Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds. Scientists are delaying
the start of 2006 by the first "leap second" in 7 years, a timing
tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth's rotation.
The adjustment will be carried out by sticking an extra second into
atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight, coordinated
universal time (CUT) , the widely adopted international standard,
the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said
this week.
A leap second is added to keep uniform timekeeping within 0.9
second of the Earth's rotational time, which can speed up or slow
down because of meany factors, including ocean tides. The first
leap second was added on June 30, 1972.
Under an international pact, the preferance for leap seconds is
Dec31 or June 30. 
