You are welcome to keep trying, but I think the effort is doomed to failure. There is a metric second, well defined, and integral to the definition of MANY SI derived units. Nobody is going to change it and cause redefinition of the entire SI. Unfortunately the day and year (both defined in mean solar terms) are messy numbers of SI seconds, and are not suitable "constants" in any case as they change over time.
The lengths of months are irregular but we are well used to the irregularities and I am not sure the "benefits" of making them more regular offset the disadvantage of change. (I'll be honest: I'm quite sure they don't.) The Gregorian year (365.2425 days) is slightly too long and the error will get worse going forward. Any solution needs to address that the fraction is a slowly declining value, going forward in time, and we only know the rate of change to limited precision. The simplest, least disruptive solution is keep 365 day common years, 366 day leap years every fourth year except centennial years, and just modify the rule for centennial years until the year falls below 365.24 days (around +35000). Ideally, we should change the current 1 in 4 centennial rule to 1 in 5, with the next centennial leap year in 2500. That would work until around 8000. The centennial rule can be modified to "fine tune" the third and fourth digit of the fraction over long periods (thousands of years). No other calendar change is needed to keep the seasons on schedule, even if some desire a more regular calendar. The present leap second system would work if people with precision timing applications would recognize it continues to occur at some random rate and program to accomodate it. The leap seconds are declared more than five months in advance. If they are an issue, there is little excuse for being surprised by them. Critical timing applications should probably keep TAI, and then maintain a leap second table to determine the offset to UTC. Local civil time can then be determined by time zone and summer/winter adjustments. Predictions going forward are for an increasing number of leap seconds per year, but that doesn't seem to happening, which just shows how poor our long term forecasts for length of day are. In the future, it might be more attractive to bank all the leap seconds and make them on one date rather than multiple insertions per year (we currently average <1/year, so there is time to work it out). I propose those simple, minimal steps are a lot better than discarding the second and the calendar and starting over with sweeping proposals. 2013-03-29T09:03-04 ________________________________ From: Brij Bhushan Vij <metric...@hotmail.com> To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Cc: "usma@colostate.edu" <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Fri, March 29, 2013 8:02:55 AM Subject: [USMA:52572] Re: ISO Representation of Date & Time instant WRE: Re: Date Format John sir: >.....and is widely used for data interchange that must be both computer and >human readable. >Incidently the format "Era-Year-Month-Date H hr:m:s" is wrong. There is no >"era" field. I thank you for pointing THIS. But, the fasct remain that ISO format has remained under discussion since its formation in 1975; and updates are still continuing - although not being so popular among *countries and experts alike*. The need for a modification in the Gregorian calendar has ever been felt to make THIS acceptable for ALL NATIONS (perhaps with all diversities). Agreed, there is no Era field and neither does 'H' represent date/time seperation. But discussions at calndr-L and perhaps usma archieves may reveal some portions discussed for implimentation. I dedicated a full chapter in my book: Towards A Unified Technology (1982) while presenting my case for Metric Second/ Metric calendar Year. These are only proposed during my discussions with EXPERTS and/or organisations concerned with the Reforms of Gregorian calendar. My inputs aare placed at: http://www.brijvij.com/ I have provided SOLUTION to several problems, under investications, as you know. My discussions with USMA started way back in 1984-86; and later when I migrated between 2002 and then since mid-2004 - even during periods when I was in INDIA, away from my children/grand children, who are now stuck between TWO worlds looking for: "what standards theu need follow?" All along during my 40-years of pleading/discussions & media presentations, I argued for: Let's look beyond our table of responsibility! My early communications with BIPM/ISO Headquarters during mid 1970's were only pointers to 'EXAMINE the need' for reforms where applicable, sirs. My regards to all wishing GOOD FRIDAY (today) and Happy Easter at all members of USMA family & calndr-L list serv. Brij Bhushan Vij Friday, 2013 March 29H08:01(decimal)EST Aa Nau Bhadra Kritvo Yantu Vishwatah -Rg Veda The Astronomical Poem (revised number of days in any month) "30 days has July,September, April, June, November and December all the rest have 31 except February which has 29 except on years divisible evenly by 4; except when YEAR divisible by 128 and 3200 - as long as you remember that "October (meaning 8) is the 10th month; and December (meaning 10) is the 12th BUT has 30 days & ONE OUTSIDE of calendar-format" Jan:31; Feb:29; Mar:31; Apr:30; May:31; Jun:30 Jul:30; Aug:31; Sep:30; Oct:31; Nov:30; Dec:30 (365th day of Year is World Day) ******As per Kali V-GRhymeCalendaar***** "Koi bhi cheshtha vayarth nahin hoti, purshaarth karne mein hai" My Profile - http://www.brijvij.com/bbv_2col-vipBrief.pdf Author had NO interaction with The World Calendar Association except via Media & Organisations to who I contributed for A Possible World Calendar, since 1971. HOME PAGE: http://www.brijvij.com/ Contact via E-mail: metric...@hotmail.com OR "GAYATRI LOK" Flat # 3013/3rd Floor NH-58, Kankhal Bypass, Dev-Bhoomi, HARIDWAR-249408 (Uttrakhand - INDIA) ________________________________ Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:39:12 -0700 From: jmsteele9...