Today is the Longest Day of the Year

Hey, got a second to spare? Excellent to see you today. How you doin'? I'm delighted that you chose to help your day along by enjoying a break here at the Virtual Café with a mug of coffee, a virtual pastry, doughnut or muffin...and yours truly! 

Y'know, most people regard Summer Solstice as the longest day of the year. Well sure it is the day with the longest amount of daylight but usually our days are all the same length...24 hours exactly...or 23 hours 59 minutes and 60 seconds, right? Usually, that is true, but...today, June 30 will be a second longer than any other day this year...and for the next two years as well. 

A "leap second" needs to be added in 2015 to make sure the time on atomic clocks stays in sync with Earth's rotational time, but some Internet companies are dreading the day.

Earth's rotation has been slowing down by about two thousandths of a second every day. But atomic clocks, which are now accurate up to quadrillionths of a second, don't change pace. While this situation isn't an immediate problem, it would eventually cause clocks to become so out of sync with Earth's rotation that they would read noon during the dead of night. 

That wouldn't be good, now would it? For the full story on our extra second today, go to:

Source: http://www.livescience.com/49370-leap-second-added-2015.html

Me? I'm planning to sleep right through it!

See ya, eh!

Bob