From: internetado@bbs.alt119.net   
      
   The Earth completed its shortest rotation in recorded history on June   
   29 this year, shaving 1.59 milliseconds off of the approximately   
   24-hour day. Generally, the Earth is slowing its spin ever so slightly,   
   so why it seems to be speeding up is a mystery.   
      
   "It's certainly odd," Matt King, a professor of geodesy at the   
   University of Tasmania, tells Genelle Weule of the Australian   
   Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). "Clearly something has changed, and   
   changed in a way we haven't seen since the beginning of precise radio   
   astronomy in the 1970s."   
      
   Because the Earth’s rotational speed varies, we use a standardized   
   Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, to make sure our clocks are in sync   
   across the world. Two components determine UTC: International Atomic   
   Time (TAI) and Universal Time (UT1).   
      
   UT1 is a time standard based on the Earth’s rotation, whereas TAI is a   
   time scale that provides the speed at which our clocks should tick. TAI   
   is based on the average of hundreds of precise atomic clocks in timing   
   labs across the world. It’s incredibly accurate, but it doesn’t take   
   into account slight variations in how the Earth spins.   
      
   "When you start looking at the real nitty gritty, you realize that   
   Earth is not just a solid ball that is spinning," Fred Watson,   
   Australia's astronomer-at-large, tells ABC. "It's got liquid on the   
   inside, it's got liquid on the outside, and it's got an atmosphere and   
   all of these things slosh around a bit.”   
      
   The Earth’s spin is generally slowing, so a leap second (an extra   
   second every 1.5 years or so) is added to allow it to catch up to the   
   clocks.   
      
   But now it seems the Earth is spinning quicker. In 2020, scientists   
   recorded 28 of the shortest days since 1960, per TimeandDate.com's   
   Graham Jones and Konstantin Bikos. On July 26, 2022, the Earth rotated   
   around in 1.5 milliseconds less than 24 hours, per ABC.   
      
   If the trend continues, scientists may need to consider skipping a   
   second, which would be the first deletion in history. But ABC reports   
   this likely wouldn’t happen for another eight to ten years at the   
   current rate.   
      
   Technology companies, such as Meta, have spoken out against the leap   
   second, saying it is bad for both digital applications and scientists,   
   who often use TAI or UT1.   
      
   “Every leap second is a major source of pain for people who manage   
   hardware infrastructures,” write Oleg Obleukhov and  Ahmad Byagowi in a   
   Meta blog post. “The impact of a negative leap second has never been   
   tested on a large scale; it could have a devastating effect on the   
   software relying on timers or schedulers.”   
      
   Since the 1970s, the world has added 27 leap seconds, per ABC.   
      
   “I hope that Earth’s acceleration stops and we don’t need to subtract a   
   second, but who knows?” Leonid Zotov at the Sternberg Astronomical   
   Institute of Lomonosov Moscow State University tells Forbes' Jamie   
   Carter. “Predicting variations in Earth’s rotation is almost as   
   difficult as predicting stock prices.”   
      
   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-earth-had-its-shor   
   est-day-in-recorded-history-180980521/   
   --   
   Internetado.   
   ...   
   This is a message from God: "Rebooting the universe, please log out"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)