Re: [LEAPSECS] the legacy of ephemeris time

From: <jcowan_at_reutershealth.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 10:12:27 -0500

Steve Allen scripsit:

> If a drastic change is scheduled for 2022, it would be a real shame
> not to take advantage of that to once and for all replace legacy
> systems (which currently have a single confused time scale) with new
> systems (that understand the distinction between earth rotation and
> time). If that replacement is not done as part of a 2022 makeover
> then it will surely be even more difficult later.

It's not about understanding the difference between earth rotation
and time. It's whether civil time shall be tied to one or the other or
to a compromise between them.

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.

--
Ambassador Trentino: I've said enough. I'm a man of few words.
Rufus T. Firefly: I'm a man of one word: scram!
        --_Duck Soup_                   John Cowan <jcowan_at_reutershealth.com>
Received on Mon Dec 22 2003 - 07:41:54 PST

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