This year we’re getting a leap second added on to the final day to account for a something to do with the earth’s rotation. I’m not quite sure what precisely, but boffin-type people seem to know what they’re talking about so I’ll leave them to it. Apparently the important clocks of the world will tick over to 23:59:60 before moving on to 00:00:00.

On related ‘end of the year’ stuff, AOL say that spam email these days is usually scams about money, such as fake mortgage offers, and drugs for sex or painkillers. I’m not sure if this means that porn has become old fashioned, or perhaps it’s just the evolution of the internet that more money can be scammed in other ways. Apparently 8 out of 10 emails going through their system are junk, which seems about right when compared to the amount that I get that are usually offering me junk bonds, some drug called Cialis (whatever that may be), and fake Rolex watches (with ‘98% Perfectly Accurate Markings’!)… And that’s with junk filters turned on at my server. Ho hum.

AOL say that they are blocking 1.5 billion spam messages every day, so with the extra second that’s been added to 2005 there will be another 17,361 spam emails blocked. Now that’s what I call a happy new year.