That leap second in action, as seen in by a Linux box observing Central Standard Time (-0600):

According to my friend Jon the BBC had advertised that it would have six pips at the top of the hour, instead of the standard five, but instead chose to play Big Ben (which had been properly calibrated earlier). It’s interesting that some things so abstract, like the precise speed of the rotation of the Earth and relativity, now directly affect our daily lives… even if only a few people actually notice.

Wired ran an article last year about amateur time hackers who pick up surplus atomic clocks (“frequency references”) and use them to run NTP servers and prove relativity (by taking them up mountainsides with them). They also invent better atomic wristwatches. My kind of dorks.

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