[LEAPSECS] Testing computer leap-second handling

[Rob Seaman]

On Jul 9, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:


> I'm not talking about astronomy, I'm talking about how humans have implemented "day" in their daily lives.


I'm not talking about astronomy either.  But when discussing how civil engineers implement "gravity" on a daily basis, it sometimes becomes necessary to look at a physics textbook.


> China is one big timezone, DST also exploits the vast tolerance humans have for where the sun is in the sky when they eat.

> 

> So yes, it may be the "synodic day" but it is "the synodic day with a precision of about 1/6 rotation or so"



But it is not (currently) "the synodic day shifting 355 meters to the east with each missed leap second" (http://goo.gl/230Zk).

The issue (discussed many times previously) is to avoid introducing a secular trend into UTC.

Rob