On Mon 2015-06-01T17:36:34 +0000, Poul-Henning Kamp hath writ: > In message <[email protected]>, Steve Allen writes: > > >We need a resolution of the issue so that the out-of-the-box defaults > >can just work without any choices. > > I'm happy that you have finally realized why some parties are pushing > for the only resolution on the table[1] which makes that possible: > > Stop inserting leap-seconds into UTC.
I will continue to disagree about the wording of that. The notion behind UTC with leap seconds has been a failure, whether evaluated technically or by most other criteria. I see no way to rescue a technically workable UTC from the 15 year long flamewar that has prevented any progress on the issue. The CPM has put method A2 on the table for the WRC-15 as a way of rescuing what is technical while allowing the ITU-R to get out of the rest of the mess that the CCIR made in the 1970s when it pushed UTC with leap seconds onto other international agencies and governments as the perfect solution to all problems. > [1] The not-on-the-table resolution which would also make that possible > is announcing leap seconds with at least 10-20 years advance notice. I think that leaves most folks less happy than the status quo. The ITU-R must perform the trick of getting the illusion of consensus, but I direct everyone to look at the Final Acts of WRC-12 https://www.itu.int/pub/R-ACT-WRC.9-2012 Before any of the Articles, Resolutions, and Recommendations there are 37 pages of "Declarations and reservations" followed by 13 pages of "Additional Declarations and Reservations" wherein just about every nation claims that it may refuse to follow any of the agreements if those affect their sovereignty. One tenth of the pages in that publication are dedicated to saying that there may not really be any agreement about the rest. UTC is not a technical standard, it is a political construct. That's why LORAN-C, GPS, Galileo, BeiDou, and the Indian satellite system chose to construct their own time scales rather than to use UTC. -- Steve Allen <[email protected]> WGS-84 (GPS) UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855 1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015 Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m _______________________________________________ LEAPSECS mailing list [email protected] https://pairlist6.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs
