Breaking News: New Year 2009 will be delayed

20 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2008-12-30 23:37

Unionist

[u][b][url=http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/12/30/newyear-second.html]Get a load of this:[/url][/b][/u]

Quote:

Celebrants gearing up to say goodbye to 2008 will have to wait an extra second before popping bottles and pursing lips to usher in the new year.

Timekeepers at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich will be adding a "leap second" of time to the clock on Wednesday, a method used sporadically over the past 30 years to offset the fractional slowing of the Earth's rotation.

The extra second will be squeezed in on Dec. 31 after 6:59:59 p.m. and before 7 p.m. ET. Combined with the extra day on Feb. 29, the extra second will make 2008 the longest year since 1992.

The seconds have been added as needed since 1972, sometimes at the end of December and sometimes at the end of June, depending on the speed of the Earth's rotation. ...

The decision to add an extra second to the clock was made by an international consortium of timekeepers, and ]b]announced earlier this month[/b].

I missed the damned announcement. Now my New Year's Eve planning is shot to hell.

Wed, 2008-12-31 00:13

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Unionist wrote:

The extra second will be squeezed in on Dec. 31 after 6:59:59 p.m. and before 7 p.m. ET. Combined with the extra day on Feb. 29, the extra second will make 2008 the longest year since 1992.

This is only true in the Western Hemisphere. In time zones east of GMT and west of the International Date Line, the leap second will take place some time on the morning of January 1, 2009, as it occurs everywhere in the world simultaneously.

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Wed, 2008-12-31 00:15

Unionist

That settles it - I'm flying to Europe for the party. I'll need the extra recovery time the morning after...

Wed, 2008-12-31 00:56

Wilf Day

Wow! Now I have to watch BBC at 7:00 PM, to see if they really count down "EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE, ONE, HAPPY NEW YEAR."

Wed, 2008-12-31 01:22

Fidel

Roger Waters will just have to change that stanza in Time to read:

Every year is getting LONGER never seem to find the time

Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say

Wed, 2008-12-31 02:34

Ken Burch

All I wanna know is...

did Michaëlle Jean have anything to do with this?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our Demands Most Moderate are/
We Only Want The World!
-James Connolly

Wed, 2008-12-31 07:48

Unionist

Ken Burch wrote:

All I wanna know is...

did Michaëlle Jean have anything to do with this?

Thanks for that, Ken - what happened to the Babble Hall of Fame?

Wed, 2008-12-31 13:07

Unionist

[u][b][url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7806367.stm]Naples sex strike over fireworks[/url][/b][/u]

Quote:
Hundreds of Neapolitan women have pledged to go without sex
unless their men promise to refrain from setting off dangerous illegal
fireworks.

Local authorities are backing the women and have sent out text messages urging the men to "make love, not explosions".

The women say it is the only way to persuade their partners that they are serious about their concerns.

It'll be particularly onerous this year.

Wed, 2008-12-31 13:41

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Ken Burch wrote:

All I wanna know is...

did Michaëlle Jean have anything to do with this?

I don't get it.

[IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/1r9lpy.gif[/IMG]

Wed, 2008-12-31 14:09

#10

Ken Burch

It was a prorogation joke. Sort of, if she can delay one thing, can she delay everything else?

______________________________________________________________________________________________
Our Demands Most Moderate are/
We Only Want The World!
-James Connolly

Wed, 2008-12-31 14:10

#11

Unionist

M. Spector wrote:
Ken Burch wrote:

All I wanna know is...

did Michaëlle Jean have anything to do with this?

I don't get it.

What do you mean, "I don't get it"!? It made the Babble Quote Hall of Fame, for crying out loud!

Wed, 2008-12-31 14:13

#12

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

OK, now I get it. But hall of fame? Puhleeze.

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Wed, 2008-12-31 14:14

#13

Unionist

Party pooper.

Wed, 2008-12-31 14:15

#14

Unionist

Party pooper.

ETA: [u][url=http://rabble.ca/comment/974697/Thank-you-Upon-learning]Here was the link.[/url][/u] The joke is explained there for posterity. I never thought posterity was already here.

Wed, 2008-12-31 14:24

#15

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Posterity, my posterior!

Does any joke that needs to be explained belong in the hall of fame?

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Wed, 2008-12-31 14:29

#16

Unionist

There was only one among the living to whom it needed to be explained.

Wed, 2008-12-31 20:35

#17

Fidel

It's like those men of real talent, the Senators in Ottawa. They're experiencing a goal scoring drought.

And fans are pointing to the team's high-priced players as being prolific underachievers.

But the owners can at least rebuild the team over a relatively short period of time. And that's because team owners and managers have a direct say in these matters.

OTOH, Canadians are stuck with a bunch of old white guys who stopped producing long before they were ever made members of an exclusive old white boys club, the non-elected and non-accountable Canadian Senate. This is the stale joke Canadians can only laugh about year after year, decade after decade.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v697/rabblerabble/1r9lpy.gif[/IMG]

Wed, 2008-12-31 20:45

#18

Unionist

Fidel - my heart - the time for political comments is over. Now is the time to celebrate the coming of the New Year. In that spirit, I want to thank you warmly for your persistent dedication to all that is progressive and your wealth of knowledge about history and current affairs, from which I continue to learn a great deal. May 2009 bring you health and happiness and peace, and a beginning of the realization of our common dream - an end to oppression and exploitation of one human being by another.

לחיים!

To life!

Wed, 2008-12-31 21:00

#19

RosaL

So I'm not the only one sitting at her computer rather than partying. Happy New Year!

Wed, 2008-12-31 21:12

#20

Fidel

I've just finished helping prepare a 33 pound turkey for inserting into an oven sometime round midnight. What a job. It's going to have to go on the rack at the lowest position.

Happy new year, everyone!