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Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2012 01:59:19 +1000
Subject: Re: simpler increment of time values?
From: Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
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Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:24932

On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 1:39 AM, Rick Johnson
<rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 5, 10:19 am, Steven D'Aprano <steve
> +comp.lang.pyt...@pearwood.info> wrote:
>> The number of seconds in a day (true solar day) varies by between 13 and
>> 30 seconds depending on the time of the year and the position of the sun.
>
> Indeed. Which proves that a time keeping system based on the haphazard
> movements of celestial bodies is antiquated technology. Talk about job
> security!

The current *time keeping system* is based atomic clocks. It's only
when you want to display this thing called "civil time" (so-called
because it causes very uncivil arguments) that you concern yourself
with astronomy, base 60, base 24, and other constructs.

Now, if you want to argue about a poor choice of standard, look at
so-called "Internet Time" that a Swiss watch company invented, which
divides a day into 1000 beats. Why use the day as your basis and make
it hard to convert to SI units reliably?

ChrisA