On 2012-03-04, John Hasler <[email protected]> wrote: > I wrote: >> Thus UTC is just a kind of timezone-like localization and leap-seconds >> belong in tzdata. > > David E. Ross writes: >> No, it is not a localization. > > It localizes TAI to this particular planet.
That makes it sound as if TAI is some God given time. It is not. It was developed and defined in the context of precisely this planet. If there is a timekeeping species somewhere else in the universe, I promise you they will NOT use TAI. > >> A leap-second file allows conversions between UTC and TAI. > > Just as tzdata allows conversions between UTC and your local zone. Thus > UTC is the Earth planetary zone as CST is my local zone within that > planetary zone. While it is convenient to have solar noon occur at the > same time every day the planet is not a clock. Well, actually it is a clock, and a pretty damn good one and for a long long time the only one anyone had. It is only in the past half century that our other clocks have achieved a better accuracy. _______________________________________________ questions mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ntp.org/listinfo/questions
