Time Lords kill leap seconds, which they warn could become the new Y2K bug

The Time Lords at the General Conference on Weights and Measures (GCPM)* have decided to stop introducing leap seconds and cited 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 puny meatbags 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 excising a second – a negative leap second – because Earth’s rotation has sped up a little. …