F-ckin Leap Seconds, how do they work?
Steve Allen
sla at ucolick.org
Wed Jul 4 04:41:09 UTC 2012
On 2012 Jul 3, at 21:29, Paul Graydon wrote:
> http://hpiers.obspm.fr/iers/bul/bulc/bulletinc.dat
Which is simply reiterating an older version of the regulatory
document that specifies how UTC shall be done
http://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-TF.460/en
On paper it is a scheme that will work for 1000 years, but the
original regulation contained no implementation details, no
interoperability studies, no agency responsible for describing how
implementations might communicate requirements, and that paper was
locked behind a paywall for the first 40 years of its existence.
All of that is too late to fix now.
The events in January showed that the notion of simply abandoning
leap seconds could not achieve consensus required for change. We
are in Disney's Haunted Mansion with the spirit taunting us to find
a way out.
--
Steve Allen <sla at ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855
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