convert time to UTC seconds since epoch

[Steve Allen]

On Jul 20, 6:57 pm, Chris Rebert <c... at rebertia.com> wrote:
[regarding trust of POSIX vis a vis leap seconds]
> I'm not saying they necessarily should, but they're standardized and
> the `time` module is based on POSIX/Unix-ish assumptions; not
> following POSIX would be inconsistent and problematic.
> <Mr.-Mackey-voice>Breaking standards is bad, M'Kay?</Mr.-Mackey-voice>

Standards are good.  When it comes to leap seconds there can be no
current implementation which satisfies everyone because of this
http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/epochtime.html
Until the delegates to ITU-R SG7 produce a better recommendation there
is going to be chaotic disregard of the standard where folks with
different needs choose different practical implementations.