[LEAPSECS] inaugural effects of abandoning leaps

[Rob Seaman]

On Jan 21, 2013, at 10:28 AM, Steve Allen wrote:


> Radio Regulation 2.5 implies that UTC is connected with earth rotation:

> 

>    2.5 Whenever a date is used in connection with Coordinated

>    Universal Time (UTC), this date shall be that of the prime

>    meridian at the appropriate time, the prime meridian

>    corresponding to zero degrees geographical longitude.


On Jan 21, 2013, at 12:01 PM, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:


> Grasping at straws, are we ?



We've gotten quite good at grasping straw: http://youtu.be/JxbMYx8OFds :-)

As with the two timestamps above, clocks are subdivisions of calendars.  The concept of a prime meridian is an implicit statement that clocks are approximations to subdivisions of the synodic day, that is, that clocks keep mean solar time.

On the other hand, a clock that is not an approximation to solar time will be ultimately incommensurable with the calendar.  It is notions like leap hours that grasp at straws.

Rob