[LEAPSECS] leap second roundup 2017

[Poul-Henning Kamp]

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In message <59EE28F3.60102 at edlmax.com>, Brooks Harris writes:

> To me, the frustrating thing about the discussion at ITU and elsewhere 
> is the apparent outright refusal to consider a "second timescale". It is 
> considered and then dismissed out of hand in:

The reason is very simple:  UTC is mandated by laws, treaties, UN
body regulations, international standards, national standards and
regulatory rulemaking so many places that people don't even know
where to start counting.

And that's just the paperwork!

Next level of hurt would be all the software which might mention
"UTC", for instance in aviation.

If you magically got all the paperwork changed, you would see a
repeat of the GMT fiasco, where UTC is still called "GMT" 50 years
later...

The only feasible way to introduce a new timescale in this space,
would be to make it a limited-audience scientific timescale,
for instance for astronomers to point their telescopes with.

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