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February 10, 2020

#2266: Leap Smearing explain

Leap Smearing

[Cueball, Ponytail, and Hairy are looking up at a digital clock on a wall. It displays the time in white on a black background, with a logo on the frame beneath the time.]

3:02 AM

Google

Cueball: Why do the clocks say it’s 3AM?

Ponytail: Adding an extra day creates too many glitches. Instead, we’re just running our clocks 3.4% slower during February, to avoid the irregularity.

[Caption below the panel:]

This year, Google has expanded their leap second “smearing” to cover leap days as well.