Markus Kuhn wrote:
> Considering
[excellent set of 'whereas'es snipped]
> Whenever a UTC day is extended by an inserted leap second that lasts
> from 23:59:60 to 24:00:00, this leap second shall not appear on the
> UTS time scale. The last 1000 seconds on the UTC time scale from
> 23:43:21 to 24:00:00 will be represented on the UTS time scale by 999
> modified seconds 23:43:21 to 24:00:00, each of which lasts 1000/999
> seconds.
This cure is infinitely worse than the disease. It would entail that
the speed of light depends on the current value of UTC, and all sorts
of other physical measurements as well. What is more, it does nothing
to correct for the unpredictability of leap seconds: the slowing events
are just as unpredictable. This scheme does nothing for systems that
tick independently of the outside and only sync at rare intervals
with UTC.
--
There is / one art || John Cowan <jcowan_at_reutershealth.com>
no more / no less || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness \\ -- Piet Hein
Received on Wed Oct 25 2000 - 12:24:41 PDT