[LEAPSECS] metafilter followup of the leap rant

[Rob Seaman]

On Jan 2, 2014, at 8:43 AM, Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:


> On Jan 2, 2014, at 4:25 AM, Rob Seaman wrote:

> 

>> On Jan 2, 2014, at 1:48 AM, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk at phk.freebsd.dk> wrote:

>> 

>>> Ignorance is never good policy.

>>> 

>>> Poul-Henning

>> 

>> The irony is strong with this one.

>> 

>> "Day" is a more established concept than duration.  Both are needed to express the inherent complexity of timekeeping in either real or virtual worlds.

> 

> Only for some applications....  Even astronomers need to deal with durations that are affected by the changes in the length of the day, so saying one is more fundamental than the other from that community is picking and choosing...

> 

> Warner


I said "more established", not "more fundamental" - or do you think stopwatches came before day and night?

Does anybody have references for units of precise (short) duration prior to Galileo's pendulum?

Rob