Projection Alarm Clocks

10 Comments

1. lare
   Posted August 18, 2010 at 1:42 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.

2. callum828
   Posted August 22, 2010 at 2:05 pm | Permalink

   I never denied it and I think President Bush and the USA and other countries that use coal and other pollutants need to get with the program and do something about this before its too late.

   However maybe we can educate the people who asked this..

   http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aoz4TRoNin9WGbSfurJjUr8Fxgt.?qid=20070121102858AACmN4E

3. Dave
   Posted September 27, 2010 at 8:52 pm | Permalink

   I know what you mean about being in withdrawal. My Macbook Pro is currently in the shop because it keeps shutting down after the CPU overheats. It's already been to Apple's service center once – they sent it back with replacement parts but it still didn't fix the problem! So here I sit with my Windows machine, twitching with withdrawal symptoms as I wait for the return of my beloved laptop.

   So did they manage to recover anything from your hard drive? Did you have any backups?

4. lare
   Posted November 21, 2010 at 11:26 pm | 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.

5. xhalo13637x
   Posted January 18, 2011 at 11:10 pm | Permalink

6. Northbrig
   Posted April 18, 2011 at 4:42 am | Permalink

   I have the same situation at a site I help manage. We use an old atomic clock to do the job, but atomic clocks are expensive, I would not recommend you go out and buy one to fix a nuisance level problem. Maybe you should look into a GPS clock? Those seem to be the current solution for this problem and come in lots of interface flavors including USB or a whole rackmount NTP server.

7. A G Foster
   Posted April 23, 2011 at 3:33 am | Permalink

   So Samuel, he can call me a troll but I can’t call him an idiot? I see suppression ahead, applied very selectively.

8. Anonymous
   Posted May 23, 2011 at 12:53 pm | Permalink

   I guess the TNG Baja front right fork comment was obscure. I searched all over for other references.But I am having the same problem. Can someone point me to a fix? Or a web location to get replacement parts?I figured it was just a blow seal (cue joke), I didn't realize it was a little “epidemic.” Unfortunately the closest dealer is a fair bit more than a scooter ride away.

9. logster1203
   Posted January 27, 2012 at 2:56 pm | Permalink

   Weird how clocks change time by themselves! It makes it look like the clock is haunted! jk

10. Scot D
    Posted February 12, 2012 at 6:53 pm | Permalink

    So what if global warming IS a fact, do you anticipate that the politicians can reverse it?

    If CO2 in the atmosphere is the main culprit, how much of it is due to the burning of fossil fuels? (Answer: 4%)

    So what are they going to do, when CO2 emissions from the sea account for 57% of CO2 in the atmosphere, and normal respiration accounts for 38%, with just 1% being due to changes of land use and de-forestation?

    To make a significant change to the overall amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, let alone reverse it, you wouldn't be talking in terms of a 10% reduction in oil or coal consumption, or even 20%, or even 30%.

    Nothing short of 50% is going to have much of an effect, and that would spell economic and social collapse.

    It's very easy to state the obvious, but it takes a bit more sophistication to arrive at suitable answers I'm afraid, and a few people walking to work or getting the bicycle out, isn't going to save the planet.

    In fact, the fashionable obsession with global-warming may be diverting mankind form the more pressing issues of over-population, waste of resources, chemical pollution and waste-disposal.

    Furthermore, ALL the western government continue to peddle the myth of globalisation, neo-liberal economics and the rush towards world-wide consumerism; the very reason for excessive energy production, transport pollution and the problems described above.

    In a post-consumer society, you may stand a chance of being taken seriously, but not as things are at present, because there are too many vested interests in maintaining the status-quo of capitalism.