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Wacko Atomic Clock

11/02/2008 11:14 PM

Sunday, Nov 2, 2008.

Whilst sitting here pondering some new innanity to post to CR4, the WWVB-controlled 'atomic' clock on my wall went into fibrillation. A minute ago it read 23:09. Now it reads 22:10.

This morning around 2 AM it went the other way.

Have we just passed through a time warp and, if so, does anyone know if the bars are still open?

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#1

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/03/2008 12:13 AM

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.

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/03/2008 12:44 AM

"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.

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#5
In reply to #2

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 4:27 AM

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.

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#10
In reply to #5

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 8:52 AM

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...

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#11
In reply to #10

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 9:25 AM

Hello ca1c0cat:

I envy you, at least by utilizing wave function you have a reasonable chance of predicting your wife's behavior. Mine not only operates on the uncertainty principle, but also chaos theory. The mathematics necessary to predict anything my wife does are staggeringly complex.

PS. Have you heard about Heisenberg being pulled over by a traffic cop? When the officer asked if he knew how fast he was going, Heisenberg replied no! However I know where I am.

By the my cat is educated every time sheacts

up I inform her about Schroders cat

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#12
In reply to #11

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 9:34 AM

now that really is a physics joke!

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#13
In reply to #11

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 9:52 AM

A look at my attempt to edit my last post will clearly illustrate the effects of HAL'S psychosis, and Murphy's Law. The computer glitched and the editor locked me out simultaneously. Perhaps I should back the clock speed down .1 GHz?

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#14
In reply to #11

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 12:57 PM

"...but also chaos theory. The mathematics necessary to predict anything my wife does are staggeringly complex."

--

I know what you mean. I sneezed and nine months later she had a kid.

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#17
In reply to #14

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 1:28 PM

Gesundheit!

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#19
In reply to #14

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 9:09 PM

I don't think that was a sneeze, unless you breathe through your....

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#20
In reply to #19

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/05/2008 12:14 AM

...snorkel? Nah, but I think that Butterfly Effect has been beaten to death. Time for a new paradigm, non?

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#28
In reply to #20

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/06/2008 9:37 PM

Snorkel??? Is that what you call it? Either you are from another planet, or you've come up with a new use for it!

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#30
In reply to #28

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/06/2008 10:19 PM

Nano nano.

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#31
In reply to #30

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/07/2008 12:12 AM

As I suspected!

BTW, where's the bottom half of your avatar?

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#32
In reply to #31

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/07/2008 1:44 AM

She's taking a shower too.

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#3

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/03/2008 4:21 AM

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....

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#4
In reply to #3

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/03/2008 11:10 AM

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

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

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#9
In reply to #4

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 8:32 AM

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?

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#6

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 4:38 AM

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.

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#7

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 6:21 AM

Well since Time is a relative thing who really knows what time it is.
We could blame it on the New Particle Collider but its already broke.
Gee they just don't make them like they used to back on my home planet.

Guess it didn't come with a 1 year warranty like my toaster did.

I noticed my wifes alarm clock kept resetting itself too. But with the area I live in has frequent power fluxes so I'm used to it. I used to have a clock that would start to run backwards every time the power went out and came back on. So I'm used really weird clocks.

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#8

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 7:09 AM

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!

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#15

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 1:13 PM

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

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#16
In reply to #15

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 1:25 PM

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

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

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#18
In reply to #16

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/04/2008 8:24 PM

Hello europium

I'm never sure which way is when.

Kind Regards....

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#21
In reply to #18

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/05/2008 12:28 AM

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).

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#22
In reply to #21

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/05/2008 8:27 PM

Perhaps I can help, yes the Tardis does have a telephone in the front door. Unfortunately it doesn't work, certainly the doctor processes the technology to get it to function, so I would have to believe it's nonoperative intentionally. Can you imagine the long-distance charges from Alpha Centauri.

Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space)

"At the time of the series' debut in 1963, the police box was still a common fixture in British cities. It provided a direct telephone link to the local police station, but, contrary to popular conception, the telephone was on the exterior of the box, and the box itself was designed for use as a temporary holding cell." Winnipeg.

Now you know everything you need to know. Trust me Time travel is a pain. The effects of special relativity play havoc with my atomic wristwatch...... not to mention the wear and tear on the brakes bringing two metric tons to a stop from .99999999C

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#23
In reply to #22

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/05/2008 8:42 PM

Well, then. If braking is such a problem (and trust me, it is), then I need to mail you some of my "depleted" inertialess matter. Depleted in the sense that it lacks Higgs bosons. Do you have any idea how pervasive those little buggers are in ordinary matter and the friggin' straights I have to go through to extract them? Almost as hard as getting skunks out from under a pier-and-beam house. Jellied fish works, but I still have no idea how to extract the Norwegians once the skunks take leave.

Please advise.

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#24
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Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/06/2008 6:01 AM

Higgs bosuns like lutefisk? I had no idea!

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#40
In reply to #21

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

12/18/2008 9:55 AM

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.

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#25

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/06/2008 1:54 PM

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.

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#26
In reply to #25

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/06/2008 3:48 PM

HUH? (Wha'd he say?)

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#27
In reply to #26

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/06/2008 9:23 PM

Hello EnviroMan

Are you a relative of GWB?

Kind Regards....

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#29
In reply to #27

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/06/2008 10:19 PM

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

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#33
In reply to #27

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/07/2008 7:50 AM

No, because I'm still alive, and if I was kin to that lot, I'd have shot myself years ago!

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#34

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/11/2008 3:57 PM

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?

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#36
In reply to #34

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/11/2008 9:20 PM

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 0.51 / 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.

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#37
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Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/12/2008 6:56 AM

You say atomic, I say tomato, let's call the whole thing off...

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#35

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/11/2008 6:02 PM

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

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#38
In reply to #35

Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/12/2008 1:41 PM

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

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#39
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Re: Wacko Atomic Clock

11/12/2008 5:01 PM

No worries, they'll just charge you a lot more for the next one you buy...

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