Apathy Sketchpad

The Earth’s rotation is slowing down. This means that a day no longer lasts exactly 24 hours. The basic upshot of this is that every so often a “leap second” has to be added in to the day. It works just like changing the clocks back; you just have to adjust the clock (if you can be bothered). Essentially, the last minute of the day has 61 seconds.

Now, the last one of these was in 1998, just before the end of the year. Nobody seemed to pay it any heed. There is another one this year, however. So, for reference, if you start counting at 23:59:50 as per tradition, then the correct countdown this New Year’s Eve goes like this:

“TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! ONE! HOORAY!”

Please explain this to any other guests at whichever new year’s party you attend. We don’t want a repeat of 1998’s debacle.