Re: Time Zone Questions

[Jerry Stuckle <jstuckle@attglobal.net>]

On 3/21/2014 5:35 PM, John Hasler wrote:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Time
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second
>
> More TAI seconds have accumulated since 1972 than have UTC seconds
> because the Earth is slowing down and so to keep UTC in sync with the
> Earth it is necessary to occasionally "leap over", that is, "not count"
> one of the seconds that TAI is a count of.
>
> A leap second occuring:
>
> TAI: ... 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 00 01 02 03 04 ...
> UTC: ... 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 00 01 02 03 ...
>
> I think it's a dumb idea.  It would make far more sense to simply
> tabulate the leap seconds and apply the correction only when time is
> prepared for presentation as we do with time zones.

That wouldn't work well.  Remember, computers are not the only ones 
which use UTC - in fact they are the most imprecise.  There are many 
clocks around the world which are synchronized with UTC via radio, i.e. 
WWV/WWVH in the United States, CHU in Canada, and other stations around 
the world.

Many scientists depend on the accuracy of these clocks, as to TV/Radio 
networks and lots of other people.  The time needs to be accurate - and 
not just in the display.

Jerry