By Jo Nova
Sometime a few years ago the Carbonistas stopped trying to pretend it was science, climate change has morphed into a ecclesiastical piñata instead. (If they whack it hard enough, grants fall out).
Instead of talking about 30 year trends (because they were wrong), the experts started coloring weather maps blood red and hyperventilating with every warm weekend. So it makes perfect sense they need the ritual reminders of holy mythology, and this is one of those stories. It’s the weekly nod for the awestruck fanatics that the world really does revolve around “climate change”. They can nod solemnly, and pat each others solar panels.
The theory is that because our showers are too long or our beef steaks are too big (don’t you feel important?), the poles are melting and some ice near the poles has dribbled out to the equator, slowing the planet’s spin. Since the Earth is a rotating ball of rock 10,000 kilometers across, the movements of a few millimeters of water on the surface are somewhat minor. But nevermind. So the dire news, such as it isn’t, is that the Earth’s clocks might have to be wound back by one whole second in 2026.
Someone will do a cost-benefit analysis soon on whether spending a quadrillion dollars can prevent this.
The drama here is that this is something has never been done before, at least since clocks were invented, five minutes ago in Earth’s geological history. The ice has, of course come and gone many times all of its own accord, and clocks have leapt forward one second 27 times since the 1970s, but this is the epochal moment that you can tell your grandchildren about — the day the Earth started slowing, and you were there! (Nobody mention that dinosaurs only had 23 hours in a day, no wonder they went extinct. Let’s obsess about a second, instead!)
In a not-so-great moment in modern science communication the BBC manages to say everything and nothing all at once:
Accelerating melt from Greenland and Antarctica is adding extra water to the world’s seas, redistributing mass.
That is very slightly slowing the Earth’s rotation. But the planet is still spinning faster than it used to.
The effect is that global timekeepers may need to subtract a second from our clocks later than would otherwise have been the case.
Got that? So climate change is delaying the great negative leap second. Wait?
And it’s unprecedented, of course:
“Things are happening that are unprecedented.” The negative leap second has never been used before and, according to the study, its use “will pose an unprecedented problem” for computer systems across the world.
The world may have adjusted its day-length 100,000 times, but this is the first time a sentient species with optical strontium clocks and a Windows 11 quagmire will try to go back in time by one second.
“This has never happened before, and poses a major challenge to making sure that all parts of the global timing infrastructure show the same time,” Mr Agnew, who is a researcher at the University of California, San Diego told AFP news agency.
It’s like Y2K all over again but with sermons and hymns.
When all the world is a climate-change-grant, everything on Earth is climate change problem.
REFERENCE (for those wondering if this is an April 1 trick)
Duncan Carr Agnew (2024) A global timekeeping problem postponed by global warming, Nature, 4334. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07170-0
Ha Ha Jo, You make me laugh!!
312
April one and the idiots are, well, just idiots. The BBC is a joke so another laugh at taxpayer expense. I’m surprised the ABC wasn’t mentioned and the Climate Council, that other refuge of failed predictions and dodgy “scientists”.
280
Things are so ridiculous now that it is well nigh impossible to tell whether we see a joke or someone’s serious statement. Many times, in recent years, I have wondered whether it is the 1st of April yet again. So many times, in fact, that when it actually is the 1st of April I doubt it!
80
Apologies for the ambiguity in this post. This is modern science, and science communication, not April Fools. Can you believe, it was published in Nature a few days ago…
Reference added to the post:
Duncan Carr Agnew (2024) A global timekeeping problem postponed by global warming, Nature, 4334. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07170-0
Such are the times we live in that educated people can’t see any difference between an article in the highest ranked peer reviewed publication and an April fools day joke.
91
Your photo at the top of the page surely illustrates a major reason for the melting of the ice. It is covered with soot and will absorb heat and melt the ice. As a child it was my job to remove the soot and ash from our open fireplace and place it over the icy paths where it quickly melted the snow and ice
All recent documentaries showing the arctic, also demonstrate how much soot coats large parts of the ice sheets
In the great arctic melting of 1816 on wards the first arrctic scientist, Scoresby, sent by the royal society to investigate the melting, also commented on the amount of soot.
In that case it was attributed to the growing industry in America. The latest is probably down to China.
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I’ll still be working late on the computer from time to time, feeling really tired in the morning and having to catchup on sleep the next day. And eating too much too often and wishing I was in Spain walking the Camino instead of picking up the paper off the driveway in the morning.
I waste so much of my time, I should never complain about losing a second.
