more on Leap second fight brewing

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: December 26, 2005 4:00:58 PM EST
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: RE: [IP] Leap second fight brewing

Again ... how much work is put into writing libraries to do time/date
arithmatic while being oblivious to the fact that they are all wrong?

Remember that the statement
        Time += 00:00:01
is invalid

Are there any software libraries that forbid arithmetic using seconds
without forcing you to specify which minute they are part of? If you do
specify which second as in
      Time += Base(2005-12-31-23:59:59-UTC) + 00:00:002
Does the library produce the proper result?

Time zone corrections are wrong too since the time zones are offset by n
hours +/- 1 second (ignoring the odd zones off by :30 and :15)

Perhaps we can learn from the TSA and accept discretionary  
enforcement and
get past the foolish notion that computers are consistent or predictable
even in the simplest case. After all, if we believe the DNS works  
then we
shouldn't bother ourselves with trifles. So what if the rocket  
engines fire
a second later?

I still don't understand the purpose of leap seconds on the human  
scale. I
understand correction factors but I don't understand this fundamentalist
view of time.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2005 15:34
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] Leap second fight brewing



Begin forwarded message:

From: "Philip L. Lehman" <p.lehman () iCarnegie com>
Date: December 26, 2005 11:02:55 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Leap second fight brewing

Dave,

There was a discussion on IP some time ago about the Leap Second, but
I haven't seen this item go by:  we're about to have one...  Happy
New Year!

Philip


WAIT A SEC FOR LEAP INTO 2006

Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds. Scientists are delaying the
start of
2006 by the first "leap second" in seven years, a timing tweak meant
to make
up for changes in the Earth's rotation....

... http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/25/leap.second.reut/index.html



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