Re: [LEAPSECS] FITS and the crafting of standards

From: John Cowan <jcowan_at_reutershealth.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 12:56:50 -0500 (EST)

Roger Stapleton scripsit:

> Yesterday morning over a cup of coffee I floated the question of
> leapseconds and their abolition passed a couple of friends in the
> University IT Services dept. One quickly decided that leapseconds were
> the obvious solution, then realised we have them, and wondered what the
> problem was.

The problem is that they are not announced much in advance, and one needs
to keep a list of them back to 1972 which grows quadratically in size.

> Sorry nothing posative in this - but then users of clock-on-the-wall time
> are always going to be a problem.

We have met the enemy and he is us, in fact. We are all users of civil time
first and foremost.

--
John Cowan  jcowan_at_reutershealth.com  www.reutershealth.com  ccil.org/~cowan
Dievas dave dantis; Dievas duos duonos          --Lithuanian proverb
Deus dedit dentes; deus dabit panem             --Latin version thereof
Deity donated dentition;
  deity'll donate doughnuts                     --English version by Muke Tever
God gave gums; God'll give granary              --Version by Mat McVeagh
Received on Wed Jan 29 2003 - 09:57:05 PST

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