210
Well, well at least I now know that my wristwatch ( $30.00 online) is not at fault. It’s the dreaded climate change that causes the inaccuracies I have to put up with.
I just hope climate change doesn’t stop the world from spinning. Better make sure the world’s battery doesn’t run flat. Even more things to scare the kids with!
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What day of the month is it?” asked the Mad Hatter turning to Alice:
he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then,
and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said “The fourth.”
“Two days wrong!” sighed the Hatter. “I told you butter wouldn’t suit the works!” he added looking angrily
at the March Hare.
50
And the science is settled
2007 Dr. Felix Launderer of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, published a study predicting that Global warming will make Earth spin faster.
2015 Dr. Jerry Mitrovica, professor of geophysics at Harvard University finds out that days are getting longer as
the Earth spins slower, and blames climate change.
Reality check: Doing one thing and its opposite simultaneously has always been possible for climate change. However, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) informs us that the Earth slowed down from the start of measurements in 1962 to 1972, and sped up between 1972 and 2005. Since 2006 it is slowing down again.
210
Aaah – so you’re telling us the speed of the earth’s rotation is CYCLIC.
Oh NO – we’re all going to die 🙁
Oh, hang on we’re all going to die eventually anyway but that’s probably caused by climate change too?
Just keep sending money to the “true believers” and I’m sure they’ll save us – SURELY?
Cheers,
200
Being saved by “the true believers” has overtones of that joke about Winston Churchill, Lady Astor and the coffee.
20
My question –
what happened to day length back when there was that “mile of ice above Chicago”?
120
I’ll save my panic attack for when the fridge
has only one can of beer in it.
Folks need to get their priorities in order.
350
Bud Light announces a ‘smart’ fridge that tells you how much beer you have left {Not an April Fool’s Joke}
https://www.geekwire.com/2015/bud-light-announces-a-smart-fridge-that-tells-you-how-much-beer-you-have-left/#:
https://www.linqiq.co/
80
You could claim that Bud Lite is a year round one
20
The thing with Leftist insanity, is it’s frequently hard or impossible to tell if it’s parody or not.
The Left have indeed become a parody of themselves.
Is this an April Fool’s joke? I’m not sure.
It is however true that the redistribution of mass due to man made dams and pumping of groundwater has in fact altered earth’s rotational period and axial tilt.
E.g.:
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/03/news/dams-for-water-supply-are-altering-earth-s-orbit-expert-says.html
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rampant-groundwater-pumping-has-changed-the-tilt-of-earths-axis/
It’s no big deal, normal natural processes and global glaciation are far worse.
The worst culprit is China so they’ll get a free pass.
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A global timekeeping problem postponed by global warming
Leap seconds are not new at all.
110
Moon and mass distribution are reasons for the earth not to rotate in a constant speed. so if necessary a leap second will be used.
60
Yes, but see my post below. The leap second is to be abolished.
50
The discussions about aren’t finished.
50
A joke of years ago –
Deep thinking man at the bar to bar tender –
“You know all this coal and iron ore we’re shipping to Japan. It’s heavy isn’t it, so what about if the earth gets up a wobble?”
Bar tender
“No worries, mate. They burn all that coal and the Toyotas and Nissans we get back balances the iron ore”.
100
China is mining around 4 billion toones of coal a year but the greenies are not complaining about that weight affecting the Earth’s rotation.
Hong Kong moved the top of an entire island to build their international airport
What effect does the movement of millions of tonnes of overburden and ore for rare earth minerals have? Or is their use for greeny-approved projects exempted?
60
Okay then, umm, let’s ‘do the maths’.
Well take this comment (#6) from David Maddison:
and this comment from John in Oz (#6.3)
So, ten trillion gallons of water, at 6.25 Pounds per gallon, that’s 27.902 Billion tons of weight added to the total weight on Earth.
Then 4 billion tons (2240 Pounds approx equal to 2000Kg) coal which is then being burnt, so 2.86 tons of CO2 produced for each ton of burnt coal, then that’s an emission of 11.44 Billion tons of CO2.
So, with that coal being removed from the ‘weight’ of the Planet, and thrown off into the Atmosphere, then it should effectively cancel out Three Gorges water in one year and 160 days, and get lighter every year thereafter, thus cancelling out any time addition I would think.
Oh, umm, remind me again of Australia’s total CO2 emission per year. (hint: 466 Million tonnes)
Umm, so Just from that figure of the Chinese mining (and then burning) their own 4 Billion tonnes of coal, then they generate Australia’s total yearly CO2 emissions every ….. 14 days and 21 hours.
