[ntp:questions] Google and leap seconds

Richard B. Gilbert rgilbert88 at comcast.net
Wed Sep 21 20:09:20 UTC 2011


On 9/21/2011 2:59 PM, John Hasler wrote:
> Richard B. Gilbert writes:
>> It's unfortunate that the earth DOES NOT rotate exactly 360 degrees in
>> exactly 24.000000000000 hours. This bit of poor design causes all
>> sorts of problems.  Leap seconds are just one of the symptoms!
>
> Leapseconds are localization, like time zones, daylight saving, and
> leapyears.  It's unfortunate that they are considered part of the
> timestream.

Too bad that the movements of of the planets, moons, etc. are not better 
behaved.  Lacking the powers of the divine we must work around the fact 
that the earth does not rotate exactly once in each twenty-four hours, 
and the fact that its revolution around the Sun is similarly messy, 
taking 365 days, six hours, and a few odd minutes and seconds which we 
account for (mostly) by declaring a "leap year" every four years.  Those 
"odd minutes and seconds" also add up and must be accounted for every 
hundred years or so.




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