Re: [LEAPSECS] the legacy of ephemeris time

From: Markus Kuhn <Markus.Kuhn_at_cl.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:04:38 +0000

jcowan_at_REUTERSHEALTH.COM wrote on 2003-12-22 15:12 UTC:
> My view, of course, is that civil time should be made up of days each of
> which is exactly 86400 SI seconds long. When it becomes inconvenient in
> a given locality, say New York City, to say that LCT is 5 hours behind
> universal time, then let the number of hours in the offset be changed.
> Since the offset is already being changed twice a year, a rare secular
> change should not be difficult.

That would be perfectly practical for a few thousand years.

[Although a few reporters sadly fail to understand this, as a Google
search

  http://www.google.com/search?q=Rob-Seaman+turn-day-into-night

reveals.]

But what do you do when the offset between New York City local time and
Univ^H^H^H^HInternational Time becomes significantly larger than 24
hours, such that the discrepancy in date between TI and local time
becomes a matter of days rather than hours, which would happen just a
view millenia down the road?

["I'm concerned that they're trying to implement a plan that will
ultimately turn Tuesday into Friday." :-]

See also the previous thread:

  What to do if International Time hits the International Date Line?
  http://www.mail-archive.com/leapsecs_at_rom.usno.navy.mil/msg00206.html
  http://www.mail-archive.com/leapsecs_at_rom.usno.navy.mil/msg00195.html
  ...

Markus

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/leap/

--
Markus Kuhn, Computer Lab, Univ of Cambridge, GB
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ | __oo_O..O_oo__
Received on Mon Dec 22 2003 - 10:04:54 PST

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