[LEAPSECS] Coming of age in the solar system

[M. Warner Losh]

In message: <9FF72199-4479-43A4-B988-516E5336EAED at noao.edu>
            Rob Seaman <seaman at noao.edu> writes:

: Q: Why was the SI second chosen such that 24x60x60 of them fit into one solar day?

: A: Because everybody else keeps time by the Sun - sexagesimally since the Sumerians.


Except on leap second day, when the sexagesimalliness breaks with an
irregular radix.  In effect, the proposal to stop inserting leap
seconds restores this invariant that goes back to the Sumerians by
eliminating the irregular radix :)

Warner