Comments on: Take a flying leap second

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:30:08 +0000

My birthday falls in every leap year! Man I’m 20 human years but only had 5 birthdays LOL.

Nice read BTW

Here’s the ste I was reading that led me to your’s: http://gpswatchreviews.org/

By: Happy New Year! : Sweet Yummy Reality

Happy New Year! : Sweet Yummy Reality — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:57:46 +0000

[...] I’m ready to head into 2009, but I have to wait one additional second this year. See Bad Astronomy for the whole run-down. [...]

By: emily

emily — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:56:01 +0000

love the human nature/the family of blood who pics, made me smile

By: 2008 teve um dia e um segundo a mais! Chega! « Comentários, Críticas, Dicas etc.

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:25:47 +0000

[...] Bad Astronomer [...]

By: sutureself

sutureself — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:16:25 +0000

ok, now can someone please tell me why an observer from off earth will see the earth complete its passage around the sun in 366+ days, while the earthly year is 365+?

I know that living on earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun every year. If it takes over a year to get around, does that mean I’m getting gypped?

By: Host Intruder

Host Intruder — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:22:20 +0000

Hello, Very Nice Article, Check out this post(link below) for a more detailed explanation(scientific explanation) of this extra second. And also, why the earth rotation is slowing down? Take a look.

Link: http://hostintruder.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/extra-second-added-to-year-2008/

Hope it helps!!

By: Happy New Year, Etc. « Bearable Skyglow

Happy New Year, Etc. « Bearable Skyglow — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:06:14 +0000

[...] hope you enjoyed your extra second of 2008, though personally I couldn’t wait until that jerkwater disappointment of a year was off the [...]

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:44:39 +0000

Cool read! These are the little things of everyday life we just don’t normally think about.

By: ThoughtCriminal

ThoughtCriminal — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:47:56 +0000

I would have preferred that the extra second had come after Bush leaves office.

By: Joshua Zucker

Joshua Zucker — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:50:17 +0000

“unionized cesium atom … scientists get all charged up about it.”

LOL HA HA HA ha ha ha … um … OK, well, I thought it was hilarious.

By: Talent Copies - Genius Steals » Blog Archiv » sekundengenau

Talent Copies - Genius Steals » Blog Archiv » sekundengenau — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:06:56 +0000

[...] Bad Astronomer erklärt jedenfalls in diesem Beitrag sehr schön wie das mit der Schaltsekunde eigentlich genau funktioniert und warum wir [...]

By: Robert Gift

Robert Gift — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:27:19 +0000

For a Good Time, call 499-7111.
(I used to write this on men’s room walls!)
(Now Colorado requires 10-digit dialing for local calls.)

I called yesterday and IT WAS BUSY!

Assuming people like those who read this would cause such a problem, I had also tuned to 5.0 mHz.

So, what did you do with the extra time? Squander it?

My girlfriend’s father worked at NBS – National Bureau of Standards. In the early 1970s I got to visit the atomic clock.
I had a great time!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:01:49 +0000

Zune’s all over the world crashed yesterday. Coincidence?

By: Sili

Sili — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:30:44 +0000

Steve Morrison,

The joke is that if you write the words “unionised” and “mole” on the blackboard, and people start talking about organised labour and small, blind, furry animals, they’re not chemists.

By: links for 2009-01-01 | The Computer Vet Weblog

links for 2009-01-01 | The Computer Vet Weblog — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:00:25 +0000

[...] Take a flying leap second | Bad Astronomy [...]

By: Andy Perrin

Andy Perrin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:11:02 +0000

My question is a variant on JeffB’s. Clocks that are at different elevations will tick at different rates because of gravitational time dilatation, so what I want to know is at what point does it not make sense to try to measure time more accurately, given that if you just go to a new elevation, your watch will be wrong? To put it another way, over typical earthly distances, how large is the relativistic correction compared to corrections for the Earth’s rotation and other factors?

By: KC

KC — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:24:57 +0000

>For example – the clocks in the GPS satellites appear to run faster that those on the ground – >so doesn’t it matter exactly where those 9,192,631,770 cycles of the hyperfine transition >radiation (from the free agent cesium atoms) are counted?

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong but remember that GPS satellites are a way of distributing time signals accurately…but atomic time doesn’t originate in the satellites – atomic time is created by averaging hundreds of atomic clocks located in climate controlled vaults all over the world.

One of the best ways of measuring the rotation of the Earth is using radio telescopes to observe distant radio sources…accuracy of variation measurements are +/-0.2 milliarcseconds.

By: KC

KC — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:02:14 +0000

>I can’t believe nobody picked this nit yet. The leap-second gets added at UTC 11:59:60, not >New York civil time, so if you “celebrate” when the ball drops, you’ll be wrong by several >hours.

You get the last official “Killjoy” award for 2008! While you are technically correct I think it is cool to symbolically represent the leap second. At one point, I wish I could remember when, they paused the Time Ball in Times Square for one second a number of years ago – I thought that was really neat even though the second had already been added around 7:00pm EST. Unfortuantely they no longer do that.

By: Steve Morrison

Steve Morrison — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:09:34 +0000

@Paul Clapham:

Isaac Asimov once wrote an essay called “To Tell a Chemist” where he noted that if you ask a non-chemist to pronounce the word “unionized”, you’ll get a three-syllable answer, but a chemist will give you the four-syllable pronunciation!

By: Naomi

Naomi — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:38:06 +0000

You just really wanted an excuse to stick some Doctor Who caps in, didn’t you?

By: JeffB

JeffB — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:18:39 +0000

More wobbly bits: how does the official time definition account for relativistic time dilation? For example – the clocks in the GPS satellites appear to run faster that those on the ground – so doesn’t it matter exactly where those 9,192,631,770 cycles of the hyperfine transition radiation (from the free agent cesium atoms) are counted?

Oh, wait – now I see this line in the article – “All you have to do is nod your head and accept it.” OK… Happy New Year!

By: Mike Torr

Mike Torr — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:01:25 +0000

@billsmithaz: Zork? You’re about 3 years too late. ITYM Colossal Cave Adventure

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:59:09 +0000

Well, at 00:33 GMT, I’ve broken my New Year’s resolution not to blaspheme for at least 24 hours!

By: FOLLOWUP: Leap seconds | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

FOLLOWUP: Leap seconds | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:50:28 +0000

[...] Blogs / Bad Astronomy « Take a flying leap second [...]

By: Mikhail Bragoria

Mikhail Bragoria — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:13:55 +0000

I just finished refreshing my computer clock immediately before and after the leap second… and it was EXACTLY ONE SECOND OUT!!!

THAT’S FREAKIN’ COOL!!!