OK, Who's Overclocking The Earth?

from the no-wonder-time-feels-like-it's-passing-so-quickly dept

Remember back in 1999 when people started talking about "internet time", which was this crazy notion that, thanks to the internet, the usual course of business went much much much faster? Well, it sounds like the Earth tried to get in on some of that, as it's now been revealed that since 1999, our home planet has been making it's annual trek around the sun one second faster than it was for quite some time. Between 1972 and 1999, we had to add a special "leap second" each year, since the Earth was slowing down, and losing a step. However, since 1999, for reasons no one is quite sure, the Earth appears to have caught a second wind and is speeding up a bit.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Dave Starr, 31 Dec 2003 @ 10:21am

    Overclocking the Earth

    This is newsworthy, but it would be perhaps more newsworthy were it accurate. The referenced article correctly states that 1972 was the original year for addingt leap seconds, however a perusal of:

    http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html

    will show that 5 leap seconds between 1972 and 1999 were not required, including three in consectutive years, so the fact that 4 have not been added recently hardly proves a definitive trend.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Joe Schmoe, 31 Dec 2003 @ 12:45pm

    What time is it???

    I never came away with the impression that internet time meant that biz time was faster, but rather the recognition of the 24/7 activity of the net connected [generation].

    It would have been a cute idea to have a [S]watch (TM) time that you could recognize that Jack or Jill in Timbuk3 was awake without adding ot subtracting 14 hours in your head, but nothing much more...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dorpus, 31 Dec 2003 @ 12:52pm

    Medieval Guilt

    For similar reasons, it's been shown that wobbles in the Earth's orbit have a far more dramatic impact on the Earth's climate than minute variations in atmospheric composition. In medieval England before the Industrial Revolution, people grew wine and ate food quite similar to middle eastern food. Greenland had vineyards. Today it is much colder.

    Perhaps future generations will view our Greenhouse Effect control efforts like the self-flagellators of medieval times, punishing ourselves for imaginary sins.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2004 @ 2:07am

    Symptom of a decaying orbit?

    ...well, *that* would certainly explain global warming!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pat Dennis, 1 Jan 2004 @ 8:03am

    "...for reasons no one is quite sure..."

    We're moving closer to the sun?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Brian the astronomer, 3 Jan 2004 @ 10:07am

      Re:


      This is hardly a mysterious effect. The Earth's rotation is slowing down with time. This is mostly due to tidal effects with the Moon and (to a much lesser extent) the Sun. There are also other factors involved, such as the shifting of mass (on the surface and under the surface) which create a wobble in the Earth's rotation axis and leads to humans making adjustments in our timekeeping system.

      Because we like to keep time by the apparent position of the Sun and/or stars in the sky as the Earth rotates on its axis, we are forced to resync our clocks every now and then to take into account that the Earth is not a perfect rotating sphere isolated from everything else in the universe.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Keppy, 9 Mar 2004 @ 12:25pm

        Years?

        Earth's orbit is indeed contracting ever so slightly along with the rest of the planets. In general, the time span between trips around the sun is decreasing. Over the span of thousands of 'years', each trip is shorter on average than the last.

        This is why it bothers me when folks estimate that the universe or Earth is X-Billion years old. What's a year going to be 6 billion trips around the sun from now?

        link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.