> Even better would be to move everyone to Unix time, or even better yet
> International Atomic Time, which doesn't have all that pesky leap second
> stuff. Then we just attach some large nuclear rockets to Mount
> Kilimanjaro and slow down the rate of Earth's rotation for a nice even
> metric day of 100000 seconds.
Unix time, as in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time ?
Unix time is really kind of mucked up when it comes to leap seconds.
The whole discontinuity thing gives two different periods of time the
same Unix time.
You may be on to something with TAI (International Atomic Time). The
disadvantage is that it doesn't easily lend itself toward cleaner
versions of standard units of time. (For instance, there is a metric
ounce which is about the same as an ounce, except with a clean metric
number.)
You get the same benefit of TAI by adopting a simple 28 day month with
a 12 month year. If it is defined as mapping cleanly to TAI time, then
you can cleanly convert back and forth between it and TAI. It also gives
the general populace units of time they're familiar with. It is a given
that certain days of the year migrate across seasons over time, however
the same thing would occur if you use the same time system on another
planet. We'd just be adopting an interplanetary time system before we
had other settlements...
--
Steven Black <blacks@indiana.edu> / KeyID: 8596FA8E
Fingerprint: 108C 089C EFA4 832C BF07 78C2 DE71 5433 8596 FA8E
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