This year's Y2K: 'Leap second' threatens to break the Internet

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

    This year's Y2K: 'Leap second' threatens to break the Internet


    Posted: 18 Jan 2015
    Last week, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (yup, that exists) declared that we're all living about a second ahead of where we should be -- the Earth's rotation has slowed, and we'll need an extra second for the planet to catch up. The IERS announced that the leap second will take place on June 30.

    The problem is that the computer software controlling much of the Web doesn't play nicely with leap seconds. The previous leap second, which took place in 2012, brought down Reddit, Yelp (YELP), LinkedIn (LNKD, Tech30), FourSquare, Gawker and StumbleUpon, among other sites and apps. Qantas' entire computer system went down for hours, forcing employees to check in passengers by hand.
    More: This year's Y2K: 'Leap second' threatens to break the Internet - Jan. 13, 2015

    Original IERS bulletin:

    INTERNATIONAL EARTH ROTATION AND REFERENCE SYSTEMS SERVICE (IERS)

    SERVICE INTERNATIONAL DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE ET DES SYSTEMES DE REFERENCE

    SERVICE DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE DE L'IERS
    OBSERVATOIRE DE PARIS
    61, Av. de l'Observatoire 75014 PARIS (France)
    Tel. : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 26
    FAX : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 91
    e-mail : services.iers@obspm.fr
    http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc

    Paris, 5 January 2015

    Bulletin C 49

    To authorities responsible for the measurement and distribution of time


    UTC TIME STEP
    on the 1st of July 2015


    A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of June 2015.
    The sequence of dates of the UTC second markers will be:

    2015 June 30, 23h 59m 59s
    2015 June 30, 23h 59m 60s
    2015 July 1, 0h 0m 0s

    The difference between UTC and the International Atomic Time TAI is:

    from 2012 July 1, 0h UTC, to 2015 July 1 0h UTC : UTC-TAI = - 35s
    from 2015 July 1, 0h UTC, until further notice : UTC-TAI = - 36s



    Leap seconds can be introduced in UTC at the end of the months of December
    or June, depending on the evolution of UT1-TAI. Bulletin C is mailed every
    six months, either to announce a time step in UTC or to confirm that there
    will be no time step at the next possible date.


    Daniel Gambis
    Head
    Earth Orientation Center of IERS
    Observatoire de Paris, France
    Kari's Avatar Posted By: Kari
    18 Jan 2015



  1. Posts : 20,583
    Win-7-Pro64bit 7-H-Prem-64bit
       #1

    I blame daylight saving time :)
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 17,545
    Windows 10 Pro x64 EN-GB
    Thread Starter
       #2

    ThrashZone said:
    I blame daylight saving time :)
    You are not often right but this time you are wrong . UTC does not care about DST, it does not have DST.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #3

    How about the earths rotational speed has been changing sense the earth has existed. Now we just have a way of measuring the time difference.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,167
    W10 32 bit, XUbuntu 18.xx 64 bit
       #4

    I agree just get rid of leap seconds. Wouldn't a simple solution be to skip the auto update time check for that day that has a leap second adjustment?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 167
    Windows 7 x64 Home Premium SP1
       #5

    Wow, another stupid joke. People thought computers would break when the switch from 1999-2000 happened. Well, guess what, the computers didn't break, so I don't think the Internet will break either.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 17,545
    Windows 10 Pro x64 EN-GB
    Thread Starter
       #6

    This is not a joke. Last time the leap second was added to universal time in 2012 it crashed some really major global sites. The reason for this is still valid and explained in article. Read the article, link in first post.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 31,238
    Windows 11 Pro x64 [Latest Release and Release Preview]
       #7

    I started updating & upgrading non Y2K compatible systems in late 1998, and was fully employed on this task until November 1999 - The reason that the computer systems did not have major issues due to the use of two digit systems for year recognition was due to the work performed to correct the issue before it happened.

    Hopefully due to the issues with the last leap second the required software updates will be in-place before the event
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
       #8

    Agreed.

    The procedure is not complicated:

    1. Be aware that a problem exists
    2. Take steps to avoid the problem.

    We do this driving a car instinctually. But when it comes to conceptual problems everyone bumps into walls.


    Thanks for the heads up Kari!
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 5,941
    Linux CENTOS 7 / various Windows OS'es and servers
       #9

    Hi there

    Yet another SCAM designed for "Consultancy firms" to charge mega huge fees for doing non existent work for a non existent problem. Remember some "consultants" back in 1999 were getting paid over 2000 USD A DAY in money of that time --probably worth around 3,000 USD a day in today's money for simply eyeballing some lines of "COBOL" code (if anybody can still remember what that was) for some Banks.

    Some IBM mainframe OS'es had to be designed to cope with a 4 digit year -- the old easy way in IBM systems to ensure that things like tapes couldn't be overwritten was to label them with an expiry date of 99.360. A fairly neat and easy get around was to assume dates 00 - 25 say were 2000 onwards and 26 - 99 were 1900. This quick fix was OK for most things - of course insurance policies etc needed to be reviewed but the work was essentially very tedious and not complicated at all. I remember some consultants who made enough in a few months to BUY their homes outright and often a second one. Afraid nothing like that around these days especially where stuff gets off shored / Out sourced to the cheapest markets regardless of quality.

    Nothing crashed and the changes were fairly trivial to implement. Made a packet for some I.T people who would have to do a lot more complex things today at MUCH LOWER rates - probably lucky if an average I.T contractor could get about 700 USD a day now,

    The only possible issue might be that your Sat Nav works incorrectly for a millisec or so or a rapacious BANK will charge you a days overdraft fee if the date changes 1 millisec before your money arrives.

    Satnavs and GPS need accurate time measurements but this will all be adjusted without anybody even noticing it. Satellite time and GPS are regularly updated to compensate for orbit variations etc etc.

    In any case the rotation of the planet is not a constant unvarying value - so basically if we want to use a time system which works as we expect it to do (i.e Daylight is in the morning and afternoon, evening and night are in the dark) we will have to make micro adjustments from time to time.

    Perhaps we should resort to "Galactic Core Time" then there's no argument.

    The current system based on frequency of Caesium atom emission frequencies might be changed as our understanding of Quantum Physics changes a lot of perceptions we had about the nature of the Universe.

    Cheers
    jimbo
    Last edited by jimbo45; 19 Jan 2015 at 08:59.
      My Computer


 
Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:19.
Find Us