A few links to news and interest items you may have missed. Let’s do the serious stuff first.

First off, following my tirade of 10 days ago about the proposals to change the way we keep time, here are a couple of items explaining the background to our calendar systems and why leap seconds do actually matter. One is from Scientific American blogs: The End of the Time of Earth: Why Does the Leap Second Matter?. The second is from Discover Magazine bogs: Wait just a (leap) second.

I also came across this piece on the use of seismology for forensic purposes, eg. monitoring nuclear tests. Interesting that some seismometers captured the Costa Concordia hitting the rocks.

And now for something more sublime but equally mind-boggling: some pictures of amazing libraries.

Multi-tools have a geek following. But despite what we might think they aren’t new and weren’t invented by the Swiss Army. The first documented ones were used by the Romans and they have developed ever since. Here’s a selection from the first recorded Roman example right up to last week.

And finally from the sublime to the totally, well, crazy. Protect Your Cats And Mice With Armour. How brilliant is that!