The Negative Leap Second

So, this is actually fascinating. I know we all feel like time is moving faster. And I know we're all resigned to the idea that all it really means is that we're getting older. 

And hey, that beats the alternative, right? 

However, it turns out, it might not all be in our minds, after all. Apparently, the Earth really is spinning faster than it used to. 

And it would be spinning even faster than it currently is, if the melting polar icecaps weren't slowing its momentum. 

In order to keep time constant and consistent across the glove, the world's timekeepers (something I guess we have now? Who knew!) are looking into subtracting a second (something they're calling a Negative Leap Second) from the world's clocks in a few years. They're not exactly sure when that will be...because the Earth is not spinning faster at a fixed rate.

This feels like a failure of higher mathematics. Which figures. I always knew Math would let us down, eventually.

Bottom line: we are living in extremely weird, unprecedented times. But wait, apparently it's even weirder than you think!

Not only has the Earth not always spun this fast, up until recently, it was actually spinning slower and slower. So much so that theses same mysterious, mythical-sounding Time Keepers have been adding seconds (something they call Leap Seconds) to the world's clocks. Since 1972, a total of 27 Leap Seconds were added.

So...it was slowing down for decades, but the rate at which it was slowing...was also slowing. Until the slowing stopped and reversed itself (somewhere around 2016-2018) and now we're moving faster and faster...but still not as fast as we would be were it not for global warming. Go figure. 

Anyway, this first-ever Negative Leap Second will probably take place in 2029--unless the Earth starts spinning even faster, I guess. And none of this would have mattered, or been a thing at all, if we didn't have atomic clocks or computers. 

Since we do, however, we can expect tech disruptions and other complications when Negative Leap Seconds become a recurring thing. Like a mini, recurring Y2K.

It all just makes me want to write time-travel romances. I wonder at what point we'll have to stop calling them that and just call them contemporary?

Oh! Also? The Earth is becoming more round. Which, apparently is exacerbating some of this. I'm not sure how or why. But, then again, I didn't know it was possible for a sphere to become more sphere-like either, but here we are.