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The Future of Leap Seconds
@10u8 writes "Since 1972 precision clocks around the world have ticked using atomic seconds, but earth rotation is slowing down. Leap seconds have been inserted in order to keep noon happening at noon, but they upset some timekeepers. Recent discussions have considered
discontinuing leap seconds in UTC, and a colloquium in Torino next month will present results. It is a matter of international significance."
Time is an Illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
Me: Wanna go have sex?
Hot Girl: OK! When?
Me: I'm on lunch break in 3 Maxtors and a Tape.
Hot Girl: I'll pay for the Hotel room.
I propose we keep the earth spinning at a constant rate by detonating thousands of nukes at certain places once every four years. This will produce a Catherine Wheel effect and the earth will speed back to its original spin rate.
I am going to patent this idea but I fear itll be 500 years before I get it processed.
Why not?
Asshats from the Industrial Revolution days make us do a frickin' "leap hour" twice a year anyways, one of which violates causality. Fuckin' Daylight Savings Time.
What drooling asshat decided that it'd be a good idea if, every year, there was one day when everyone's heart/respiration rates slowed down to one beat/breath per hour, and about six months later, these same people should be able to start a 20 minute download that finishes 40 minutes before it started?
Fine if you've got a black hole nearby for the former, and fine if you can travel faster than light for the latter.
The day we have those technologies, fine. Until then, no, no, no, no, no, these are bad, bad, bad, bad, bad ideas.
A bird, a plane, No SUPERMAN
When he messed around with the Earth's rotation to save Lois Lane, he got lazy and messed it up by a tiny bit. Now look whats happened, we're off by a couple seconds now.
This is what happens when you get an alien to do a human's job.
It's about time someone did something to correct these errors.
(it's funny, go ahead and laugh, willya?)
Need a Linux consultant in New Orleans?
Interesting. So is there any way that we can use a similar technique to get Nov 2004 to arrive a little sooner? Please?
It seems to me that we should get rid of the concept of seconds altogether. The second was devised in the Sumerian culture, along with such bizarre ideas as a circle having 360 degrees.
The French of course stole the concept of decimalization from Thomas Jefferson and applied it to a variety of measurements, but failed to carry it to a good conclusion by decimalizing time (it seems everything French starts off well but is never really completed).
It seems to me that real progress should be made by dividing the day up into decimal units of time, and the circle into decimal units of arc, thus eliminating the second as a unit of measure.
Might as well make an event out of our nonsensical system of labelling the current time.
OK, we can slashdot a webiste, surely we can fix this. Ok, on 3 let's all start running west. 1...2...3...
running though is not so popular among this crowd...
America is to blame! We are only 5% of the Earth's population, but we use 80% of the angular momentum. Scientists have warned us for years about global slowing, but big business Republicans, and Democrats with large angular momentum consuming projects in their districts refuse to address the issue. The only viable solution is to make papier mache puppets and parade them down Pennsylvania Avenue.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Is France a member?
Do they take requests? ("I'd like an extra long sunset this Friday night... I have a date!")