Wait a second!

Tonight, midnight arrives one second later. I just read in CNN.com and BBC News that a leap second will be added to 2008 to adjust the atomic clocks. Apparently, the earth's daily rotation is not always exactly 24 hours. Disruptions to the earth's core, extreme weather, volcanic eruptions as well as earthquakes can influence the length of a day. Since 1972, there have been 23 leap seconds added.

I read that if you have an atomic clock, you can actually see the second being added -- or see time delayed. I'll be watching the one clock I do have that reads atomic time. According to the Official US Time, there will be a leap second (an extra second) just after 23:59:59 UTC on December 31st, 2008. That is just after 06:59:59 p.m. ET, 05:59:59 p.m. CT, 04:59:59 MTand 03:59:59 p.m. PT.

Happy New Year!