Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
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Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
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Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#2This article is 7 years old and irrelevant. In fact a leap second was insert in June this year.
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#3But adding these ad hoc "leap seconds" -- the last one was tacked on in 1998 -- can be a big hassle for computers operating with software programs that never allowed for a 61-second minute, leading to glitches when the extra second passes. "It's a huge deal," said John Yuzdepski, an executive at Symmetricom Inc., of San Jose, Calif., which makes ultraprecise clocks for telecommunications, space and military use...
Isn't this the tail wagging the Dog? Crappy programming leads the UN to redefine TIME for the whole plannet? There are few truly golobal, hitsorical markers of culture shared by human societies. Accross continents, races and millenia. Solar time is one of them.
How about: Don't fix what ain't broke. Fix that which is?
Sorry for the Rant
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Edit:
As pointed out elsewhere in the comments. This proposal was from 2005, and is apparently no longer on the table. Cooler heads appear to have prevailed.
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#4This article is 7 years old and irrelevant. In fact a leap second was insert in June this year.
I was wondering that when I saw it said the last leap second was in 1998. Made me check the date of the article, and yup, 2005.
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#5This article is 7 years old and irrelevant. In fact a leap second was insert in June this year.
Interesting discussions can still be interesting even if the proposal was ultimately rejected. The fact that this was discussed, and that the reasoning behind it was to benefit "lazy programmers" makes it relevant to me.
We should always be wary of fundamental shifts in the name of "safety", "security", or worse, sloth.
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#6But adding these ad hoc "leap seconds" -- the last one was tacked on in 1998 -- can be a big hassle for computers operating with software programs that never allowed for a 61-second minute, leading to glitches when the extra second passes. "It's a huge deal," said John Yuzdepski, an executive at Symmetricom Inc., of San Jose, Calif., which makes ultraprecise clocks for telecommunications, space and military use... Is…
you are wrong in your rationale because crappy programming cannot be fixed and together with the current time definition it causes big problems to many, on the other hand changing the time definition causes problems to whom? astronomy purists?
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#7This article is 7 years old and irrelevant. In fact a leap second was insert in June this year.
I was wondering that when I saw it said the last leap second was in 1998. Made me check the date of the article, and yup, 2005.
Did the same exact thing. Went ahead and read the article anyway though, it was still pretty interesting. Not sure how it ended up on HN.
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#8This article is 7 years old and irrelevant. In fact a leap second was insert in June this year.
Irrelevant?
The June leap second wasn't exactly problem-free...
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#9I fail to see how this is an attack on science or on Europe. That's just hyperbole. Making time consistent to prevent having to add time or remove time just makes sense. Time is a unit of measurement. We don't redefine the foot just because the new king has 10" feet instead of 12" feet. Time being connected to the sun is a relic of the days before accurate time-keeping methods. One day should always be one day.
To rebut my own argument, I suppose one could say that noon should always be noon, regardless of how long the day is. The prevalence of daylight-saving time in the US might disagree with that though.
Re: Why the U.S. Wants To End the Link Between Time and Sun
#10This article is 7 years old and irrelevant. In fact a leap second was insert in June this year.
It may be seven years old, but it's not irrelevant. People are still discussing this proposal. The article is the best explanation I've seen of this issue to date.
Here's a more recent article posted here a few months ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/science/to-keep-or-kill-lo...
Personally, I wish people would just leave UTC alone. If you don't want to deal with leap seconds, use TAI, which was intended for such uses.