[LEAPSECS] Cheating means more planning, not less

[Rob Seaman]

M. Warner Losh wrote:


> the die was cast on this in 1958 when the second was defined in  

> terms of atomic behavior.


This may not be the best choice of idiom.  "The die is cast" is what  
Caesar is supposed to have said as he crossed the Rubicon (another  
phrase you could use in the sentence above).  It is a metaphor for  
committing to an outcome, yes, but in particular to committing to a  
chance outcome (with further implications of a looming battle).   
Rather, you are asserting that a specific, albeit implicit, decision  
has already been reached.

(Perhaps a better metaphor would be "reaching a tipping point" or  
"passing the point of no return".  There's also the one about the  
camel's back :-)

However, nobody has been arguing for rubber seconds.  (Except on  
extremely long timescales exceeding the current age of civilization on  
Earth.)  Your assertion is a straw man:

	http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/straw-man.html

Meanwhile, the length of day has been malleable since before the  
Cambrian Explosion, let alone over any modern human timescale.  We are  
saying nothing new here.

The real observation is the familiar one of dual timescales.  Focus on  
the SI second and we see the world through atomic eyeballs.  Focus on  
the primacy of the definition of the day in civil timekeeping, and  
Earth orientation pops out.

Both timescales are necessary.

Rob