Time Doesn't Fly

Stream near Military Ridge Trail
Verona.  dwm photo
Did you hear about the leap second?

Before we started this year, precisely at midnight December 31, 2016 clocks stopped for an entire second.

The "extra second" was first added in 1972.

Since then 25 more seconds have been added.

Atomic clocks don't slow down.

But the earth does, according to scientists who track these things. They decided, prior to the first "extra second," the earth was 10 seconds behind atomic time.

The reason... our earth's trip around its own axis is nearly imperceptibly slowing down.

The earth's declining speed might be related to weight gain (really, aren't we all a little bigger than we were?).

I'm sure there are reasons we need time and the earth to be synchronized.  I just don't understand them.

More intriguing, is the idea of time standing still 26 times.

Just make a note to stay up later that New Year's Eve so you don't miss it!

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