[LEAPSECS] BBC article

Steve Allen sla at ucolick.org
Wed Nov 16 16:59:56 EST 2011


On Wed 2011-11-16T21:32:01 +0000, Peter Vince hath writ:

> The concept is simple: "from

> day X, there will be no leap-seconds in civil time, and that timescale

> will be known as <insert name here>."


There is a semantic blur in this statement.

As things stand in, for example, Canada, civil time in Quebec
has leap seconds, but civil time in the other provinces does not.

Even way back in 1884 the delegates recognized that no international
accord could dictate the nature of civil time in any jurisdiction.
A brief glance at the archives of the tz mail list will quickly
make it evident that civil time remains a zoo of unruly inhabitants.

The ITU-R has authority over the nature of the time scale recommended
for use in radio broadcasts. The manner in which that corresponds to
civil time is a matter left to the local authorities.

--
Steve Allen <sla at ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855
1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m


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