I just read an article about time-keeping that made a claim that puzzles me:
"But most people — including commercial programmers, who write the critical software that controls public and private infrastructure — don’t know about the leap second, Matsakis said, and that means their code doesn’t account for it. So when a new leap second rolls around, things break. Reddit, LinkedIn, and Yelp all suffered issues related to the last leap second in 2012. And, more seriously, computer booking systems used by Qantas Airlines all struggled, delaying flights by hours. "In some cases, it is impossible to update systems before the next leap second arrives. Matsakis spoke of a Switzerland power company whose backup systems only turn on when needed—otherwise, they sit disconnected from the network. When they were activated in a test after the last leap second, they crashed." What's this about? What would crash because we didn't account for a leap second? Why wouldn't a plane scheduled to leave at 13:44:20 on a certain day simply leave at 13:44:19 instead? The article is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/the-over-perfection-of-humans-global-clock/384355/ --- Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 /* Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery. -from _Calvin & Hobbes_ */ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
