[tz] Negative leap seconds in mainstream media

[Steve Allen]

On Tue 2021-01-12T14:34:52+0000 Koning, Paul hath writ:
> Is there any reason to believe that story is more than fiction?

> "Why Scientists Want to Shorten the Minute to 59 Seconds"
>
> https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a35165130/leap-second-shorten-minute-earth-rotation/

No, but it is a common fiction that has arisen because the content of
the negotiations that led to the inception of leap seconds was not
explained.

At the time of inception no scientist believed that leap seconds were
the best way to regulate time.  The closest that they could come at
IAU was to assert that leap seconds were the "optimum solution" while
redacting all of the arguments and discussion indicating that the
problem that needed a solution was legal and political, not technical.

--
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