian habit of being late. It really gets up the presidente's nose - and he's sure is costing the Peruvians credibility and dollars on the international stage. So at noon - they were all urged to set their watches and clocks as sirens and claxons sounded.
The thing is - procrastination which is generally called mañana mañana in the English language has no direct translation to the Spanish language. I find it quite difficult to express the concept - "demora" is the closest. Sometimes people just stare at me vacantly - "the ango-saxons have a word for this?"........"you noble and rebellious Irish accepted this??????"

better late than never.............. a BBC round-up of who is punctual and who is tardy (it's got to do with protestantism seemingly)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6405379.stm

author by hogwortspublication date Wed Apr 18, 2007 23:29Report this post to the editors

It might have been the first minute of silence most people in Peru didn't observe at exactly the same time. If you read the last comment you understand that Peru is running to clock now. Or at least the very loyal bits of it. I do not come to html now to update & append Peruvian or Indiginous obituaries.
I go to html too much. It would be better to put it all in one journal & select only kind of individual whom could be examined thoroughly on the subject and sold a bit of coloured nylon and old-fashioned paper. Oh you fools. No-one really wears hats like that.

Thank you Japan. You have evolved our language. The Japanese are to be credited with ignoring the 4th digit of the year. It is the first conceptual leap since Y2K. Today's feature article as linked to from the international bit illustrates it for you. They want you do MayDay 007. Cool. Next year it will be 008. We my friends, opponents, sparring mates, critics, peers & lurkers in ".ie state" are going to Reclaim 016 Everyone is going to get a poster.

arigato - is what it sounds like. The japanese in their announcement are inviting us to drop two millenia of history they don't share for an ergonomically typed & beautifully filed new century.

ribbid ribbid ribbid ribbid ribbid ribbid ribbid

http://japan.indymedia.org/feature/display/2203/index.php
http://japan.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3372/index.php

author by iosafpublication date Wed Dec 12, 2007 14:31Report this post to the editors

The time change which came into effect on Dec 9th seems to have been a quiet hit amongst the people of Venezuela. & like most examples of the extent of state power in that country been ignored in Europe. But not by either Microsoft or Linux who have both had to patch computer networks to deal with the first ever half hour adjustment .

Yep. You read right. Venezuelans changed their clocks not by one hour (the way we all do thank Bennie Franklin) but by 30 minutes. This means you to must change your clock 30 minutes during the winter if you fly to either of Venezuela's new time zone of -4:30 GMT or -4:30 UTC.

if you're bringing a PC or microsoft laptop to the state, it will help you to go here
http://www.microsoft.com/venezuela/cambiohorario/
if you've a linux based computer go here - http://rodria1.blogspot.com/2007/12/nuevo-huso-horario-....html

Of course you could just obey your diary instructions or travel on Brazilian time & be either half an hour late or early depending on what way you look at it. Hugo Chavez speaking from Argentina confirmed that this new half-hour change will ensure the future health and efficiency of the Venezuelan people.

author by pat cpublication date Wed Dec 12, 2007 14:38Report this post to the editors

Up until 1965 Venezuela was 4 1/2 hours behind GMT. Chavez is just returning things to the way they were.

author by iosafpublication date Wed Dec 12, 2007 14:52Report this post to the editors

In an article I hadn't seen when putting up the comment (I'd just been thinking about the computer links)
http://www.microsoft.com/venezuela/cambiohorario/
http://rodria1.blogspot.com/2007/12/nuevo-huso-horario-....html
the BBC explains how ..."Canada's Newfoundland province is half-an-hour out of step with other Atlantic provinces. Pakistan is only half-an-hour behind India, while Nepal is a mere 15 minutes ahead of its large southern neighbour. Western Australia and South Australia observe a 90-minute time difference across the state boundary. However, the remote border town of Eucla and the surrounding area, home to a few hundred people, operates on its own time zone, 45 minutes ahead of Western Australia and 45 minutes behind South Australia......"

Personally this is not strange to me, I operate an internal clock which is 15 minutes behind the exigencies of any employer & rely on a spanish train service to get to work, which is anything from five minutes fast to my experience yesterday of two hours late. (of course the Catalans think independence would change that).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7134927.stm

author by chronos - yer grim reaper bloke. - does religiosity & holy lands, stag nights, hen nights, etc.publication date Wed Dec 31, 2008 22:00Report this post to the editors

The national institute of standards and technology of the USA has as usual prepared a FAQ for those of ye who might wonder why yanks with nuklear clocks get to squeeze extra seconds into your life.
http://tf.nist.gov/general/leaps.htm

this of course will be the 24th time since 1974 that an extra second has been snuck into New Year's Eve.

that's almost half a minute.

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