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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Navigation News article on leap seconds.
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Oct 10, 02:31 EDT
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Oct 10, 02:31 EDT
A couple of people have posted on this topic in the past few months. If I remember correctly, the proposal suggests eliminating leap seconds in favor of a much more rarely used "leap hour". I don't see any problem with this. The fact that the Sun does not reach the meridian when the clock strikes twelve and indeed might not make it there until 1:30 in the afternoon doesn't seem to bother very many people. I also don't see any big advantages to the proposal, so I suspect the present system will be left in place for at least a few more years. I found a cute news story through Google news (search for "leap second") with the following comment: "To add a leap second or not to add a leap second; that is the question: whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of astronomers and the Brits, or to take arms against a sea of troubles caused by unforeseen glitches. If this is a major quandary in your life, perhaps you should switch to decaf." --Bret Burquest He's got a point! -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
