[LEAPSECS] alternative to smearing

[Michael Rothwell]

The Gregorian calendar doesn't mess up how computers keep track of time,
like leap seconds do. Neither do time zones. Leap seconds are different --
a special kind of awful.

On Wed, Jan 4, 2017 at 9:25 AM, John Sauter <
John_Sauter at systemeyescomputerstore.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 2017-01-04 at 13:57 +0100, Preben Nørager wrote:
> > We don't know how future generations will see the "problem", if leap
> > seconds are abolished. As generations today see it, the "problem" is
> > that without leap seconds the sun is getting ahead or behind the
> > official international timescale, so that the noon transit not
> > normally will occur around 12 midday. I think leap seaconds are to be
> > abolished, as soon as possible, and that we should leave to future
> > generations the only logical way to deal with that "problem". The
> > only logical way is to continue praksis, and let each sovereign
> > nation individually decide, how many minutes and/or hours its
> > official time is ahead or behind the international timescale.
> > Currently the time in Denmark is 1 hour ahead of international time
> > (UTC), but I don't see any problem if future generations in Denmark
> > should decide, that Denmark instead of 1 hour, is 1 hour and 30
> > minutes, or 2 hours ahead. Great Britain, and other nations, should
> > get used to a constant difference between international time, and
> > national time, but I dont see why they should not live comfortably
> > with that, like everybody else.
> >
> > Preben
>
> Preben,
>
> You and I disagree on this issue.  For me this is fundamentally a moral
> concern.  I believe that each generation should handle its problems as
> best it can, leaving to the next generation only unforeseen problems.
>
> The tension between the need of civil society and science for a time
> scale that simultaneously matches the Earth and atomic time is met by
> the Gregorian Calendar and UTC.
>
> The reform that brought the calendar back into synchronization with the
> seasons was proposed several times but got no traction until 1582.
> That generation bit the bullet and suffered the dislocation of dropping
> 10 days from the calendar rather than continue to defer the problem.
> It took centuries for everyone to get on-board, but today almost
> everyone uses the Gregorian calendar.
>
> UTC, as it is defined today with leap seconds, is a similar challenge.
> We can fix the buggy software or we can cause a problem for the next
> generation.  I feel that it would be immoral to remove an adequate
> solution just because we are too lazy to write code correctly.
>     John Sauter (John_Sauter at systemeyescomputerstore.com)
>
> --
> PGP fingerprint E24A D25B E5FE 4914 A603  49EC 7030 3EA1 9A0B 511E
>



-- 
Michael Rothwell
michael at rothwell.us
(828) 649-ROTH
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