Wacko Atomic Clock

At 2 AM it was adjusting for the change to standard time. During the other episode, it was synchronizing with WWVB. At least that's what I think happened. If you come across someone wearing a Star Fleet uniform, you might ask him.

"If you come across someone wearing a Star Fleet uniform, you might ask him."

I tried, but they're all on shore leave.

I knew the clock was changing over to CST at 2 this morning, but its doing so again* is what puzzles me.

I'm just wondering if WWVB hiccuped and that this is third time the clock has done this today. This morning I watched as it switched to CST, but this evening it was switching from CDT to CST again! Somewhere in-between it had to have switched back from CST to CDT.

Wait a minute (I say this loosely)...on closer inspection, this is a Klingon Klock.

Is there anyone else here in CR4 Land who's been experiencing this weirdness?

* It didn't go "the other way" as I said in my original post. I was interrupted while editing my original and my time ran out.

Captains log start date unknown:

I wish I could help, however I have a similar difficulty. I recently purchased a wristwatch that synchronizes with the atomic clock, on initial setup I had to tell the watch where it was and whether or not it was daylight savings time. When I was awakened by the cat early Sunday morning I not only discovered that she was on daylight savings time, but that she was not as far off as I first thought.

I'd assumed I would have to notify my wristwatch it was no longer daylight savings time, however the watch was already displaying the correct time. This led to a second Epiphany. My wristwatch is smarter than the cat, and likely smarter than I am. Due to the installation and subsequent repairs involving my new computer, HAL2008A, my den resembles the bridge of the Enterprise after an attack by both the Romulans and the Klingons, and unfortunately the watch manual is among the carnage.

Mr. Scott has already increased the computers speed by .5 GHz over standard, so I must question its stability (somehow I always end up with psychotic computers) so I'm not confident that HAL is providing the correct time. Currently I have high confidence in the watch's ability to display the correct the second, unfortunately there is an uncertainty about the hour, if I ever locate the manual, possibly the information contained in it would be helpful in resolving your dilemma.

your cat has obviously never heard of Heisenberg and I would expect that the uncertainty principle applies to atomic clocks as well as it does to cats and my wife...

Hello europium

The true answer is simple: Someone forgot to wind up the master clock, then was ill next day, during his absence when the clock perturbations commenced, an untrained junior staffer was sent along to remedy it.

He overwound the spring, and the clock subsequently had an internal malfunction series, resulting in erratic time indication and output.

The forgetful person shall be given a warning upon his return, the junior staffer has now been given full winding instructions so the clock mechanism is not overbanked.

Thus it's all settled now, get some rest.

Kind Regards....

"Someone forgot to wind up the master clock,..."

Well (dons jammies and slippers), that explains it.

Hey europium. Conversely an elephant is a mouse built to government specifications. And his clock is always right! You gonna argue with an elephant with attitude?

Back in 1979 I made an 'atomic clock' and was really pleased at the accuracy, then after a couple of days it just stopped working. I spent a whole day tearing the circuit to bits to find the fault without success and then on the next day it all started to work again! The same thing happened again a month later so I rang the NPL at Teddington to check their master only to be told that the transmitter station at Rugby shuts down on the first Tuesday every month for maintenance!!!

They really do walk among us.

We had this recent exercise to get a 4'x2'x2' container of water along a 150' runway.

One of the team borrowed the wind-up mechanism from an atomic clock hanging on someones wall. We only borrowed it for some proving trials for about an hour on 3 occasions and replaced it each time.

Sorry, we didn't know it was yours, didn't mean to overwind it and we didn't mean to cause any harm!

Ahhh...problems with your time machine, eh? I recommend replacing it with a heavier-duty unit like this: Mine never malfunctions.

When you replace one of those, is it then a ReTardis?

WHO said that??? Did I say that???

Hello europium

I'm never sure which way is when.

Kind Regards....

Hark!

Does Horton hear a transcendentally-dimensional Whovian?

Just wondering, Sparky...the TARDIS (I'm not shouting folks, it's an ACRONYM_^*) is equipped with just about everything else the Dear Doctor needs, but I've never seen an actual telephone in that thing, have you?

_{* ACRONYM -- Alphabetic Co-location which Reduces Or Numbs Your Memory (kudos to TheVoices for this clarification).}

Yes the TARDIS has a telephone (you have obviously missed an episode),but it is not on the inside, it is in a rear or side panel with a small door.( I know,I really do need to get out more). It does not however have a clock.

Are people still being hyped by that "ATOMIC" misnomer for RC/Radio-Conrolled? (Or by the microwave dish icon (for rf tower) on some watch dials?) Maybe Barocky Albalboa can bring about a change to such shenanigans in a way we can all believe in.

HUH? (Wha'd he say?)

Hello EnviroMan

Are you a relative of GWB?

Kind Regards....

I doubt it. I didn't see him asking Condi's permission to go to the poddy.

What happened when you validated the battery voltage? Or did I miss the obvious omission? Usually oddball antics in battery operated electronics at least get a perfunctory check of the battery/terminals etc. don't they?

I checked the ²³⁸Pu pellets...

...and they're just fine. Btw, I use them in a homemade RTG (radioisotope thermoelectric generator) that I built in my parents' basement as a science-fair project. It will have powered my clock for 23 years come Nov 22nd, 2008.

As you know, ²³⁸Pu decays with a half-life of 87.7 years. This means my clock battery has lost 0.5^{1 / 87.7} or 0.787% of per year since 1985 and right now is operating at 83.4% of its original capacity. Unfortunately the bi-metallic thermocouples I'm using also degrade over time and they're presently operating at only 80.3% efficiency, meaning my clock battery is now producing only 319 watts.

I really should install a Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG) that uses free-piston Stirling engines coupled to linear alternators to convert heat to electricity, but you know how these projects go on a shoestring budget. One of my early prototypes demonstrated an average efficiency of 23%, but I'm sure greater efficiency can be achieved by increasing the temperature ratio between the hot and cold ends of the generator. The use of non-contacting moving parts, non-degrading flexural bearings, and a lubrication-free and hermetically sealed environment would prolly help as well.

But, I took your suggestion and had my assistant check the battery. I have several clocks around the house and asked her to check them all. Here she is making sure the radiation levels aren't terribly excessive. Apparently she doesn't think so because she's not wearing her bunny suit today.

Like I said in my original post, it's an atomic clock.

It's a 12 cent chip, what do you expect.

I'm calling the Federal Trade Commision. I've been ripped off!