Time Lords kill leap seconds, before they become the new Y2K bug

The Time Lords at the General Conference on Weights and Measures (GCPM)* have decided to stop introducing leap seconds, citing the likelihood they could cause problems with internet of things devices – and therefore a Y2K scale remediation effort – as a reason for the change. As The Register reported last week, the GCPM works to harmonize Universal Time – UT1, which boffins calculate using the changing speed of Earth’s rotation – and the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) standard that humans use to set time. We big-brained hominids can set standards but can’t do much about the fact that the speed of Earth’s rotation is variable. When our planet’s spin slows, the GCPM adds leap seconds so that UT1 and UTC are in synch. In recent years, they have even pondered a negative leap second because Earth’s rotation has sped up a little. Like all good standards orgs, the GCPM conducts years-long debates about its work. …