[LEAPSECS] alternative to smearing

[Preben Nørager]

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

2017-01-03 21:26 GMT+01:00 John Sauter <
John_Sauter at systemeyescomputerstore.com>:

> On Tue, 2017-01-03 at 14:53 -0500, Michael Rothwell wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 3, 2017 at 2:18 PM, John Sauter <John_Sauter at systemeyesco
> > mputerstore.com> wrote:
> > > 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.
> >
> >
> > I think you are hopelessly naive. :)
> >
> > How many years (or centuries) would it take for the lack of leap
> > seconds to become a problem?
> >
> >
> > >     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
>
> It doesn't matter how many years or centuries it takes for the lack of
> leap seconds to become a problem.  It only matters that it does,
> eventually, become a problem only for people who are now unborn.
>     John Sauter (John_Sauter at systemeyescomputerstore.com)
>
> --
> PGP fingerprint E24A D25B E5FE 4914 A603  49EC 7030 3EA1 9A0B 511E
>
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