[LEAPSECS] worse than leap seconds

[Rob Seaman]

Steve Allen wrote:


> I can't help but notice that these GPS navigation systems seem to have

> much worse problems with human-computer interface issues than they do

> with leap seconds.

>

> http://www.metronews.ca/story_local.aspx? 

> id=29004&searchtype=1&fragment=False


This seems to have been more of a human-human interface issue.   
Aubrey and Pullings would never have put up with it.

They don't indicate how the GPS was being used at the time.  When  
I've taken the B.C. ferries (from Seattle, Port Angeles and  
Tsawwassen, and return), being able to see the passage was a big draw  
and we never considered a nighttime crossing.  (Well, the trip from  
PA is pretty dull until the end - but dull is safer.)  Now that I  
think about it, though, the ferries were coming and going into the  
evening when we spent a couple of nights at the Edgewater in Seattle.

Are the bridge personnel really solely responsible for not running  
the ferry onto a rock at midnight?  Surely they should be paying as  
much or more attention to various lights and buoys marking the  
channel than to the instruments?  The report doesn't indicate fog.   
Maybe this story will get some discussion in comp.risks.

...on the other hand, I hadn't realized piloting a ferry involved  
such similar challenges as face the astronaut corps.

Rob