#leap second 2016

[save-the-leap-second]

Here’s Why 2016’s “Leap Second” Really Matters

What will you do with all that extra time?

I would never do anything but celebrate it.

(I’ll probably also do other things, like watch “spend your leap second here” videos, but that will be on other seconds of the day.

Also, the article says:

...in 2016, the world will be “gifted” a leap second.

Make of that what you will.

[save-the-leap-second]

Leap second to be added on January 1, 2017

A leap second will be introduced to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) between 7.59.59am and 8.00.00am (Hong Kong Time) on January 1, 2017. Hong Kong standard time, exactly eight hours ahead of UTC, will be delayed by one second accordingly.

Just a reminder, the leap second will only come on December 31 if you live west of Greenwich. Otherwise it will come on January 1.

And if you live in Eucla, Chatham Islands, or Nepal, you can enjoy a unique occurrence of a second added 45 minutes into the hour.

More posts coming soon.

[save-the-leap-second]

A ‘leap second’ will be added to the end of 2016

Already a leap year, 2016 will drag on a bit longer. International timekeepers are adding a leap second at year's end.

If you were paying attention to this blog and saw this post from your dashboard, you might be confused. The entire controversy surrounding the elimination of the leap second has long since been gone, so why is there a sudden new post at a time which seems irrelevant to intercalary matters?, you wonder. A second later you look down at the article title and realize what you should have realized a second ago: that a new leap second is getting added at the end of the year! Your second lost to confusion will be redeemed!

Yes, I will be chronicling articles of information relating to this totally unexpected leap second here at Save the Leap Second until it happens!

This surely is wonderful news! When I saw it on Reddit, I put my hand over my mouth and stared breathless for about 5 seconds. Part of the reason why this was so world-shaking for me is because I had been thinking about the leap second more than usual during the past few days, what with the last one’s anniversary having happened.

Besides, I thought that the modal time to be expecting a new leap second was the middle of 2018, or the end of 2017 if I was lucky. The middle of 2017 was a possibility, but too unlikely for me to be planning anything for, and the end of 2016 was so unlikely that I never entertained the thought as a possible anticipation but rather more of an “Ooh, wouldn’t that be great?” type of hypothetical event when imagining best-case-scenarios.

But to my utter surprise, the chain of recent interesting technical news has culminated in the announcement that that is exactly what will happen. Now all we have to do is wait 6 months.

Until then, it is going to be a long thine.