Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Rob
Seaman writes:
What clever chap was it who suggested ALWAYS having a leap second at
the end of each month - toggling positive and negative? An actual
leap transition then becomes the omission of a (negative) leap.
Since
systems would have to deal with the monthly cadence they would be
forced to work correctly. (Evolution trumps design any day.) And
since a leap would be the absence of an event, nothing would break.
Provided you get the funding sorted out, I'm all for it.
What funding? M. Gambis already has this authority as long as he
stays within the +/- 0.9s window.
Having reached a consensus among diverse parties and resolved the
funding question, all in favor? :-)
Like I said, all these scheduling variations are permitted under the
UTC standard that is currently in effect. Your figure of merit is to
maximize the look-ahead. Mine is to minimize excursions beyond 0.5s.
Early UTC scheduling was clearly biased toward issuing a leap second
as early as possible (permitting slack later). Recent UTC scheduling
appears to be biased toward holding off on a leap second as long as
possible (with the notion perhaps that each will be the last).
Elephants are falling out of fashion here, along with pretty much
any other Carlsberg product. In the last couple of years Denmark
has gone from 8 to several thousand (mostly micro-)breweries as a
tasteful revolution against industrialized beer has taken hold.
This is the most hopeful sign for the future of our civilization that
I've heard yet.
But I'll promise you a good beer if you pop around here, no matter
what.
I may change planes in Munich on the way to Trieste in May. That's
about as close as I'm likely to pop :-( You would think the home of
Tycho would feature more prominently on the astronomical jet-set
circuit. My father developed a taste for Tuborg when he was doing
business in Copenhagen in the 60's, but I gather that's owned by
Carlsberg now, too.
[1] For a quantification of this, see:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Annals-Improbable-Research/dp/0716730944
I can also recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Being-Certain-Believing-Right-Youre/dp/0312359209
:-)
Rob
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