And that’s just what they mine themselves, not adding on how much coal they import.
Tony.
121
Fresh water has a density of 8.33 pounds per gallon (US), or 9.61 pounds per gallon (UK)
sea water has a density of about 8.68 ppg (US)
20
“Renewables’ welfare dependence leaves us in China’s shadow
Renewable energy is welfare-dependent and weather-dependent. It suffers from a condition a psychologist might recognise as Dependent Personality Disorder: a pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of.”
NICK CATER
150
It’s all part of the plan for Australia to become Hong Kong MkII
100
At the same time Antarctica has been growing in the centre. Snow and ice which falls stays there as the height increases. The average height is now 2500 metres and the South Pole is 2800metres. Mt Vinson is 4,900 metres and there are more. At a winter -50C and summer -25C, the whole ice continent, an ocean on land the size of South America or two Australias is mechanically sliding down, a huge mass movement ending up as icebergs a thousand km away. That would also change the earth’s rotational inertia.
As for a negative leap second, I assume that’s fine tuning turned into drama. The leap year every four years allows for the fact that the year is 365 1/4 days. 365.242 days. So that makes it 365.25 days. But it is still 0.008 days out, so once a century we add a day, 0.010 days. In 2000 we skipped our once a century leap day. These fine adjustments go into leap seconds and are nothing to do with the earths changing rotation, just the accuracy of the calendar. And sooner or later you have to have a negative leap second, an adjustment of 1/1,314,000th of a year. Unless there is a policy to only adjust upwards. Or they are stating that the earth’s rotation is actually slowing unexpectedly. Maybe? But they are also calendar adjustments, a completely different objective. I would guess these leap seconds are to adjust the clocks, not the days.
And if we assume this is for satellite accuracy, who is to say what caused it? For example Magnetic North moved 2 degrees in 8 years, indicating movement in the vast magnetic core of the planet. This would also affect the earth’s rotation by changing the rotational inertia. Isn’t that much more likely than a tiny amount of water in the top few mm of the planet with a radius of 6400km?
But the big money’s in Climate Change aka Global Warming. So that’s the explanation. Of course it is.
It’s more likely these very obscure clock fiddlers want attention. And funding. And who knows, one leap second too early and now they have to adjust, so why not turn it into drama. It’s a calamity, a variation on Chicken Little/Henny Penny’s the Sky is Falling. And who will pay for that lost second?
280
The concern about the earth “changing” relates to the fact the most warmists tend to be “staticists”.
It is the Aristotlean world view that the earth never changes and “always has, always will be”.
That will never be the case while the earth is 1) highly geologically active and 2) the sun is a variable star and 3) there are changes in earth’s orbital elements such as eccentricity, obliquity, precession etc.; and the moon’s apsidal, nodal and axial precession; plus earth’s motion within the galactic plane., etc. etc..
211
So, do nothing and go one second back in time per year, or spend trillions on windmills and go back back centuries.
340
Well put Harves. We are going backwards especially in Australia. To make matters worse for the environmentally attuned minister for blackouts he and Albo have been caught out taking not one private jet to Scone for the big solar panel announcement but TWO. The photo is on 2GB this morning. I’m sure they saved CO2 somewhere. BS. They are hypocrites.
190
It’s only non-Elites that aren’t allowed to travel by jet or ICE cars.
For the Elites of the Left it’s de rigueur.
There’s always problems at Klimate Krisis Konferences and WEF conferences finding enough parking places for private jets.
That’s why I never go, I tell them if they can’t offer me parking for my jet, I’m not going.
Emperor Albo and the Minister for Blackouts flying those taxpayer-funded private jets into the big climate announcement probably wiped out several solar plantation lifetime’s worth of putative “carbon” (sic) emissions savings from the solar panels.
190
There are no ’emission savings’. Ever.
CO2 is set only by the ocean surface temperature. And it is maintained rigidly and quickly across the planet, from pole to pole.
o NASA reported billions of new trees from 1988 to 2014. No change in CO2. More CO2 came out of the ocean. No change
o Australia had gigantic bushfires in 2019. All the CO2 went straight into the Pacific ocean. No change.
o China from nowhere in 1980 now outputs 40% of the world’s fossil fuel CO2. No change.
It is completely obvious that the trajectory of CO2 has nothing to do with human activity. And yet we Australians are paying for ‘farming credits’ for growing trees. A 35% tax on all businesses which make CO2 for a living. Smelting, transport, sewage, travel, glass, concrete. It’s endless. One step away from a punitive tax on breathing.
