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No, the right solution is to ditch leap seconds altogether, as proposed by the US and most of the civilized world, and resisted only by sticks-in-the-mud China
by fmajid 4y ago
No, the right solution is to ditch leap seconds altogether, as proposed by the US and most of the civilized world, and resisted only by sticks-in-the-mud China and the UK.
- fmajid 4y agoYay, leap seconds were abolished today! https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03783-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03783-5
- the_mitsuhiko 4y agoJust to be clear: the proposal to ditch leap seconds introduces leap hours and is basically just a way to postpone the problem for 1000 years and for a future society to deal with.
- wbl 4y agoWasn't aware of the leap hour proposal
- nisegami 4y agoSounds acceptable to me.
- lifthrasiir 4y agoA great thing about the leap hour proposal is that, by that time, the current form of leap seconds would be already close to insufficient [1] and thus a reform would be required anyway. [1] The first leap hour, which would happen when DUTC is around 30 minutes, will happen around the late third millenium (https://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/dutc.html https://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/dutc.html) and by that time we will regularly have 6 leap seconds per year. Steve Allen is a sort of proponent for leap seconds and not much for leap hours, but to me this projected table is the best argument for leap hours.
- walnutclosefarm 4y agoHard to argue with postponing the problem for 1000 years. Even if any of the existing technical standards and solutions are still in use then, which is doubtful, they'll have plenty of time to decide whether to implement the leap hour or not.
- zozbot234 4y ago'Ditching leap seconds' would amount to ditching UTC. We already have TAI for uses where leap seconds are a hindrance.
- pencilguin 4y agoMillions of apps are committed to UTC, and will not be fixed. Fixing UTC just means not announcing any more leap seconds. Not doing a harmful thing anymore is always the best fix.
- fmajid 4y agoThat's what was decided today: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03783-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03783-5