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Re:Should the leap second be eliminated? by gojomo on Thursday January 19, 2012 @05:26AM (#3483897)
I like the leap-hour once every 500 years or so idea.

But I suspect in practice, it would never be actually assessed. When it comes due, everyone alive would be more accustomed to the 'hour off' times than the 500-years-ago time, so natural tendencies to eschew change in such matters would make following-through on the promised leap-hour unlikely.

Re:Should the leap second be eliminated? by Splenivore on Thursday January 19, 2012 @06:49AM (#3484069)
We’re willing to shift our clocks by an hour twice a year to “save daylight,” whatever that means. Correcting for 500 years of clock drift is a far more tangible reason. It’s rather pessimistic to assume that the people of 500 years from now would be unwilling to implement this.
Re:Should the leap second be eliminated? by extension on Thursday January 19, 2012 @07:23AM (#3484182)
Correcting for clock drift is not tangible in a practical sense though. We (allegedly) have good reasons for changing our schedule twice a year. Changing it because that's how people lived 500 years ago is not any kind of reason, and I think our ancestors will just laugh at the idea when it comes time for the leap hour.

So if these leap seconds are causing problems, I don't see any reason to keep them. By the time the consequences of getting rid of them are noticeable, they will no longer be negative consequences.

Re:Should the leap second be eliminated? by SquareWheel on Thursday January 19, 2012 @07:45AM (#3484250)
I think the counter-argument is the United State's resistance to metric, despite the obvious superiority to the system.
Re:Should the leap second be eliminated? by gojomo on Thursday January 19, 2012 @03:07PM (#3486389)
I'll be spinning in my grave, cryogenic storage tank, or positronic simulation matrix if our ancestors 500 years' hence are still observing (and thus familiar with) "Daylight Savings Time".