[time-nuts] Leap second? Yay or nay?

[Jim Lux]

On 7/1/12 10:54 PM, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
> In message <4FF0F373.1020504 at pacific.net>, Brooke Clarke writes:
>
>> Would you rather have these minor problems or have a much bigger
>> one when they make a larger correction?
>
> But isn't that exactly why it is a problem ?
>
> News coverage of leapseconds are mostly along the lines of "What
> can you do with an extra second ?" as filler material on page 7
> Whereas coverage of DST changes is "REMEMBER TO SET YOUR CLOCKS!"
> on the frontpage.
>
>

which is an interesting thing.. if instead of DST (for which I think 
there's little practical reason to have in the first place).. say you 
just shifted the clock one minute earlier or later each day, gradually 
moving it to the new alignment relative to solar day.

Most people wouldn't notice: they use their phone as a time standard, 
and the phone would display the current "time".  People with analog 
clocks would reset them.  People with drifting digital clocks would 
reset them (just like I do with the one in the car every once in a while).

Sure, there would be some whining from software developers at first, but 
once you've figured out to smoothly handle arbitrary drops and adds, 
it's done forever.

Yes, we'd lose the annual cue to replace our smoke alarm batteries.

Oh, and we'd lose the clever newspaper articles about more/less drinking 
time, due to bar closing on or after the transition time.

An abrubt 1 hour change is much more disruptive for things like employee 
time cards than a gradual one minute change per day.