http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second
More TAI seconds have accumulated since 1972 than have UTC seconds because the Earth is slowing down and so to keep UTC in sync with the Earth it is necessary to occasionally "leap over", that is, "not count" one of the seconds that TAI is a count of. A leap second occuring: TAI: ... 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 00 01 02 03 04 ... UTC: ... 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 00 01 02 03 ... I think it's a dumb idea. It would make far more sense to simply tabulate the leap seconds and apply the correction only when time is prepared for presentation as we do with time zones. -- John Hasler jhas...@newsguy.com Elmwood, WI USA -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/874n2rnsjl....@thumper.dhh.gt.org