Path: csiph.com!feeder.erje.net!1.us.feeder.erje.net!news.alt.net From: "James Wilkinson Sword" Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.ada,comp.programming,alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.os.linux.ubuntu Subject: Re: 'Leap Second' to Be Added on New Year's Eve This Year Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2017 19:58:49 -0000 Organization: ~ Lines: 56 Message-ID: References: <5f5afd36-1ba2-f4e2-62ef-57a652f3170c@verizon.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable User-Agent: Opera Mail/1.0 (Win32) Xref: csiph.com alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:35516 comp.lang.c:101125 comp.lang.ada:32695 comp.programming:7257 alt.comp.os.windows-10:32597 alt.os.linux.ubuntu:194667 On Wed, 04 Jan 2017 19:11:30 -0000, James R. Kuyper wrote: > On 01/04/2017 10:44 AM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote: >> On Wed, 04 Jan 2017 01:06:06 -0000, James R. Kuyper wrote: >> >>> On 12/31/2016 04:57 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote: >>>> On Thu, 22 Dec 2016 13:43:58 -0000, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote: >>> ... > ... >>>>> Leap seconds are a way to make up for this difference. Since 1972,= the >>>>> International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) = =E2=80=94 the >>> >>> That name always struck me as rather funny - it seems to imply that >>> they're responsible for making the Earth rotate. What they're actual= ly >>> responsible for is keeping track of the Earth's rotation. >> >> I am now imagining someone turning an ignition key and cursing. > > I was imagining a giant hand crank. :-) You must be older than me. >>>>> organization that keeps track of time for the world =E2=80=94 has = added 26 leap >>>>> seconds to atomic clocks, with the last such insertion coming on J= une >>>>> 30, 2015. >>>>> >>>>> The aim is to keep the two timescales within 0.9 seconds of each= other. >>> ... >>>> I wish they'd turn their attentions to not turning the clocks back = and forth all the fucking time! >>> >>> If you could make the Earth rotate at a fixed rate, there would be n= o >>> need for leap seconds. It's perfect feasible, though the costs would= be >>> astronomical. Would you care to pay enough in taxes to make that hap= pen? >> >> Rotation rate is nothing to do with DST. > > And neither does IERS. I assumed that he was talking about leap second= s, > thought DST also fits his complaint. -- = Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Managers are from Uranus.