There Is Going to Be an Extra Second of 2016

Bless the mysticism surrounding New Year's Eve that makes us think that the stroke of midnight resets our lives. Next year is probably going to be shit too; the regression, the death, the flaming political trashfires—there is little reason to think all this could just halt with the change of a number on a calendar. Anyway, for all of you who can't stop bitching about how 2016 is the worst year ever, here's some more bad news: The year that just won't end is going to last extra second.

There will be something called a "leap second" at 6:59:59 PM EST on New Year's Eve, the Huffington Post reports. The U.S. Naval Observatory announced the extra second back in July of this year, surely before knowing just how much of a disaster the rest of 2016 was going to be.

"Historically, time was based on the mean rotation of the Earth relative to celestial bodies and the second was defined in this reference frame," Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory stated in the announcement. "However, the invention of atomic clocks defined a much more precise 'atomic' timescale and a second that is independent of Earth's rotation."

We're not exactly sure what that means, but at this point we wouldn't be surprised if the rapture happens this weekend, and tbh, thank christ. Farewell, dear readers.

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