[LEAPSECS] alternative to smearing

[John Sauter]

On Tue, 2017-01-03 at 13:28 -0500, Michael Rothwell wrote:
> 
> This was probably covered elsewhere, and I apologize if I missed it,
> but I have a question:
> Why are you in such favor of leap seconds?
>  
> -- 
> Michael Rothwell
> michael at rothwell.us
> (828) 649-ROTH

I regard leap seconds as a reasonable compromise between the needs of
civil time and of science.  Civil time needs a clock that tracks the
days and the seasons.  Science requires a clock that measures time in
precise intervals.  UTC provides both, using leap seconds to keep
atomic time synchronized with the rotation of the Earth.

Some people who are inconvenienced by leap seconds are pushing for
their removal.  The effect of removing leap seconds will be to burden
future users of civil time, who will see their clock no longer tracking
the rotation of the Earth, and have to do something about it.  I feel
it is unethical to burden a future generation for our convenience,
since that future generation has no voice in today's decisions.

The inconveniences of leap seconds can be overcome by fixing the
software that doesn't handle them correctly.  Doing that is a big job,
bigger than fixing the software that didn't handle the year 2000
correctly.  We don't need to fix all the software today, we can chip
away at it, and encourage newly written software to handle time
correctly.
    John Sauter (John_Sauter at systemeyescomputerstore.com)

-- 
PGP fingerprint E24A D25B E5FE 4914 A603  49EC 7030 3EA1 9A0B 511E
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