pep proposal : A date object for the standard library

[Robin Becker]

.
.....
>>
>I think there may be a need for a long term dating system, but that
>isn't the same as counting femtoseconds. The IAU routinely adjust
>sidereal time with leap seconds etc as the Earth's rotation changes.
>
>A true dating system would need to take such events into account as
>otherwise transactions could take place in non-time. Of course the
>difficulty is not that of counting the femtoseconds but of mapping them
>back into our familiar days and months.
as evidence I offer 

http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html

from which

As of 1 January 1999,
        TAI is ahead of UTC   by 32 seconds.
        TAI is ahead of GPS   by 19 seconds.
        GPS is ahead of UTC   by 13 seconds.

there's clearly more to dating than a simple counter :(
-- 
Robin Becker