6 ms·

We change our clocks twice a year by an hour I think we could handle an hour every millenia.

alistairSH 4y ago
And, by some accounts, every time we do, auto deaths and other bad things increase for some period after the change. Not to mention the weeks of bitching on either side of the change about how bad/great the time change actually is.
- staticassertion 4y ago
  One second every thousand years.
  - jefftk 4y ago
    Do you mean one hour?
    - staticassertion 4y ago
      Yeah, one hour. Whoops.
      - throw0101a 4y ago
        > Yeah, one hour. Whoops. I think your comment is a precursor to what would happen if we tried to get a one-off event right…
        staticassertion 4y ago
        Right I'm sure we'll forget.
gmiller123456 4y ago
The physical effort of setting a clock is not the issue. Switching to "leap hours" would involve a good part of the world living with about 9am sunrise (or a 3:30pm sunset) for hundreds of years. It'd be a really hard sell to say that's actually better. DST is adjusting to the amount of daylight available, so there's not much of a negative impact. Systems that need to be more accurate just set their time zones to UTC. And one second every year or so is far within the accuracy of a typical computer clock, so anything that needs something better is already going to have a complex time synchronization system.
- staticassertion 4y ago
  Yeah how ever will they live with having to wake up slightly earlier or later for their entire lives.
  - mulmen 4y ago
    > earlier or later My understanding was that leap seconds are only ever added. It’s not like this averages out over time. The problem is that because they are only added the effect is cumulative and eventually some future generation will be eating lunch at 00:00:00.
    - Nekhrimah 4y ago
      There is a provision for negative leap seconds. In practice, this has never happened.
      - elfchief 4y ago
        Hasn't happened, but it may actually happen in the next half-decade or so. If not, it's almost guaranteed to happen ~25 years from now.
      - mulmen 4y ago
        Thanks, I skimmed the wiki and it sounded like they could only be added.
throw0101a 4y ago
> We change our clocks twice a year by an hour I think we could handle an hour every millenia. And how often does time code mess that up? We have leap years regularly every ~4 years, and how does time code mess that up? And you think that a one-off event is going to go smoothly?

And, by some accounts, every time we do, auto deaths and other bad things increase for some period after the change. Not to mention the weeks of bitching on either side of the change about how bad/great the time change actually is.

staticassertion 4y ago
One second every thousand years.
- jefftk 4y ago
  Do you mean one hour?
  - staticassertion 4y ago
    Yeah, one hour. Whoops.
    - throw0101a 4y ago
      > Yeah, one hour. Whoops. I think your comment is a precursor to what would happen if we tried to get a one-off event right…
      - staticassertion 4y ago
        Right I'm sure we'll forget.

gmiller123456 4y ago

The physical effort of setting a clock is not the issue. Switching to "leap hours" would involve a good part of the world living with about 9am sunrise (or a 3:30pm sunset) for hundreds of years. It'd be a really hard sell to say that's actually better. DST is adjusting to the amount of daylight available, so there's not much of a negative impact. Systems that need to be more accurate just set their time zones to UTC. And one second every year or so is far within the accuracy of a typical computer clock, so anything that needs something better is already going to have a complex time synchronization system.

staticassertion 4y ago
Yeah how ever will they live with having to wake up slightly earlier or later for their entire lives.
- mulmen 4y ago
  > earlier or later My understanding was that leap seconds are only ever added. It’s not like this averages out over time. The problem is that because they are only added the effect is cumulative and eventually some future generation will be eating lunch at 00:00:00.
  - Nekhrimah 4y ago
    There is a provision for negative leap seconds. In practice, this has never happened.
    - elfchief 4y ago
      Hasn't happened, but it may actually happen in the next half-decade or so. If not, it's almost guaranteed to happen ~25 years from now.
    - mulmen 4y ago
      Thanks, I skimmed the wiki and it sounded like they could only be added.

throw0101a 4y ago

> We change our clocks twice a year by an hour I think we could handle an hour every millenia. And how often does time code mess that up? We have leap years regularly every ~4 years, and how does time code mess that up? And you think that a one-off event is going to go smoothly?