On Jul 9, 2012, at 8:53 AM, Warner Losh wrote:
> Try to bring up the leap second in most computing contexts and people roll
> their eyes at the annoying pedant in the corner who needs to get a life…
Perhaps less so in the future. We should build on that. We might start by
sitting front and center, not in the corners.
>> There are multiple messages and messengers. More deeply engrained yet is
>> the simple fact that "day" on any planet, dwarf planet, or (spheroidal) moon
>> means the synodic day. There are one fewer days per year than rotations.
>> Orbital mechanics and the geophysics behind Earth orientation are hard, but
>> the fact that we lap the Sun once per year is simple.
>
> I'd say that's universal among astronomers, and people would give you the
> same annoying pedant in the corder scowls that leap second messengers get
> when you mention it outside astronomical domains.
May say more about us as messengers than the message :-) The public treasures
science and technology oddities. Folks like Phil Plait (the "bad astronomer")
and Neil deGrasse Tyson don't receive scowls:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/06/30/wait-just-a-second-no-really-wait-just-a-second/
http://www.startalkradio.net/show/time-lords-the-science-of-keeping-time/
I have a collaborator on another project who bursts out laughing whenever the
subject comes up, but no scowls :-)
Rob
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