On Aug 13, 2005, at 2:05 PM, Warner Losh wrote:
If we had a 10 year schedule, every 2 years or so the next two years would be scheduled. Eg:Jan 1, 2006 announce leap seconds through 2016. Jan 1, 2008 announce leap seconds through 2018. etc. This would still allow for the sychronization of the civilian time scale, while still allowing for more predictability. Over time, we could likely expand the time horizon for the predictions (eg do it out 15 years instead of 10, then 20, then 25, etc).
I'll add this to the tree as something like "sliding" or perhaps "adaptive" scheduling.
Such a scheme would optimize multiple variables, with no single one dominating.
I'm going to refrain from commenting on the "best" choices from the decision tree until it nears completion. However, certainly one must suspect that any optimum solution will relax a wide selection of the variables jointly. It is also quite likely that more than several solutions will be identified that are near optimum in such a fashion. Rob Seaman National Optical Astronomy Observatory
