On Fri 2004-01-02T11:12:14 +0000, Markus Kuhn hath writ:
> Tom Van Baak wrote on 2004-01-01 21:26 UTC:
> > A CNN popular spin on leap seconds:
> > http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/01/01/leap.second.ap/index.html
>
> Including the usual mixup between the two astronomic oscillations that define
> our calendar:
>
> At the National Institute for Science and Technology in Boulder,
> spokesman Fred McGehan said most scientists agree the Earth's orbit
> around the sun has been gradually slowing for millennia. But he said
> they don't have a good explanation for why it's suddenly on schedule.
This abyssmal AP wireservice story has appeared on hundreds of local
news agency websites and in their print and broadcast media.
> The world can't be too troubled if even the absence of a leap second
> makes it as a news item, and this always provides a welcome opportunity
> to calibrate one's personal trust in the accuracy of mainstream media
> reporting.
I think the IERS, NIST or somebody needs a department of earth
rotation pedagogy, because the entire AP article could have been
avoided if there had been something about as declarative as the plot
now seen here
http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/dutc.html#lod.png
--
Steve Allen UCO/Lick Observatory Santa Cruz, CA 95064
sla_at_ucolick.org Voice: +1 831 459 3046 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla
PGP: 1024/E46978C5 F6 78 D1 10 62 94 8F 2E 49 89 0E FE 26 B4 14 93
Received on Sat Jan 03 2004 - 00:28:05 PST
