On Jan 8, 2006, at 4:04 PM, Tom Van Baak wrote:
You cannot divide timekeeping, time dissemination, into neat stages.
Again. My point is strengthened. This being the case, a requirement on one "flavor" of time transfers to others. We will not solve the problem of creeping complexity and interface violations by attempting to legislate the physical world out of the equation. Rather, it is the common baseline of mean solar time that will save us from our own follies. Whether it is a "real number" or not, it has the benefit of correspondence (now, and day after day, millennia after millennia) of mattering to humanity. I don't say it matters in critical detail for every purpose under the sun, rather it matters in broad strokes for many a purpose. I've got nothing against TAI and other flavors of interval time, they simply do not match the requirements for a common human oriented baseline. They are preferred for some technical purposes. They are most definitely not preferred in "broad strokes" over long periods of time to the bulk of our "customers". The customer is always right. Rob
