M. Warner Losh wrote:
There are a number of solutions to the current leap-seconds problems
that don't completely decouple UTC from the sun.
As well as non-solutions like leap-hours that don't actually eliminate
leap-seconds, but rather accumulate them for later release in one
colossally indigestible lump.
There's some that do in the recognition that UTC really is going to
be viable at most a few hundred to a few thousand years anyway due
to the quadratic acceleration of leap second timing.
The quadratic acceleration will apply to any proposed solution
relative to atomic timescales where the second is of a fixed length.
This issue is not specific to the current UTC. In particular, it is
not addressed at all by the proposal to embargo leap-seconds.
Anyway, as with all engineering issues, the practical problems
should be discussed as widely as possible, and the real requirements
for the system should be continually reevaluated to ensure that the
system is meeting the real needs of its users.
Amen!
And with engineering best practices, no single power bloc should seek
to force adoption of their preferred option. We would have gotten
much more done (and I would have written many fewer messages to
everyone's benefit :-) over the past 10 years if there weren't a need
for constant vigilance to fend off incessant attempts to hurry a
decision.
Rob
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