[LEAPSECS] Leap Sec vs Y2K

[Finkleman, Dave]

Ken Seidelmann, John Seago, and I addressed this in our papers and in
the recent editorial in Space News.

The Y2K effort was necessary.  Everyone knew that we could not just
watch what might happen and catch up afterwards.  In the case of leap
seconds, no one knows what the real consequences might be if we changed,
and change is not necessary as it was for years that stopped at 99.   We
can just let things be as they have been for nearly 40 years.  

Dave Finkleman
Senior Scientist
Center for Space Standards and Innovation
Analytical Graphics, Inc.
7150 Campus Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
 
Phone:  719-510-8282 or 719-321-4780
Fax:  719-573-9079
 
Discover CSSI data downloads, technical webinars, publications, and
outreach events at www.CenterForSpace.com.

-----Original Message-----
From: leapsecs-bounces at leapsecond.com
[mailto:leapsecs-bounces at leapsecond.com] On Behalf Of
leapsecs-request at leapsecond.com
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 10:01 AM
To: leapsecs at leapsecond.com
Subject: LEAPSECS Digest, Vol 48, Issue 2

Send LEAPSECS mailing list submissions to
	leapsecs at leapsecond.com

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
	http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
	leapsecs-request at leapsecond.com

You can reach the person managing the list at
	leapsecs-owner at leapsecond.com

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of LEAPSECS digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1. Re: php breaks if UTC has no leap seconds? (p at 2038bug.com)
   2. Re: php breaks if UTC has no leap seconds? (Richard B. Langley)
   3. Re: php breaks if UTC has no leap seconds? (Paul Sheer)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:21:43 +0000
From: p at 2038bug.com
Subject: Re: [LEAPSECS] php breaks if UTC has no leap seconds?
To: "Leap Second Discussion List" <leapsecs at leapsecond.com>
Message-ID:
	
<1970411972-1291998043-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-11035931
73- at bda950.bisx.prod.on.blackberry>
	
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"


WH-WH-Whaaaat????

Contractors spent millions of hours wading through hundreds of millions
of lines of code
adding missing century digits.

Thousands of Cobal programmers lost there jobs
after Y2K.

Every organisation that managed any kind of
computer system had to do testing to verify
that the systems would work through Y2K and
replace them otherwise.

My company managed such a system.

Were you living under a rock then????

-paul



Sent from my BlackBerry? by Boost Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerard Ashton <ashtongj at comcast.net>
Sender: leapsecs-bounces at leapsecond.com
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:03:10 
To: Leap Second Discussion List<leapsecs at leapsecond.com>
Reply-To: Leap Second Discussion List <leapsecs at leapsecond.com>
Subject: Re: [LEAPSECS] php breaks if UTC has no leap seconds?

On 12/10/2010 10:15 AM, Peter Vince wrote:

> Hello Paul,

>

>       I'd be interested if you have some examples of of Y2K bugs that

> were fixed before they became a problem.  In my very limited

> experience, I wasn't affected by any, nor aware of them.

>

>       Peter

>

>

> On 10 December 2010 01:55, Paul Sheer<p at 2038bug.com>  wrote:

>> Everybody said y2k was going to break everything.  In the end, it was

a

>> non-event :)

>>

>> It was a non-event BECAUSE the industry spent enormous $$ to fix all

the

>> zillions of Y2K bugs in time.

>>

>> It was still a disaster from an expendature point of view.

>>

>> (Does anyone need to even explain this????)

>>

>> -paul

> _______________________________________________

> LEAPSECS mailing list

> LEAPSECS at leapsecond.com

> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs

>

I worked for IBM at the time. Many older personal computers in use by 
staff were discarded because it would have been too difficult to teach 
all the staff the special tricks to keep them limping along when 2000 
arrived.

Gerry Ashton
_______________________________________________
LEAPSECS mailing list
LEAPSECS at leapsecond.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:18:58 -0400
From: "Richard B. Langley" <lang at unb.ca>
Subject: Re: [LEAPSECS] php breaks if UTC has no leap seconds?
To: leapsecs at leapsecond.com
Message-ID: <20101210121858.20027gdb2wlwbrc4 at webmail.unb.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; DelSp="Yes";
	format="flowed"

USNO predicts UT1-UTC. In Bulletin A  
<http://maia.usno.navy.mil/ser7/ser7.dat>, they predict daily values  
for a year in advance but only provide an error estimate up to 40 days  
in advance. Elsewhere <http://maia.usno.navy.mil/ser7/deltat.preds>,  
longer-term predictions are given; supposedly updated annually.

-- Richard Langley

Quoting Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com>:


> On 12/09/2010 17:35, Rob Seaman wrote:

>> On Dec 9, 2010, at 3:53 PM, Steve Allen wrote:

>>

>>> This is the first example I've come across where a widely used API  

>>> will break if UTC does not continue to have leap seconds.

>> Has anyone even considered a Y2K style inventory?

>>

>> Absence of evidence is not...oh, what's the point?

> Keep in mind that while a code change would required to fetch DUT1  

> from the internet or other source, the API could continue to  

> function, but with an increased uncertainty as the date is farther  

> into the future.  If this is an important number to know, I'm sure  

> someone will publish a model that tries to approximate dUT1 and  

> gives an uncertainty range that presumably expands the further into  

> the future we go.

>

> You're correct about the question: How many of these interfaces are  

> there, and what is the implication for increasing the error in the  

> present calculation from 1s?  For php, I doubt anybody would care  

> for the cases likely to be in error...  For other things, likely  

> they care more.

>

> Warner

> _______________________________________________

> LEAPSECS mailing list

> LEAPSECS at leapsecond.com

> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs

>




========================================================================
=======
  Richard B. Langley                            E-mail: lang at unb.ca
  Geodetic Research Laboratory                  Web:
http://www.unb.ca/GGE/
  Dept. of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering    Phone:    +1 506
453-5142
  University of New Brunswick                   Fax:      +1 506
453-4943
  Fredericton, N.B., Canada  E3B 5A3
      Fredericton?  Where's that?  See:
http://www.city.fredericton.nb.ca/
========================================================================
=======





------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:46:26 +0200
From: Paul Sheer <p at 2038bug.com>
Subject: Re: [LEAPSECS] php breaks if UTC has no leap seconds?
To: Leap Second Discussion List <leapsecs at leapsecond.com>
Message-ID: <1291999586.24370.13.camel at localhost>
Content-Type: text/plain



> It's very concerning if Y2K has been recast as a myth

> among technical professionals, [...]


Concerning indeed:

KCBI a Christian radio chanel recently proclaimed:

  The Y2K is an example of scientists predicting disaster
  when there was none. This is just like global warming.

There have been numerous media articles that Y2K was an
example of paranoia.

If the government had spend the money to re-inforce
the dykes in new orleans, people would have later
said: "What a waiste of tax payer money: Look - there
went a Cat 5 hurrican and nothing happened."

Go figure.

-paul







------------------------------

_______________________________________________
LEAPSECS mailing list
LEAPSECS at leapsecond.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs


End of LEAPSECS Digest, Vol 48, Issue 2
***************************************