31536001

this is the number of seconds in 2005

so?

well
normally there are only 31536000
but this year
there is a leap second

you see time is measured in two ways
officially
UTC (coordinated universal time) is measured by atomic clocks, and is based on the vibrations of cesium 133 (i think)
but it is also supposed to be analagous with astronimical time UT which is based on the roatation of the earth
now they are both pretty much the same except for one problem

the earth is slowing
which puts UTC ahead of UT
so in 1972 there was a 32 second difference
they had a 10 seconde delay and then a further 22 one second delays until 1998 when they decided that
the two times could never be allowed to deviate by more than 0.9 seconds

so this year is the first correction of time since 1998

i'm not going to bore people with any more of this

although personally this is the coolest story i've read about in ages
time isn't time !!!
einstein would have loved it

but if anybody wants more techinical time data please ask
or check out
leap second on wikipedia
or on bbc news
or the domninion post
it's all over the place