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Thursday, December 18, 2008

New Year 2009: Three, two, one, one

WHEN Big Ben strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, revellers in Trafalgar Square will notice nothing unusual. Keen-eared listeners to the speaking clock, however, will hear an extra pip - the sign of a rare "leap second".

The last minute of 2008 will have 61 seconds to correct a slight anomaly between atomic clocks and astronomical time based on the Earth's rotation, so that the proper new year's countdown will end: "three, two, one, one."

A piece of useless info for those of you partying up large to welcome in Liarbour's Decade of Deficits.

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