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US DoD Poll On Leap Seconds

@10u8 writes "For time scales to leap, or not to leap, has been the question here before. The ITU-R will be considering leap seconds again in a few weeks. This week the USNO posted a survey about leap seconds by the US DoD. The issue has civil implications as well as technical ones, and there is a demonstrated way to respect the history, remove leaps from navigation and POSIX time, yet keep the sun overhead at noon."

24 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Are leap seconds really all that important? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Compare absolute time vs relative time vs elapsed time vs hammer time...

  2. Re:Not quite by moderatorrater · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, but anyone close enough to give the sun a nooner would get burned up.

  3. You and me both! by BitterOldGUy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd be more interested in killing Daylight Savings Time than dealing with Leap Year.

    My cat wakes me up in the morning. She doesn't adjust. Because of her, I'm a morning person. Unfortunately, 90% of society are night people. Meaning, any social activity is past my bedtime and I become a wet blanket because I start yawning at everything at 20:00.

    1. Re:You and me both! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think your REAL problems are as follows:

      You have a cat.

      Your cat controls you.

      You characterize and categorize people (90%, society, night people) in terms of what they can give you (social activity).

      You speak in military (24 hour) time unnecessarily.

      You admit your own faults, but rather than fix them, you prefer to revel in your own meekness.

    2. Re:You and me both! by BitterOldGUy · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think your REAL problems are as follows:

      You have a cat.

      Your cat controls you.

      You characterize and categorize people (90%, society, night people) in terms of what they can give you (social activity).

      You speak in military (24 hour) time unnecessarily.

      You admit your own faults, but rather than fix them, you prefer to revel in your own meekness.

      Dogs have masters.

      Cats have servants.

      I recognize my overlord and serve her. And as a result, my life is filled with a wondrous furry glory!

      The Egyptians worshiped cats as gods and the cats have never forgotten that.

      Military time is also computer server time. And if you deal with computers across at least one time zone you may want to use Zulu time too. Oooooo, I used another military term. You know why!? Because, I serve in the army of cats!

    3. Re:You and me both! by techno-vampire · · Score: 5, Funny
      Cats have servants.

      I, for one, welcome our feline overlords. (I'd better, I have one watching me type this, ready to sink his claws into my leg if I type the wrong thing.)

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
  4. Re:Kill DST instead!!!! by CorporateSuit · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd rather have the sun on my face when I'm trying to wake up in the morning than hovering in my rearview while I'm trying to drive home.

    --
    I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
  5. No leap seconds prior to Jan. 20, 2009 please by jayveekay · · Score: 4, Funny

    We don't need even one more second of Bush presidency. :)

  6. Americans are by JustOK · · Score: 1, Funny

    too lazy to deal with anything that even sounds like physical exertion unless they have a multi-million dollar contract.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
    1. Re:Americans are by oldhack · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's cuz our times are valuable, unlike yours, you third-world poor trash!!! Go recycle copper and stuff.

      --
      Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
  7. Re:Are leap seconds really all that important? by xstonedogx · · Score: 5, Funny

    I dunno. When it's Miller Time all those other times kinda look alike.

  8. Re:You and me both! (cat clock adjustments) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    or that she won't wake you up at all!

  9. Re:Explain the Article? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "The fact that kdawson was able to read and understand this article..."

    You must really be new around here.

  10. I know! by tnk1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let's just remove the problem entirely!

    I suggest... the French Republican calendar.

    And a good Tridi, 23 Fructidor, Year 216 to you too.

  11. superman could help by Tr3vin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why don't we just get Superman to fly around the Earth really fast to slightly change its rotation. If he can reverse time, surely he could adjust it sightly so that everything would work out.

  12. Re:Leap seconds fix a diferent problem by nategoose · · Score: 2, Funny

    You had me scared there for a little bit. I thought you were going to explain how dispensing with leap times was going to degrade our orbit and make us either fall into the Sun or fling out into deep space.

  13. Why is this the DoD's responsibility? by k1e0x · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't understand what the DoD has to do with time, standards or measurements.

    Is the DoD trying to say now Muhahaha! Now we control time itself, submit all ye to "civilian time"?

    We need to get the opinion of an expert, not some random poll.. perhaps the DoD should seek the advice of the master of timecube theory Dr. Gene Ray.

    --
    Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
  14. Re:Why not just change time pieces to include the by robo_mojo · · Score: 2, Funny

    It depends on the application. Having one's NFS file server just a second fast will break most Makefiles.

    I think that says more about make than it says about timekeeping.

  15. Re:Leap seconds fix a diferent problem by CorporateSuit · · Score: 4, Funny

    If we dispense with leap seconds then this relationship will slowly change and noon will eventually be dark.

    In that case, we rename "noon" to "midnight", and "midnight" to "noon"
    then "AM" can mean "After-Meridian" and "PM" can mean "Pre-Meridian"
    I thought of everything. Problem solved forever.

    --
    I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
  16. Sun Overhead? by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    What significance does this have for people who live in their parents' basement?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  17. Re:Are leap seconds really all that important? by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Funny
    "And the ugly chick at the bar starts to look good"

    Just make sure to take her home to her house...so when you wake up hungover and see her...you can leave quickly...

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  18. Re:Slightly OT: Earth Rotations? by jeepien · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... does anyone know if the rotation of the earth around the sun mean that we actually rotate 366.25 times per revolution, or 364.25?

    Yes, of course someone does.

  19. Re:Leap seconds fix a diferent problem by Myopic · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's a great idea! Actually, let's do one better, and we'll change the names of the times whenever it drifts by six hours: we'll call noon "six o'clock", and whatnot. Actually, gosh, let's go all the way and do it for every hour. So, if we drift by an hour, then we'll rename "one o'clock" "two o'clock", and whatnot. That'll keep it all about right. No, wait, actually, we should do it for every minute -- no, let's do it for seconds! So, every time it gets off by a second, we'll add a second to the middle of the night!

    Nobody will even notice an extra second in the middle of the night, except nerdy scientist types.

  20. Re:Leap seconds fix a diferent problem by BrokenHalo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Averages are no help. The Earth's rotation is slowing down.

    Ah. I knew there was a reason why I find it that much harder to get out of bed in the morning. I thought it was due to the fact that I'm past my use-by date... ;-)