June 30, 2012 - don't forget to set your clocks back

[appleb]

At the end of June 30, 2012 GMT, you're supposed to set your clocks one full second back to account for the earth's slowing rotation.

This will be Jun 30, 2012, 7:59:60pm in local Toronto time.

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/leapseconds.html

[yao416]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Hairball]

Thanks, my computers should auto set.

But some of my Chinese-made clocks will actually go ahead like 15 minutes a month already. Seriously, I am not kidding.

[yao416]

Thanks, my computers should auto set.

But some of my Chinese-made clocks will actually go ahead like 15 minutes a month already. Seriously, I am not kidding.

buy new clocks???

[Supercooled]

Thanks, my computers should auto set.

But some of my Chinese-made clocks will actually go ahead like 15 minutes a month already. Seriously, I am not kidding.
Aren't you Chinese? Chinese made is so original. EVERYTHING is made is in Chinese.

[ishfish]

The earth's rotation is slowing?:-0

This is most disturbing!

[Hairball]

Aren't you Chinese? Chinese made is so original. EVERYTHING is made is in Chinese.

It's one of these shoddy things from DealExtreme. Goes ahead 15 minutes every month. Products from global companies tend to do a better job I guess.

http://img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_36045_1.jpg

[sprdave]

At the end of June 30, 2012 GMT, you're supposed to set your clocks one full second ahead to account for the earth's slowing rotation.

This will be Jun 30, 2012, 7:59:60pm in local Toronto time.

Don't forget or you may be late for meetings and such.

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/leapseconds.html

Uh, how does that work? If the earth is slowing, how does deleting a second (aka speed up the clock) compensate?

It's a leap second so you want to set it back, since normal clocks will skip 23:59:60 (just like Feb 29).... Wouldn't want to be 2 seconds early for your meetings :lol:

[ishfish]

If the rotation is slowing, is the gravitational force being reduced?

[dirkpitt]

The earth's rotation is slowing?:-0

This is most disturbing!We should start a pool to try and guess who's side will be in the sun when the planet stops rotating. ;)

[Hairball]

Uh, how does that work? If the earth is slowing, how does deleting a second (aka speed up the clock) compensate?

It's a leap second so you want to set it back, since normal clocks will skip 23:59:60 (just like Feb 29).... Wouldn't want to be 2 seconds early for your meetings :lol:

I believe if it's going to 23:59:60 it is adding a second, not deleting one. Therefore it's to take into account it's taking longer, which is what you said.

[sprdave]

If the rotation is slowing, is the gravitational force being reduced?

Not gravitational force, but the centrifugal force is ;)


I believe if it's going to 23:59:60 it is adding a second, not deleting one. Therefore it's to take into account it's taking longer, which is what you said.

So you agree you set the clock back to add this second?

[appleb]

Actually i think sprdave is correct, you're supposed to move your clocks back to compensate. I'll edit the OP!

[Hairball]

Actually i think sprdave is correct, you're supposed to move your clocks back to compensate. I'll edit the OP!

We're trying to have an "extra second" at that hour. On a digital clock you would run one extra second so you'd end up with 23:59:60, which usually does not exist.

If you think of it in terms of an analog clock, you can't make it go another second. So you'd have to either make it go back a second, or make it hold at 60 for an extra second.

From that link:

Leap seconds are inserted at the end of the last day in June or December. When that is the case, UTC ticks from 23:59:59 to 23:59:60 before reverting to 00:00:00 (in the 12-hour format, this corresponds to 11:59:59 pm - 11:59:60 pm - 12:00:00 midnight). When that happens the last minute of the month has 61 instead of 60 seconds.

[jamesfitzgibbon]

thanks, OP

[Ottomaddox]

I could use the extra sleep.

[SkimGuy]

Seconds gained from leap second: 1
Seconds lost from reading topic: 120

[wal3145]

At the end of June 30, 2012 GMT, you're supposed to set your clocks one full second back to account for the earth's slowing rotation.

This will be Jun 30, 2012, 7:59:60pm in local Toronto time.

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/leapseconds.html

Thank you. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would surely be late to work on Monday.

[djemzine]

Thanks for the heads up OP. Will be at the US at that point.

[aplayaz2000]

the day electronics tell me what to do

end of the world as we know it

[mbg]

It's one of these shoddy things from DealExtreme. Goes ahead 15 minutes every month. Products from global companies tend to do a better job I guess.

http://img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_36045_1.jpg

Ha... it looks like one of those things where you buy it because of the cool temperature feature and then realize the clock doesn't work properly :)