Filed under: OS, Odds and ends, Internet
Did it seem like a long year?
You might not notice it, but actually 2008 will be one second longer than a standard year (or, as comments point out, one day + one second -- it is a leap year as well!), as scientists add that leap second to make up for variations in the 
speed of the rotation of the earth.
The change will come on the stroke of midnight Universal Time. That adjustment will take place automatically for GPS systems, Internet time servers, and radio time signals around the world.
Like most things in our world, there is a bit of a debate on all this time changing, with some serious proposals to abolish the leap second completely.
You'll be happy to know that your Mac will take the time change in stride, and add the appropriate second when needed. Modern Windows versions are also ready to sync up.
Just make sure your computers are using an Internet time server to set the date and time automatically, which in OS X is switched on by default. If you are not connected to the Internet, the sync will happen next time you are. Now, doesn't all the anxiety you had about this go away?
via [Silicon Alley Insider]
speed of the rotation of the earth. The change will come on the stroke of midnight Universal Time. That adjustment will take place automatically for GPS systems, Internet time servers, and radio time signals around the world.
Like most things in our world, there is a bit of a debate on all this time changing, with some serious proposals to abolish the leap second completely.
You'll be happy to know that your Mac will take the time change in stride, and add the appropriate second when needed. Modern Windows versions are also ready to sync up.
Just make sure your computers are using an Internet time server to set the date and time automatically, which in OS X is switched on by default. If you are not connected to the Internet, the sync will happen next time you are. Now, doesn't all the anxiety you had about this go away?
via [Silicon Alley Insider]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
vandil said 4:12PM on 12-30-2008
What is there to debate about leap seconds? As the Moon moves farther away from us, the Earth's rotation slows down.
800 years from now, the Moon will appear slightly smaller in the sky than it does today and the Gregorian Calendar will need more corrections than leap days and seconds.
Reply
tempus said 5:48PM on 12-30-2008
The debate is whether to make "Time" be associated with daylight on earth (ie, make days match the solar 'noon' and 'midnight' with summers hot, winters cold) or whether "Time" should be associated with a more universal absolute, like the vibration of an atom (x vibrations of an atom per year).
One would be nicer on Earth, one would be nicer in a more absolute sense.
The answer doesn't matter, but for crazy-long or crazy-accurate physics/astronomy experiments we need to pick one and keep it that way. The definition of a year has changed as our time-keeping has gotten more accurate - and it actually does matter to certain long-term astronomical observations.
(oh, and banks care too...)
Rylin said 8:33PM on 12-30-2008
@tempus: what temperature would you like that atom be in?
What's temperature anyway, and what happens when we change that out of convenience?
I'm assuming the temperature would be in Kelvin, but at what pressure?
One atmosphere? One earth atmosphere? One Sol 3 atmosphere? One "Sol 3, Orion, Milky Way atmosphere"? At which point in "time"? (No, the pressure of the atmosphere on this blue planet is not constant)
Whenever we an, we go around switching definitions of things, so what's the use changing the definition of time if it entails changing the definition other things presumed to be constant?
Besides, if we change the definition of time to be based on the vibrations of an atom per YEAR, we've already fucked up, given that year is a time based measurement.
Let the "scientists" do "their thing", but let "them" do it "locked up" "in" a "room", "cut off" from the "rest" of the "world".
BJ Nemeth said 4:27AM on 12-31-2008
@Rylin said: "Besides, if we change the definition of time to be based on the vibrations of an atom per YEAR, we've already fucked up, given that year is a time based measurement."
The definition of a second has nothing to do with a year or any other duration. It is based on an agreed-upon number of oscillations related to Cesium 133. According to the Wikipedia entry for "Atomic Clock":
"Since 1967, the International System of Units (SI) has defined the second as the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of radiation corresponding to the transition between two energy levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom."