@sbcglobal.net Subject: [USMA:52563] Re: ISO Representation of Date & Time instant WRE: Re: Date Format To: usma@colostate.edu I don't know why you say it is "under review." ISO 8601 is in the 3rd (2004) edition, and is widely used for data interchange that must be both computer and human readable. It disclaims itself as a standard in flowing text; it is for use in data fields. If only computers need to read it, Unix time is probably preferred. Incidently the format "Era-Year-Month-Date H hr:m:s" is wrong. There is no "era" field. The basic format requires 4 digit non-negative year, and expanded format allows five or more year digits with a mandatory positive or negative sign to handle years outside 0000 to 9999. In concatenated date/time fields, no space is permitted and the required separator is "T" not "H". Thus yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss that should be followed by a "Z" for UTC time or a signed field with hours (and minutes if required) offset from UTC. Any space terminates the field. That requirement sacrifices some human readability for the computer gods. The hyphens and colons may be omitted, although human readability is sacrified, but the "T" is compulsary. Leading zeroes are required where necessary to pad each subfield to the correct length. You should learn it and use it before complaining it is not used. Incidently it declares the Gregorian calendar, it may NOT be used with the Julian calendar or any of your proposed calendar revisions. It contains a brief definition of Gregorian, and requires proleptic Gregorian for dates before the Gregorian calendar was required. ________________________________ From: Brij Bhushan Vij <metric...@hotmail.com> To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Thu, March 28, 2013 12:55:41 AM Subject: [USMA:52561] ISO Representation of Date & Time instant WRE: Re: Date Format John sir: >Era-Year-Month-Date H hr:m:s Between 1975 and today (2013), some 28 years have goneby and ISO format is still under REVIEW. Why cannot the world take guidance from Le Systeme Internationale d'Unites (SI) - Think Tanks? The need is to follow rather leave loose knots and find HOW NOT TO IMPLEMENT? Let's look beyond our table of responsibility! Regards, Brij Bhushan Vij Thursday, 2013 March 28H00:93(decimal)EST Aa Nau Bhadra Kritvo Yantu Vishwatah -Rg Veda The Astronomical Poem (revised number of days in any month) "30 days has July,September, April, June, November and December all the rest have 31 except February which has 29 except on years divisible evenly by 4; except when YEAR divisible by 128 and 3200 - as long as you remember that "October (meaning 8) is the 10th month; and December (meaning 10) is the 12th BUT has 30 days & ONE OUTSIDE of calendar-format" Jan:31; Feb:29; Mar:31; Apr:30; May:31; Jun:30 Jul:30; Aug:31; Sep:30; Oct:31; Nov:30; Dec:30 (365th day of Year is World Day) ******As per Kali V-GRhymeCalendaar***** "Koi bhi cheshtha vayarth nahin hoti, purshaarth karne mein hai" My Profile - http://www.brijvij.com/bbv_2col-vipBrief.pdf Author had NO interaction with The World Calendar Association except via Media & Organisations to who I contributed for A Possible World Calendar, since 1971. HOME PAGE: http://www.brijvij.com/ Contact via E-mail: metric...@hotmail.com OR "GAYATRI LOK" Flat # 3013/3rd Floor NH-58, Kankhal Bypass, Dev-Bhoomi, HARIDWAR-249408 (Uttrakhand - INDIA) > From: j...@frewston.plus.com > To: usma@colostate.edu > CC: usma@colostate.edu > Subject: [USMA:52556] Re: Date Format > Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:53:33 +0000 > > I've just got some new cheques from HSBC in Canada, and, because Canadians > used to use d-m-y, but many now use the American m-d-y (because that's the > default for most US software sold in Canada), my cheques are very specific > in how the date is written: yyyy-mm-dd. It would be a huge benefit if > everyone, Americans included, adopted that standard. BTW, it is not only > Europeans who use d-m-y. Most of the rest of the world also uses it. > > John F-L > > -----Original Message----- > From: cont...@metricpioneer.com > Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 11:00 PM > To: U.S. Metric Association > Cc: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:52555] Date Format > > Stanislav. I appreciate the information you sent about date and time. > In my mind, the yyyy mm dd date format makes sense for sticking on the > end of file names so the files remain in alphabetical order. My United > States passport uses 26 Mar 2013 format, which I prefer to use in all > other cases because spelling out the month ensures that no person can > mix the day up with the month. We have an International Trade section > where I work, and I remember seeing a contract signed by someone in > England along with a scrawled-in date using numbers only, 10 11 2004 > which caused confusion because the person who signed the contract > meant to convey 10 November, but it was misinterpreted in our office > as October 11. Please see the date triangle graphic on my > MetricPioneer.wordpress.com blog. > David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917 > > ----- Message from jakub...@gmail.com --------- > Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:10:08 -0400 > From: Stanislav Jakuba <jakub...@gmail.com> > Subject: Hi > To: cont...@metricpioneer.com > > > > David: > > I sent you the Date & Time article because I noticed your European way of > > D M Y. To be metric to me means to go with ISO standards overall. SI > > units is just one ISO standard. The cited Date & Time ISO standard bridges > > the differences among all nations with its y m d sequence as described in > > the article. So I thought that if you must annoy (:-) Americans with > > something unfamiliar, it should not be a European standard, but rather an > > International standard. All my industrial clients have adopted the ISO > > sequence and I have been using it since it's issuance a 1/2 century ago. I > > hope you will also. > > > > On a different subject, if you send me your address I will mail you my SAE > > paper about SI. I have extra copies from years past. Perhaps you can > > enlighten a few people in the financial/government sector. > > Stan > > > > > ----- End message from jakub...@gmail.com ----- > > > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2013.0.3267 / Virus Database: 3161/6205 - Release Date: 03/26/13 >
