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Question Of The Day

What Will You Do with the One Extra Second in 2015?

The Paris Observatory say they're adding a leap second to clocks this summer to catch up with atomic time. We asked some people in London what they'll do with their extra second.

Photo via Wiki Commons

This article originally appeared on VICE UK

A lot can happen in a second. People can die, babies can be conceived, you can almost eat a small biscuit. It's long enough for the traction to leave the balls of your feet and for gravity to take over. Dramatic stuff.

This year, maths—or a lack thereof—will give everyone an extra unit of time. As announced by the Paris Observatory this week, at midnight on June 30, 2015, we will all be indulged with an extra second—a "leap second," if you will. It's all to help sync the world's atomic clocks, to keep them in step with the vagaries of astronomical time, and, although it causes a Y2K-esque headache for some computer programmers, is fairly common—the last one occurred in 2012. Bet you didn't even notice, did you? Maybe you want to take your second to think about what you're doing with your life, pal.

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Anyway, with all these extra seconds coming up, we asked the people of East London how they planned on spending theirs. Ironically, they all spent more than a second wasting their time talking to us, thus wholly negating their precious leap second. Actually: If you've read this far, you've technically pre-wasted yours. Oh well. Sorry.

VICE: What would you do with an extra second, Juanita?
Juanita: I think I would take in extra deep breath, because I think life is fast-paced and we don't take time to pause. I would just breath in. We wouldn't have much time to do much else would we?

That's profound.
Sometimes we need extra time to think properly. It's the new year, so I guess sometimes we just need to focus on what we already have. Sometimes we just need to be grateful for that.

What would you do with your extra second, Hossain?
Hossain: I'd go to Bahamas for a holiday. Actually my dream is to do a world tour.

You must a have amazing time management skills or you didn't really understand the question.
It's cool, calm, and I'd love to go there.

What would you do with your extra second of life, Claire?
Claire: Be with the people I care about. Say I love them very quickly.

Could you do it in one second? Tell me you love me and I'll time you.
No!

OK, say "I love you" indiscriminately and I'll time you…
Iloveyou!

Thanks, I think you're pretty great, too.

Pat?
Pat: I'd probably be studying or I'll be out when the second passes.

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The second still counts if you are outside, Pat.

What will you do, now that life is giving you more time?
Sally: I will probably dance to Michael Jackson.

Oh that's kind of cool, what song? Or what part of the song, more importantly?
Mmm… "Thriller"? The part where there's a good beat.

Nice one. I would suggest 2 minutes and 34 seconds in.

How would Lola spend her extra second?
Lola's owner: I don't know. Maybe sleep? No, probably chase rabbits.

One second counts as seven dog seconds, so that's a good amount of rabbit chasing.