ON OCTOBER 4th 1582 the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian in many European countries. The following day was October 15th 1582. The change provoked chaos, as landlords demanded a full month’s rent and greedy bankers attached a full month’s interest to loans, while workers went unpaid for the eleven missing days. Unsurprisingly, riots ensued.
To listen to some pundits, June 30th 2015 will see similar chaos. At midnight tonight there will be a “leap second”. The day will be lengthened by one second, in order to realign Coordinated universal Time (UCT), the main standard regulating the world’s clocks, with solar time. This chronological quirk, many worry, will befuddle computer systems.
The last leap-second was added during a weekend in 2012. That time, the computer system of Qantas, an Australian airline, crashed and 400 flights were delayed. But tonight will be the first time since 1997 that a leap-second was added on a working day, with financial markets in full swing. And over the last two decades trading has become much more dependent on...Continue reading
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