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2009 Will Arrive One Second Late To Its Own Party
Posted by Nick Broughall at 10:53 AM on December 31, 2008
If you're heading out to watch the midnight fireworks tonight to say goodbye to the year that was 2008, be prepared for a slight delay. And when we say slight, we mean slight - one second, to be precise. Boffins at Greenwich will be adding a single second onto the year 2008 to adjust time for the minute slowing of the earth's rotation. According to AP, the move has reignited the debate between GMT and atomic time as the worldwide standard for timekeeping - atomic clocks are precise to the nanosecond and don't need sporadic adjustments of a second to maintain accuracy. However, they don't take into account changes to the planet's rotation, either and in hundreds of years midday would actually be closer to 1pm than today's 12pm. In any case, if any of you have an X-men like ability to slow down time and you're wondering why tonight's fireworks don't kick off until 12:00:01, now you know.
[AP]
Personally, I think spending a few thousand dollars on a watch is ridiculous—but hundreds of thousands of dollars? Nonetheless, that's what it will take to score the Cabestan Winch Tourbillion.
The trend in timepieces these days is to display values in terms that only math nerds and engineers can possibly understand. Finally, a product has been developed that helps make sense of the madness.
Time Magazine has gone through all of the inventions of 2008, from 
You'd think that this $US78 Jumbo Gear Clock sleeps alright knowing that, unlike its digital counterparts, it features 50 exposed moving gears that show off the otherwise hidden complexity of clockwork. But the Jumbo Gear Clock does not sleep well at all. The Jumbo Gear Clock lays awake at night because the Jumbo Gear Clock is a lying phony.
The Stonehenge Robot isn't the most practical means to keep time, but it's got charm to spare. Programmed to carefully move any of 14 double-sided cards to display the proper time, Stonehenge gets some leeway as the cards are designed to stick to the magnetic table. The only potential problem is that the robot may require more than 1 minute to shuffle the display. But in such cases, Stonehenge predicts its lag and compensates by simply grabbing the next appropriate digit(s). Here's a clip of the Stonehenge doing its thing:
The Big Time Digital Wall Clock has no qualms about its place in your life. It's giving you the time. And doing it the big way. At over three feet wide and a foot and a half long, the Big Time clock features an admittedly stylish circuit board backing. Maybe we'd consider the purchase if it weren't so, you know, big. Available in four colour schemes, the Big Time clock will set you back US$130, but we're pretty sure that it doubles as a Big Time nightlight and Big Time tanning bulb if you're budget is smaller than your Big Time lifestyle. [
The Casio Oceanus Super Chronograph is the world's first solar chronograph watch that syncs with atomic clocks. Using a multi-band radio, the watch can check in with the US, UK, Germany and Japan to keep precise time—and solar energy consumption means that you'll potentially never run out of battery (the watch can draw energy from indoors and outdoors alike). In other words, this Oceanus could literally always have the correct time—which is a little too much accountability for our tastes. [
Do you ever feel like time is hanging over your head, adding apprehension and dread to your life? Like it could just crash down and kill you at any moment? Like time has an annoying buzz to it and that it throws a harsh, flat light? Either you have OCD or you've got one of these gigantic, florescent digital clocks hanging on your ceiling.
