[LEAPSECS] How good could civil timekeeping be?

[Rob Seaman]

Thanks for the pointer.  Sounds like an interesting read, I'll look it  
up.  I suspect I already grasp the gist of the Cambridge versus New  
Jersey characterization, but note that there is a lot of cross- 
fertilization and most people have responsibilities in both camps.   
After all, Princeton is in New Jersey and Watson and Crick reverse  
engineered DNA (three billion years of design by the ultimate  
committee) over bitters at the Eagle in Cambridge.

Other examples are Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance, Muir's  
classic Volkswagen manual - or Burning Man, for that matter.
--

On Feb 15, 2008, at 7:48 AM, John Cowan wrote:


> Rob Seaman scripsit:

>

>> POSIX is indeed a facet of the world we've built.  I might argue that

>> better system engineering practices might have avoided its  

>> limitations

>> :-) but we have to deal with the technology we've inherited.

>

> Richard P. Gabriel's famous "The Rise of 'Worse Is Better'" essay

> (online at http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html among other

> places) may shed some light on just why Posix has become so popular.

> For that matter, it may shed some light on the whole debate: leap- 

> second

> guys are from Cambridge, TI guys are from New Jersey.

>

> I recommend those of you who haven't read it yet (who are more likely

> to be from Cambridge and not know it) to do so.  Ignore the parochial

> Lisp-isms.

>

> -- 

>                Si hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionis habes.

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