It seems Canada switched sides! No mention of China's stand in the article.

-- Richard

On 19-Jan-12, at 2:51 PM, Daniel R. Tobias wrote:


On Thu, January 19, 2012 9:03 am, Tony Finch wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16625614

I knew it... it's enough of a "hot button" issue among the handful of
people who care about it that nobody wants to commit to actually taking any action, so it will just keep bouncing around between study committees
indefinitely.  Maybe 100 years from now they'll still be debating it.

That's what happens when you've got something that polarizes the
interested parties sharply, with one subset strongly favoring change,
another subset strongly favoring the status quo, and the vast masses
outside these groups not particularly caring one way or the other, so that there will never be enough massive outside pressure to force the governing
bodies to take action instead of calling for yet another committee.

It's not like this is an issue that will lead to people marching on the
capitol, rallying under the Washington Monument to hear a charismatic
speaker saying he has a dream of no more leap seconds (or of leap seconds forever), or holding tea parties or occupation encampments to press for one side or the other on this issue. These sorts of mass movements can sometimes force action when the politicians would rather just keep batting
the hot potatoes around, but they're not going to develop here.


--
Dan
Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/
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| Richard B. Langley E-mail: l...@unb.ca | | Geodetic Research Laboratory Web: http://www.unb.ca/GGE/ | | Dept. of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering Phone: +1 506 453-5142 | | University of New Brunswick Fax: +1 506 453-4943 | | Fredericton, N.B., Canada E3B 5A3 | | Fredericton? Where's that? See: http:// www.fredericton.ca/ |
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