Add One Second to New Year's Countdown

From the Los Angeles Times
IN BRIEF / AND FINALLY …
Add One Second to New Year's Countdown
From Times Wire ReportsDecember 25, 20052006 has been postponed. But not for long. A leap second will be inserted in the world's clocks just before midnight — Greenwich mean time — on New Year's Eve, the U.S. Naval Observatory says. That means 7 p.m. EST, Dec. 31, will occur one second later than it would have otherwise. Leap seconds are needed occasionally because modern atomic clocks measure time with great accuracy, while the rotation of the Earth can be inconsistent. The rotation of the Earth has been slowing down, so leap seconds keep the clocks and the Earth from getting out of sync with each another.