On Sat 2003-08-23T01:55:17 -0700, Steve Allen hath quoted: > the serious dissensions between those concerned with standard > frequencies and those who request a time system connected with the > Earth's rotation (astronomers, geodesists, navigators etc.) and
I also find it a bit curious to see that many of the current articles about leap seconds take statements like this to be complete. When leap seconds were instituted into UTC it did not serve only the astronomers, geodesists, and navigators. As the IAU noted in 1973, it also served to keep radio time broadcasts providing what radio time broadcasts had always provided -- mean solar time as specified in the legal systems of most countries. It means that people could continue to set their watches to the statutory time just by listening to a short wave radio. If radio broadcasts switch from UT to atomic time without concomitant change in legislation, then it is hard to imagine how people will be able to know to "listen for the tone then wait N seconds before setting your watch". Of course we should just postulate that watches of the future will do that sort of thing for us, and that their user interface will even permit choice of timezone. And then owners of grandfather(ed) clocks will just set them by referring to their self-aware wristwatches. Alternatively, if legislation does follow the new form of ITU-R TF.460 and assert that legal time is atomic time then the analemma breaks. In pictorial terms, all of the following become smeared out from year to year http://images.google.com/images?q=analemma&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search and all of these works of art fail to tell time anymore http://www.longwoodgardens.org/Tour/WestTour/WestTour.htm#Topiary%20Garden%20&%20Analemmatic%20Sundial http://www.uwrf.edu/sundial/ http://www.nso.edu/sunspot/info/general/tlrbse/tour/index.htm http://web.umr.edu/~stonehen/answers/text1.html The general public will generally believe that it is any time that they are told to believe, but everyone would comprehend these. -- Steve Allen UCO/Lick Observatory Santa Cruz, CA 95064 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voice: +1 831 459 3046 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla PGP: 1024/E46978C5 F6 78 D1 10 62 94 8F 2E 49 89 0E FE 26 B4 14 93