It amazes me that the absolutely non science ‘equilibrium’ of nett zero is not equilibrium at all. It’s standing still hoping nothing changes. Fearing a change. As if the world is just perfect today. And what a coincidence! How many people actually believe that? Anyone?
Real equilibrium is when you get rapid return to a position. That’s true of CO2 from the oceans. The idea is that the CO2 equilibrium point should never change is preposterous.
Global Warming produces CO2. What could be more obvious? When has anyone ever changed CO2?
We are living in a world of fake science. And millions of full time Climate Scientologists who think they are scientists.
And Al Gore is still the chief Climate Scientologist. Followed by the head of his partner in crime, the President of the UN, Antonio Gutteres and his ‘boiling oceans.’
I would have thought the announcement of the era of boiling oceans would be met with amazement and ridicule. But it was reported as scientific fact. Which shows you how far reporting has fallen. No one laughed.
310
And in this ‘boiling oceans’, has anyone drawn the conclusion that this might increase atmopspheric CO2.
No.
And what I would love to know is how CO2 is boiling the oceans? But isn’t it obvious. CO2 is stopping the oceans from cooling down.
Except the IR from the oceans with an average temperature of 21C is tiny. How many people gather around the swimming pool to bask in the infra red radiation?
170
It’s worst than that TdeF. The oceans are not only boiling they’re acidifying as well. Must be all the melting polar bears.
130
So how many trillions of $ will that lost second cost us and will China, India + the NON OECD countries step up and pay the bill?
After all they’ve now added another 14 + billion tonnes of co2 emissions ( OWI Data) over the last 0.34 of a century.
But seriously this must be an April fool’s joke? Although I wouldn’t put anything past the barking mad extremists and yappers today.
40
Warmists also don’t understand that the length of day changes naturally as well.
Back in the day (a lot of days) it was 19 hours*.
The day is getting longer, partly due to recession of the moon (about 3.8cm per year) due to loss of angular momentum caused by tidal drag and due to other orbital and geological processes.
Again, all this nonsense is due to the dumbing-down of the education system and warmists not knowing about basic earth processes, which used to be commonly known until about the 1980’s.
* https://phys.org/news/2023-06-billion-years-earth-history-days.html
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Movements of the Planets and Stars
https://huntnewsnu.com/64189/lifestyle/astrology-fact-or-fiction/
The 11 years and 22 year solar cycles which do impact on our climate have been linked to the movement of the planets
Planetary Orbits May Explain Mystery of Sun’s 11-Year Cycle
https://www.space.com/planets-affect-solar-cycle.html
90
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are Gemini, so the astrological theory can be tested on the world stage. The East is sinking and the West is rising.
41
The massive icebergs in the Southern Ocean during the 19th century was caused by the planet seeking equilibrium.
43
Losing a second? We once lost 10 days!
See my post of the general topic thread.
80
We in the UK just lost an hour overnight switching to British summer time. But I slept through it.
130
Former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen argued daylight saving faded curtains and confused milking cows. More generally, residents in the northern and tropical parts of Australia, with particularly harsh summers, prefer sunset to occur earlier in the day.
Queensland does not have daylight saving like NSW and Victoria further south.
40
The change from Julian to Gregorian calendar in 1582 resulted in the loss of TEN days off the calendar.
I can’t understand why these people are worried about a second here or there.
Let’s face reality – they didn’t have clocks in the days of the cavemen/woman/him/her/they/them 🙂 and seemed to have survived quite OK.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/julian-gregorian-switch.html
Cheers,
90
But Britain held off until 1752 so they lost 11 days.
They also switched the start of the year from March 25 to January 1.
First to adopt the new calendar in 1582 were France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Turkey was the last country to officially switch to the new system on January 1st, 1927.
70
Barking madness must run riot in the Kerry family and now his daughter BELIEVES their CC is dangerous and we must do more to stop our nasty BASE-LOAD energy ASAP.
Hasn’t anyone told her that we live in the safest period in Human history and we have the UN data to prove it?
And all because we’ve used FOSSIL FUELS like coal, oil and gas and the NON OECD countries are now using a lot more in 2024 than we’ve used since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
Have a look at her video if you can stomach the experience.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/03/31/you-no-longer-have-a-choice-watch-kerrys-daughter-vanessa-kerry-we-must-accept-that-there-is-no-other-way-forward-than-to-phase-out-our-relianc/
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I couldn’t resist inserting another page (26) in this optional adjunct http://www.galileomovement.com.au/media/SaveThePlanetPoliticalFACTS.pdf to http://www.galileomovement.com.au/media/SaveThePlanet.pdf.
