[ntp:questions] Re: Guardian article

Harza nuns_island at hotmail.com
Wed Aug 13 20:30:08 UTC 2003


>From the "Network Time Protocol Timescale and Leap Seconds"
page:(http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/leap.html)

"The insertion of leap seconds into UTC is currently the
responsibility of the IERS, which is located at the Paris Observatory.
As specified in CCIR Report 517, a leap second is inserted following
second 23:59:59 on the last day of June or December and becomes second
23:59:60 of that day"

However, in The Guardian's article it states:

"...by asking clocks to change from 23:59,59 to 23:59,60 before going
on to 00:00,00. But as most clocks don't permit the number 60, they
show 23:59,59 for two seconds instead."

Is this true that most clocks don't permit the number 60?



>*The Guardian* has a fascinating story on the ITU's Study group
concerned
>with time.  According to the article, divergent time systems are an>>
>increasing problem. Conflicts between Earth time, the time provided
by
>atomic clocks, GPS time, and other standards raise interesting
questions
>about the safety of aircraft and other complex systems that may be
running
>on different timescales.
>  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,985020,00.html



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