How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself • Hacker News Board

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#11

Post by groestl » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 11:46 AM UTC

ianai wrote: post #10

groestl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maybe this unit of time needed for scientific purposes doesn't need to be the same one used for daily life. Don't think the unit is the problem, it's the offset. And when it comes to that, we already have a virtualization layer which assures alignment with the sun for social purposes: time zones. No need to add another one over TAI.

Except that’s not entirely the story of time zones. They’re political divisions. Some of them match up with the sun better than others. For instance, the sunset time gets pretty weird in LV over the winter.

> They’re political divisions

Which I think is perfectly fine (if not necessary) for that layer. The human body doesn't care for extra seconds, and science doesn't either. So who do we do the "coordination" in UTC for? If - over hundreds of years - the time zone drifts off into weirdness, it can be changed politically. What more do you need?

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#12

Post by paulie_a » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 11:46 AM UTC

dvh wrote: post #3

Leap seconds are the most stupidest thing ever. It's time to abandon UTC and start using what professional astronomers use: UT1

I beg to differ, Dst is the stupidest time related thing ever. From a software development perspective it is a tremendous pain in the ass and is stupid. From the non software aspect it is just stupid and annoying.

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#13

Post by widforss » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:17 PM UTC

dvh wrote: post #3

Leap seconds are the most stupidest thing ever. It's time to abandon UTC and start using what professional astronomers use: UT1

I think you've wrapped your head the wrong way around this. The stupidest thing ever is the idea that a country's government can be shut down as an extortion method. It's a concept so alien to me that I cannot fathom the logic of the person who came up with the idea.

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#14

Post by bayesian_horse » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:39 PM UTC

In my opinion it's possible the Democrats will cave. The strategic situation is that Democrats care about the country, and Trump does not. However, not enough Americans are convinced of the latter fact. Once they are, the only rational decision is to cave - and then remove him from office as quickly as possible.

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#15

Post by bayesian_horse » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:41 PM UTC

paulie_a wrote: post #12

dvh wrote: post #3

Leap seconds are the most stupidest thing ever. It's time to abandon UTC and start using what professional astronomers use: UT1

I beg to differ, Dst is the stupidest time related thing ever. From a software development perspective it is a tremendous pain in the ass and is stupid. From the non software aspect it is just stupid and annoying.

I submit the Japanese imperial succession and the necessary changes to traditional calendars as another contender...

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#16

Post by SiempreViernes » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:42 PM UTC

dvh wrote: post #3

Leap seconds are the most stupidest thing ever. It's time to abandon UTC and start using what professional astronomers use: UT1

Leap seconds is just the time abstraction being leaky: the Earth simply doesn’t have a constant rotation speed.

Certainly seems more practical to correct for this once in a while rather than having a variable length second.

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#17

Post by tertius » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:56 PM UTC

widforss wrote: post #13

dvh wrote: post #3

Leap seconds are the most stupidest thing ever. It's time to abandon UTC and start using what professional astronomers use: UT1

I think you've wrapped your head the wrong way around this. The stupidest thing ever is the idea that a country's government can be shut down as an extortion method. It's a concept so alien to me that I cannot fathom the logic of the person who came up with the idea.

What has been the best argument for it that you've found?

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#18

Post by tertius » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:57 PM UTC

paulie_a wrote: post #12

dvh wrote: post #3

Leap seconds are the most stupidest thing ever. It's time to abandon UTC and start using what professional astronomers use: UT1

I beg to differ, Dst is the stupidest time related thing ever. From a software development perspective it is a tremendous pain in the ass and is stupid. From the non software aspect it is just stupid and annoying.

From a non-software perspective it kills people.

Also, if you're a parent, it's not great for sleep training children. It just messes with everyone.

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#19

Post by bibyte » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:57 PM UTC

So if I am reading this right people who use NTP aren't affected. Is that right or does OpenNTPD depends on tzdata ?

Re: How the Government Shutdown Warps Time Itself

#20

Post by tertius » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 1:00 PM UTC

bayesian_horse wrote: post #14

In my opinion it's possible the Democrats will cave. The strategic situation is that Democrats care about the country, and Trump does not. However, not enough Americans are convinced of the latter fact. Once they are, the only rational decision is to cave - and then remove him from office as quickly as possible.

> The strategic situation is that Democrats care about the country, and Trump does not. However, not enough Americans are convinced of the latter fact.

I'm not an American, just an immigrant. Historically this isn't about caring, it's just about politics.