It’s going to take a little longer to say goodbye  to this year.The custodians of time will ring in the New Year by tacking a ‘leap second’ onto the clock Wednesday to account for the minute slowing of the Earth’s rotation.

The leap second has been used occasionaly at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich since 1972, an adjustment that has kept Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) the internationally agreed time standard.
Since the exact speed of the Earth’s rotation can’t be plotted out in advance, they’re added as needed. Sometimes, like this year, they’re added on Dec. 31, sometimes they’re inserted at the end of June 30.

So Usher this New Year 2009 with an extra blink a of second.