But – Oh Dear! I do confess to anthropogenic climate change ‘science’ heresy though …. I hope that Jo will forgive me!
(And thank you Neville for your tip-off! I hope that you approve of page 26 …..)
20
The whole thing is a nonsense. The Earth rotation is continuously slowing down, slowly but steadily, because of the tidal interaction with the moon. Rotational angular momentum is transferred to lunar orbital angular momentum because of the lagging of the tidal bulge, which is caused by the friction between the waters and the landmasses. The effect is that ‘leap seconds’ have to be added to the 24*365.24 yearly hours every few years or so. Since the 1950s some 30 seconds have been added.
The other thing is that the explanation offered, sealevel rise by a few mm, would lead to a similar but even tinier slowing down and thus require another leap second added, not sub tracted.
140
As an aside, this paper shows that climate researchers are clueless about the astronomical influences on the planet. Their consistent refusal to consider the influence of the Sun on climate is not surprising. It simple is their blind spot.
110
It is indeed remarkable.
The sun is a variable star after all. It is by far the biggest influence on earth’s climate and yet completely ignored in all climate “models”.
One might think they are trying to push a non-scientific agenda…like economic destruction of the West…not science.
140
Good point Ed, the tides.
60
So can we be assured then that Climate “Science” goes back before King Canute?
Or possibly older as the idea of floating arctic ice melting and cause the sea level to rise?
Pre Archimedian?
70
All this concern about a few microseconds…
Does no one realise (present company excepted) what was fairly major news for those who follow science that it was already decided to abolish the leap second by or before 2035?
In 2022 at the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures, it was decided to abolish it.
And guess whose idea that was? From Sikipedia:
Since they’re Chicomm scientists they are beyond criticism.
Personally, I think it should have been kept, but they didn’t ask for my opinion.
80
Indeed, it is a stupid idea.
70
There’s two different systems of time measurement in use … which appear superficially similar.
The old method is GMT which does not use any leap seconds, and every day has exactly the same number of seconds. This method automatically adjusts to the Earth’s orbit because that orbit is the standard reference for GMT.
The new method is UTC which uses atomic clocks as a reference, it is more accurate than GMT and it needs to adjust by inserting leap seconds, since the Earth’s orbit changes slightly when measured by an atomic clock.
Both systems are available for use, and the Chinese are welcome to invent their own system if they can think of something that uses a different reference. Thing is … you have to use something as a reference and the two most obvious choices are already figured out and deployed.
50
Sidereal Day vs Solar Day (Star reference vs Sun reference)
A sidereal day on Earth is approximately 86164.0905 seconds (23 h 56 min 4.0905 s or 23.9344696 h). Each day, the sidereal time at any given place and time will be about four minutes shorter than local civil time (which is based on solar time), so that for a complete year the number of sidereal “days” is one more than the number of solar days.
30
Haha. Probably your funniest piece yet Jo. Thinking it’s probably an April Fools Day prank and I can’t be bothered checking all your links. But, I’m sure plenty will. The thing is, even if this story is bunkum it’s the sort of typical story the “ carbonista “ are dreaming up.
90
If coal fired plants are the reason for the globe to cange speed, I have good news:
Germany to shut down seven more coal power plant units as country exits winter
For us here in Germany that are not so good news..
130
Unprecedented lies from the zealots of the climate change cult.
60
Here’s a looney, but apt, method for the cultural Marxist climate mythologits to fix slowing of the Earth’s rotational speed due to coal fired power plants: They get their collective selves to the Equator and start running counter-clockwise to help the Earth regain its proper rotational speed. Kinda-like a giant hamster wheel, and naturally, for the collective good of humanity.
80
The rate of planetary slowdown is about 1 minute per 3.3 million years so no-one except an atomic physicist would give a flying one.
Did you know a year on Venus is longer than a day?
Venus takes 225 Earth days to orbit the Sun, but its slow rotation means one day is 243 Earth days long.
70
Plus it spins/rotates backwards ie in the opposite direction to Earth.
30
We haven’t a second to spare,
The Arctic ice needs fast repair,
To increase the Earth’s motion,
Seal all leaks from its Ocean,
To keep time aright everywhere.
210
Computers will cope with a 1 second time change, they change 1 hour twice a year for heaven’s sake
60
Every one experiences the longest day of the week on Monday with the shortest day of the week on Sunday, except when Monday is a public holiday!
