In message: <67efec27-33c2-4d35-a48f-f7be2ed7d...@pipe.nl> Nero Imhard <n...@pipe.nl> writes: : : On 2010-09-03, at 15:56, p...@2038bug.com wrote: : : >> on the SAME time. Nobody cares here that solar time and civil time : >> are 43 minutes off. : > : > *I* care : : Warner seems to be missing (or ignoring?) the point. : : The difference doesn't matter, the fact that the difference is constant does.
I'm asking these question: Why does it matter so much? What does keeping things in sync buy you that merely measuring the difference and knowing that number doesn't? Why must UTC be used as the method to synchronize "noon and the sun is approx overhead" when we have wide timezones that already do that function? Does the cost of synchronizing to UTC exceed the benefits from synchronizing there and not at a different, easier to change level? Given the changes in how time is used, propagated, etc, in the last 20, 50 or 100 years, does it make sense to reevaluate things? We've undergone a fairy radical paradigm shift in how time is used and consumed in the past 20 years. Doesn't it make sense to reevaluate the system to make sure those items that used to be no big deal but have become big cost items still fit the needs of the majority of the users? Time was when there were hundreds of different fields that relied on having good time to know where they were (navigators, surveyors, etc), but with GPS eliminating those users of UTC, do we have enough of a community of |DUT1| < 1s to justify the costs to the rest of the world, or is it time that this crowd shoulder the costs of the raw data they need? Those are the questions I'm asking... Oh, and with Daylight Savings Time, the difference isn't even constant anymore. And why does MEAN solar time matter more than ACTUAL solar time? And what flavor of MEAN solar time is best? What does solar time mean on mars, the moon, etc? Warner _______________________________________________ LEAPSECS mailing list LEAPSECS@leapsecond.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs