• On 30 June 2015, an extra second will be added to clocks to compensate for the Earth’s slowing rotation, and bring it into line with ‘atomic time’.
• The last time a ‘leap second’ was added was in June 2012, where many disruptions were reported (LinkedIn, Reddit etc all reported crashes.) mainly due to the fact that computing systems generally can’t recognise ‘2 same seconds in a row’.
• Google has a method of counteracting this called a ‘Leap Smear’ where it gradually adds milliseconds to its system clocks prior to the implementation of the leap second.
•  The move is recommended by the International Earth Rotation & Referencing System, the French body whose job it is to monitor the planet’s rotation & make adjustments where necessary.
• The earth’s speed of rotation has a tendency to slow, but events such as earthquakes can speed up the earth’s rotation.

Read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/08/leap-second_n_6437686.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11327571/Leap-second-French-time-lords-add-one-second-to-2015.html

http://theconversation.com/an-extra-second-on-the-clock-why-moving-from-astronomic-to-atomic-time-is-a-tricky-business-35970

http://www.thejournal.ie/extra-second-computer-systems-1869703-Jan2015/

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