IERS Announces No Leap Second in June 2005

standards writes "The IERS has announced, once again, that there won't be a leap second in June 2005. It has been more than six years since the last leap second."

Re:yawn

[GusherJizmac]

So do I. This is the most important posting on slashdot since the last version of the dev linux kernel was made.

Re:yawn

[cjpez]

Oh, come on, how often do you get to see an official memo addressed "to authorities responsible for the measurement and distribution of time?" Not very often, is how often. FUN.

Re:yawn

[qbwiz]

To the authorities responsible for the measurement and distribution of time:
Could you distribute a few more hours this night while I'm sleeping? I'm feeling a bit tired right now, and I think the extra hours might help.
Thanks.

Re:yawn

[Dr. GeneMachine]

You see... that's exactly the point. They are stealing our recreation time second by second... No wonder I'm exhausted....

Re:yawn

[Spunk]

Who would those be? The Time Lords [bbc.co.uk]?

Good to see them doing their job.

[cryptor3]

I'm glad the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is doing its job. Rather than doing the "hack" that is the leap second, clearly they've managed to change the rotating speed of the earth to match reality, this year.

Darn!

[Gherald]

I'm going to have to reschedule my appointments again :(

Earthquake?

[go$$amer]

So has anyone related this to the tsunami-spawing quake in the indian ocean? Credible news reports [slashdot.org] reported a speeding of the earth which could bring this shoddy old planet of ours within the tolerence of our atomic clocks... Dang disorderly universe.

Re:Earthquake?

[benhocking]

Well, if we have 2.68 fewer microseconds per day, then that comes to about 979 fewer microseconds per year, or about 1 ms. So, that should have no impact on whether or not we need a full leap-second.

Also, I'm wondering whether you were trying to be funny when you referred to slashdot as a "credible news report". :)

Re:Earthquake?

[Paradise Pete]

And this post has been approved by the Office of Redundancy Office post approval committe.

I see the office is concerned even with the redundancy within the word "committee." So far they've only managed to reduce one of the three redundancies, but progress takes time.

Re:Earthquake?

[go$$amer]

OK already, I'm prying my tongue out of my cheek as we speak! ;-)

BTW I only implied that those few microseconds gained by the increase would bring the rotation within tolerance, thus, perhaps, pushing our leap-second out to 2010 or some such date. Just to clarify, I gotta read this nonsense before I post...

The tsunami did the job for us

[mnmn]

It might have even corrected the Earths spin to closely match our watches.

I used to hate the time standard, it should be fixed to the earths rotation in days rather than adjusting with leap seconds, but we know the Earths rotation is not universal and we cant replace the clock chips of all GPS satellites, SONET routers and communication equipment.

Re:The tsunami did the job for us

[gl4ss]

the tsunami was hardly the culprit.

you got even any theory to go why it would have done that?

Re:The tsunami did the job for us

[sixseve]

I'm sure he was partially joking, but the idea the tsunami may have affected the Earth's rotation has been circulating [indiatimes.com].

Re:The tsunami did the job for us

[John Hasler]

> I used to hate the time standard, it should be
> fixed to the earths rotation in days...

The rate of rotation of the Earth is not constant.

Shame, really...

[cei]

I believe it may have been the last leap second (1/1/1999?) or perhaps one just prior to that, I sat out by (or, more appropriately, on) the sundial at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX. with my father and his shortwave radio, and together we counted the beeps of the 61-second minute. Good father/son bonding times like these don't come around every 6-months (or every 6-years, even, it seems...)

Re:Shame, really...

[clem.dickey]

That leap second would have been added to 1998/12/31 23:59. Leap second tables usually show the seconds value for 1999/12/31 00:00:00 because it's seconds value forms the basis for seconds computations going forward.

Incidentally, I sometimes give out the following trivia questions:

A. February is the shortest month of the year, but what is the longest? (Big Hint: This question not valid in Arizona, Hawaii and parts of Indiana.)

B. Now that you've found the longest month, you know the second shortest month

Re:Shame, really...

[Paradise Pete]

I like that. Unfortunately there's no daylight savings time in this country, so I can't use it without too many disclaimers.

Re:Shame, really...

[clem.dickey]

> Leap second tables usually show the seconds value for 1999/12/31 00:00:00

That should read "value for 1999/01/01 00:00:00".

Amazing what you don's notice until *after* you post.

To all personell:

[MalachiConstant]

Due to circumstances beyond my control there will once again be no big parade this Sunday.

Lieutenant Sheisskopf

(Sorry I've been re-reading Catch-22 lately)

I Liked It Better When...

[John Hasler]

...They called themselves the International Earth Rotation Society. Made me visualize a group of Jules Verne characters regulating the rotation of the Earth with giant guns mounted on mountains on the equator.