Projection Alarm Clocks

14 Comments

1. redvelvetflames4ever
   Posted August 31, 2010 at 4:12 am | Permalink

   Okay. First of all you need to check that attitude at the door and thank your lucky stars you still have a job. An employee at my place of employment who gets snippy with my management? 3 strikes and your out. Insofar, as the new policy you are correct the way how they want to handle it could certainly lead to illegal practices, but regardless if you sign that paper if they are reported to The Department of Labor wage and hour division that paper is as good as the paper in the bathroom. What is your recourse? Stop the attitude and sign the paper. If anything illegal happens call the department of labor and let them take care of it for you.

2. Ron
   Posted September 2, 2010 at 4:01 am | Permalink

   Fubar – Since you cannot measure the second to any meaningful degree how do you know that your sub-second accuracy is really accurate to anybody’s second other than your own? I suppose one could go to and download something there. There are realistically very few application that actually NEED precise time requirements. Timing is different. And relative time is different.

3. dadick
   Posted September 28, 2010 at 2:57 pm | Permalink

   Well we have gps already, so if it had an atomic clock inside, maybe??

4. laurahal42
   Posted September 30, 2010 at 7:26 pm | Permalink

   Steve -

   I don't see the difference between adding a leap second once in a while and adding a leap day every four years. I see it as a way of correcting the calendar for what's really happening, not as a way of measuring the rate of deceleration of earth's rotation.

   Also, I agree that Mr Plait sounds like he is arguing with himself. I would probably not believe either one of him.

   I do think that the effects of tidal locking will eventually slow the rotation of the earth – very gradually – but I'm not convinced that it can be measured in leap seconds.

5. TheGearJunkies
   Posted October 31, 2010 at 7:27 am | Permalink

   Wow that thing looks like you can run it over with a truck and it would still work.

6. Just Another Muslimah (Gone)
   Posted November 10, 2010 at 3:34 am | Permalink

   LOOOL! They're funny!

7. muffinnuffin
   Posted November 15, 2010 at 9:46 am | Permalink

   I had problems with my digital clock display working intermittently on my 2000 Camry LE. For a while I could tap it and it would work…

8. JimmyHavok
   Posted November 22, 2010 at 4:53 am | Permalink

   A properly working clock is never right, unless it’s one of those radio signal atomic clock thingies that resets itself by the Naval Observatory time signal. It’s always going to be a little bit off from the “real” time.

9. morisly12
   Posted December 16, 2010 at 8:20 pm | Permalink

   On short wave radio tune into “Coordinated Universal Time” (atomic clock) for hourly reports of solar activities, and warnings. Sun storms can cause telecommunication, navigation disruptions, and blackouts. And, can be very harmful to the people living in space. Hence, some of the reasons our star is monitored. These are the probable threats.

10. readyforbluray
    Posted January 4, 2011 at 2:44 pm | Permalink

    Atomic Alarm Clock 5.9 RUS :
    Atomic Alarm Clock – Позволяет заменить стандартные часы в системном трее и… http://twurl.nl/atk4i4

11. iaeuy
    Posted January 15, 2011 at 12:54 pm | Permalink

    Um, clock problems are easy. Just count what fraction of the circle is using the markings on the clock. You can solve them as soon as you understand what an angle is (elementary school?) Or if you seriously want a formula you can plug and chug through:

    Letting x be the hours, y be the minutes (for example, for 5:20 x=5 y=20), and z be the desired angle, the formula is

    z = 30|y/5 – y/60 – x|

    You can also use this to solve Allan's problem:

    You know it will be 3:30 something (next soonest right angle). Then plug in z=90, x=3. Solve the resulting equation to get y=360/11 (or 32.72727272…). This gives a grand total of 3:33:13. So dang, I got a different answer from Jeffrey, I must have gotten it wrong. Jeffrey post your solution please?

12. lare
    Posted August 10, 2011 at 4:31 am | Permalink

    so-called atomic clocks actually run from an internal crystal timer. they incorporate a 60 KHz receiver that tunes a radio data signal broadcast from Ft Collins Colorado. The clock uses the data signal to correct its internal time keeping, so that it will stay in step with the reference. Because the data is digital, it can send info on leap seconds, savings time changes, UTC hour, day and year.

    the only jamming you might be able to accomplish is to cause enough interference to block reception, but that usually is done only once a day, late at night when school is closed. When the clock misses an automatic update, it displays an error flag.

    the old fashioned "IBM" school clocks were made to synchronize to the central controller, usually in the principals office. if you could trick the controller, all the school clocks would change in step.

13. TheJuterjung
    Posted October 22, 2011 at 2:49 pm | Permalink

    i know this is true, i have been studying the sun for 12 years now, and came to the conclusion that the earth is shifting location, either away from the sun or upwards… maybe both. these events are not being reported, and most people are not aware of it. This could have a significant impact on earth. More research is necessary by private sectors.

14. pinkcbpoet
    Posted January 8, 2012 at 4:09 pm | Permalink

    i personally would give up almost everything (except my family and their health) if it would mean we'd get our sh.t together. i agree with scot d., i already knew basically everything he said. and i feel i do my part. but for the rest, things need to be mandatory. screw the whole american ideal of "if i want it, i can have it and to hell with the rest of the world"…we're like a big fat bully who eats everyone else's food AND steals their lunch money. we need to make more intelligent decisions when we buy pretty much ANYTHING…and i think suvs and big trucks should be unavailable to the general public unless they can reign in the emissions on them. call me a radical…i'm just willing to do what it takes to get the job done. americans are spoiled and they need to grow up