Embed Notice

@bujold @futurebird

>> so as to keep UTC 12:00:00 close to their meridian crossing.

But those leap seconds are irregular and unpredictable. Computers must keep a table to know which days had "23:59:60" showing on the clock, and which days jumped from "23:59:58" straight to "00:00:00". A table that must be updated whenever the IAU decides to add another one of those crocks.

The leap seconds make it impossible to compute a date N seconds in the future.. >>