[HN Gopher] International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems S...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service
        
       Author : thunderbong
       Score  : 50 points
       Date   : 2023-10-05 11:11 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.iers.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.iers.org)
        
       | lawlessone wrote:
       | I assume they have a 24 hour SLA
        
         | jeffrallen wrote:
         | No, it's only 23.9344696 hours.
        
       | wmf wrote:
       | Defund the IERS so they can't create any more leap seconds.
        
         | fanf2 wrote:
         | Leap seconds are going to be abolished. Should be confirmed at
         | WRC 2023 later this year.
         | 
         | https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-r/opb/rep/R-REP-TF.2511-2022...
         | 
         | https://www.itu.int/hub/publication/s-gen-news-2023-2/
        
         | gumby wrote:
         | It's only because they are slack. If they were more diligent
         | with their cranking the days could last a consistent duration.
        
       | fanf2 wrote:
       | Earlier this year I gave a short presentation which gives some
       | context to the work of the IERS
       | https://dotat.at/@/2023-05-26-whence-time.html
        
       | gumby wrote:
       | I wish they hadn't changed their name from the more evocative
       | "International Earth Rotation Service". It used to make me think,
       | "What if we stopped paying them and they stopped cranking?"
       | 
       | More seriously though, it should remind us all of what a web of
       | relationships and interdependence we have. Those clowns who
       | blithely say "We should just fire half of the civil service"
       | don't even understand how things (barely) work. Its only thanks
       | to the quiet efforts of others (in this case halfway around the
       | world) we can do our own things.
        
         | lucas_membrane wrote:
         | I recall that the US NIST also had some office in Colorado
         | called the Earth Rotation Service. Maybe you can still call
         | them if there is any problem.
        
         | placesalt wrote:
         | > I wish they hadn't changed their name from the more evocative
         | "International Earth Rotation Service". It used to make me
         | think, "What if we stopped paying them and they stopped
         | cranking?"
         | 
         | They always had the single most impressive name for any
         | organization, anywhere. It's a shame it changed.
         | 
         | Edit: typo
        
         | andyjohnson0 wrote:
         | I always imagined them as some kind of ancient, secret order
         | dedicated to ensuring that the earth continues to rotate - but
         | also ruthlessly hunting down and destroying any evidence that
         | it once didn't.
         | 
         | Paging Dan Brown...
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-10-05 23:01 UTC)