- - - - - - -
A second is a second is a second, and they have all been identical since 1967. Every four years (leap years), we've added an entire day to the year without problem. I think society can handle an extra second every few years to keep our clocks lined up with our astronomical observations.
There is no "perfect" timekeeping system for our planet, because solar years and lunar months aren't evenly divisible by earth days. (Weeks, minutes, and seconds are abstract concepts with little to no basis in nature.)
Contrast that with our own moon, which rotates on its own axis once for every revolution around the earth. This means that the lunar day is exactly equal to its "year."
While leap seconds are a bit awkward, every alternative has its own problems. With no perfect calendar/clock possible, I think we should continue aligning ourselves with astronomical observations, as cultures around the world have done since the dawn of civilization. The only difference is that our increased ability to measure time means we have advanced from leap days to leap seconds.
No big deal. :-)
Steven said 4:49PM on 12-30-2008
One second will have a huge impact on my day.
Reply
KarlW said 10:25AM on 12-31-2008
A second is a long time to computers operating at Ghz clock frequencies.
They can do tens of millions of operations in that one second, you unappreciative dolt!
Johan Carlberg said 4:52PM on 12-30-2008
Well, as 2008 happens to be a leap year 2008 is about 86399 seconds longer than a standard year, but we get your point.
Reply
JAW IV said 4:53PM on 12-30-2008
You had to go and submit that right before me, didn't you...
JAW IV said 4:53PM on 12-30-2008
Actually...2008 will be one second and one day longer than a standard year...leap year and all. You might say it's the longest year ever.
Reply
marc said 5:00PM on 12-30-2008
Stroke of midnight universal time?
Heres a better way to describe when and how its going down from the article you sourced:
"This year will be a second longer than usual: The folks who control the world's official clocks will add a "leap second"at 11:59:59 p.m. GMT on Dec. 31 to make up for two slightly different time scales -- atomic clocks and Earth's rotation."
Reply
Carlos said 5:34PM on 12-30-2008
So during the countdown, we have to say "One!" twice?
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Eric said 5:34PM on 12-30-2008
This is why we should eliminate date and time altogether, and just do things based on if we feel like it.
Reply
ether3a1 said 5:46PM on 12-30-2008
I can see my creative director's reaction to that one right there...
Steven said 5:46PM on 12-30-2008
"I'll meet you, when that guy is eatin' a hamburger"
Michael Rose said 8:54PM on 12-30-2008
HA!
"when that guy is eatin' a hamburger" +1
grull27 said 6:09PM on 12-30-2008
Why is there a big debate on ONE second?
Reply
Dani Reader said 6:25PM on 12-30-2008
Did you know at the time of the big bang, the universe expanded to a size several hundred times that of our sun in less than a second? Also a Bullet can be fired from a gun to a target in less than a second. Everything we've measured scientifically for several hundred years has been based on our assumptions on the length of a second. If the leap second is eliminated, lots of things could change...
Weijun said 9:01PM on 12-30-2008
“You'll be happy to know that your Mac will take the time change in stride, and add the appropriate second when needed.”
I really don't understand what this means. OS X can sync its time with a time server so it will catch up with the "real" time on Jan 1. On the other hand, if the auto-sync is not enabled, it seems the system itself does not know this leap second thing. I've just tried to manually adjust the clock. When the time is set to 23:59:59 Dec 31 2008 UTC, I thought when I click the up button for the second, it will show something like 60, but it's still 00.
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Michael Rose said 8:56PM on 12-30-2008
It means that if you have the network time service turned on, as Mel notes and you cited, your machine will auto-set. Since leap seconds are determined observationally and aren't preprogrammed into Mac OS X, your machine won't hold back if you aren't synchronizing.
huth.sebastian said 4:35AM on 12-31-2008
"You'll be happy to know that your Mac will take the time change in stride, and add the appropriate second when needed."
Please stop forcing stories to be Apple news when they're clearly not, this hardly passes as news, there's nothing wrong when every once in a while the word "Mac" or "Apple" does not appear in a post.
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