#counting stuff

[thesmallestclown]

Counted them all. That's it. There is nothing else in this image.

[save-the-leap-second]

We might not see leap seconds after 2035 🤯

This is the best article about the 2022 vote to abolish the leap second I've seen so far. Unlike the articles on pop-science magazines, it's clear it's written by a time nerd who knows what he's talking about and goes into the details and subtleties of the process.

First, the author, Randy Au, covers the difference between UTC, UT1, and TAI. I mentioned this in a previous post, but the summary is this:

The length of UT1 seconds comes from rotation of the earth.

The length of TAI seconds follows the SI definition.

UTC seconds are the same length as TAI seconds, but leap seconds are added.

Apparently, UTC was developed as a "compromise" between the other two systems.

The article then goes on to quote the actual wording of CGPM's Resolution 4, and it seems I was mistaken about the outcome being to abolish the leap second by 2035 "or later." In fact, the resolution says:

CGPM [...] decides that the maximum value for the difference (UT1-UTC) will be increased in, or before, 2035,

requests that the CIPM [...] propose a new maximum value for the difference (UT1-UTC) that will ensure the continuity of UTC for at least a century,

So actually, the plan is to replace (the current system of adding) leap seconds (i.e. adding one every time the difference UT1-UTC exceeds 0.9 seconds) in or before 2035, not after.

Randy Au then goes on to say that, even though CGPM hasn't decided yet what the difference will be increased to, people believe that the ultimate goal is to have UTC be based on the SI second while also, somehow, remaining continuous. This seems borderline paradoxical, and the solution may involve previously unseen temporal anomalies such as UTC seconds or longer periods of time running half as fast or following leap smears. This is a take I haven't heard before, but it may have been made obsolete by 2023's discussion on leap minutes.

Randy Au then goes on to talk about the 2023 ITU conference (which the article was written one year before), and has the pessimistic view that the ITU will likely affirm the CGPM's vote. He quotes the New York Times:

Felicitas Arias, the former director of the time department at the B.I.P.M. and now a visiting astronomer at the Paris Observatory, said that negotiations between the two organizations convinced her that the I.T.U. will support the Versailles vote.

Maybe three days after the first pandigital minute (June 27, 2034 at 6:59 PM) will be the last leap second in history.

[to-the-fishies]

The other day, I brought a whole bunch of my v. old clothes, which had languished at my parents’ house, home to my apartment - because, you know, it’s impossible to trash or donate stuff without first going over it thoroughly, and also, hi, I am basically a nascent hoarder but trying not to be.

I read a number of useful “How big should my closet be?” and “How do you know when it’s time to let go of a garment?” articles, and was prepared to Sally Forth into evaluating not simply the stuff from Mom and Dad’s, but my whole closet.

Which was great until I had shirts and trousers and dresses all over every single surface of my room, like a clothing bomb had detonated.

...why did I start typing this.  Did I want to enumerate things for you?  Did I just want to share that I have 15 garments which I will wear One Last Time before bidding them adieu forever?  Did I want to ask if someone wanted to claim a Verbal Vorpal Sword shirt (which is not well-suited to anyone with largish breasts)?   Well, anyway.  I’m making progress.

[hopeforbpd]