70
Monday Monday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h81Ojd3d2rY
Monday morning feels so bad
But I have Friday on my mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnqxbdnzlhw
40
Basic instructions on how the get millions in government grants, the title on the application is all that matters.
“A study into the effects of (insert topic here) and climate change.”
Everything after this can be complete jibberish as it will have no impact on the approval process.
For example:
“A study into a cure for all cancers” will not get a grant.
“A study into the effect that herding cats has on climate change.” Will get a grant.
40
“A study into the effectivenes of human sacrifice in controlling climate change” should get a grant.
Finding willing participants may be a bit of a challenge though!
40
Not impossible though
Google “Armin Meiwes”
30
For those who think this is an April Fool’s joke, here is the original article cited by Jo.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68684244
And the following is not a joke either.
50
Oh woe Joanne! We are all doomed. Unprecedented! And it’s all our fault – ‘experts’ say!
Perhaps we should ask Timothy F. & Albert G. to help us?
Oh woe ….
And now I’m off to a ‘Welcome to Country’. Perhaps that might help?
40
So, Booker T was right all along then!!!
Tony.
20
Coal fired plants are slowing Earths rotation?
No, its the windmills. They turn to face the wind which is predominantly from the West as the planet rotates to the East. And the windmills turn to face West and push against the planet to provide the reactive force to generate electrical power.
So a vast array of giant windmills pushing against the Earth’s rotation and slowing the planet down against the mass of the atmosphere.
Forget coal power plants. It’s simple reactive force from 500,000 giant windmills placed on every ridge! Air brakes.
80
More research is needed on that theory, but I like it.
Time seems to slow down as our moon gradually drifts away from earth.
‘Overall, Earth’s spin has slowed by about 6 hours in the past 2740 years, the team reports today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A. That sounds like a lot, but it works out to the duration of a 24-hour day being lengthened by about 1.78 milliseconds over the course of a century.’ (Science)
50
If you asked someone how to slow a planet, they would talk about the loss of energy by interaction between moon driven tides and the dissipation of kinetic energy. But what about erecting half a million giant windmills explicitly to catch the wind and push hard? I am sure the windmills would be detected. Coal power plants, not at all. I am at least half serious. These sails are bolted to the ground to push back against the planet’s rotation.
70
As a 40 year IT veteran a can say, with authority, rubbish.
Clocks never run accurately. We run our systems adjusting the system clock 4 times per day, each time shifting the clock millieconds forwards and backwards. Billions of financial transactions passing through multiple banks and card schemes all having their internal times ebb and flow without a hiccoughs.
If you want a huge challenge, perhaps jump the clock backwards by a whole hour. Maybe jump it forward an hour. If we can handle daylight savings time without issue why would a single second cause us a catastrophic problem.
50
Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
40
Because as with Harrison’s clock, time gives you longitude. For satellites, drones, missiles, cars, UBER, living, maps.
And if you want to know exactly where you are, say GPS to a centimeter you need an exact signal timed to a reference point on Earth, say Greenwich. And as accurate as you can get. Because this time gives you the fundamental position on the planet. And while everything is relative in human relations, geography is relevant to a point in space and time.
40
“As a 40 year IT veteran a can say, with authority, rubbish.
Clocks never run accurately.”
Well, I hope you’re not in Scotland.
Those that identify as clocks may demand your arrest.
‘Never run accurately’.
Typical Scheduleist bigotry.
Time and authority are colonialist constructs designed to facilitate the oppression of marginalized populations of color.
https://time.com/charter/6297289/professionalism-racism/
30
The next possible date for a leap second Dec 2024 as reported by Time and Date dot com Also from the same site Nov 2022 article End of the leap second?
30
And digging up the planet 1000× more than you would if you stayed with fossil fuels, covering all available land and oceans in ruinables is going to do what to the earth? These people are absolutely moronic. They should all be forced to live without fossil fuels from today.
40
That’s a good point.
People who are against fossil fuels should not drive ICVs. Or buy coal or gas produced electricity.
Why should we pay for their windmills and solar panels and distribution networks or batteries?
Let’s see how long that lasts?
10
Yes, but it’s a whole second we’ll never, ever get back!
00
I think it is impossible to pull a climate change April Fool as every idiotic possibility has already been put forward by some university or billionaire funded employ stupid people organisation.
10
No problem here.
Just get all the true believers and alarmists to face West and start running.
That should speed up the East rotation speed of the planet.
00