In message <20061231131248.GA4685_at_ucolick.org>, Steve Allen writes:
>On Sun 2006-12-31T07:59:35 +0000, Poul-Henning Kamp hath writ:
>> Rob, If you feel uncomfortable with calling leapseconds
>> discontinuities, then we can use the term arrhythmia instead.
>
>The point of my allegory about unplanned pregnancies is that
>all practically available time scales have arrhythmias.
We can live with arrhythmias as long as we get sufficient warning
about them.
Politicians who fumble the local timescale are answerable according
to their economy and whatever political system installed them.
But the leapsecond decision was taken 35 years ago on an entirely
different basis than applies to its consequences today, in particular
it is no longer relevant how long time the international mail takes
to reach the most remote parts of the globe from Paris.
--
Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
phk_at_FreeBSD.ORG | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Received on Mon Jan 01 2007 - 00:50:36 PST