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Playing With Atomic Clocks At Home

Wired is running a profile of the Time Nuts, a small group of people who buy surplus precision time equipment — cesium clocks for example — on eBay and keep really accurate time, because they can. The article quotes Tom Van Baak, who has outfitted a time lab superior to those of many small countries: "If you have one clock... you are peaceful and have no worries. If you have two clocks... you start asking, 'What time is it, really?'"

23 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Clearly.... by Smidge204 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...Some people have too much time on their hands.

    =Smidge=

    1. Re:Clearly.... by Kranfer · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is no time to argue about time, we don't have the time!

      --
      -- Josh
      "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me!" - Pete Conrad
    2. Re:Clearly.... by Foundryman · · Score: 2, Funny

      and "it's ticking away with my sanity...."

  2. hm. by toQDuj · · Score: 2, Funny

    I like to be REALLY just on time for my meetings...

    --
    Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
  3. As Linus might say by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Funny

    Real men just run ntpd and let the whole world keep time for them.

  4. Stop. by RandoX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hammer time.

    1. Re:Stop. by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 1, Funny

      Please don't hurt him.

      --
      You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  5. Am I the only one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...who can have two or more clocks and not constantly ask myself "what time is it?... really?"

  6. Real men... by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 3, Funny

    Real men just run ntpd and let the whole world keep time for them.

    Anyone can make the world keep time for them. Only real men can make the sun keep it for them.
    --
    I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
  7. Q-physics by mach1980 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you really, really know what time it is. You will find yourself quite lost. Darn that Heisenberg!

    --
    Break the sound barrier - bring the noise.
  8. See Time Fly by Dareth · · Score: 2, Funny

    I always said it was fun to throw a clock out a high window so you could see time fly!

    One must much more careful with these new atomic clocks. After time flies, they explode and destroy whole cities!

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
  9. First post by carpe_noctem · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is really the first post; your clocks just don't agree with mine.

    --
    "Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
  10. what time is it really ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    >>>> If you have two clocks... you start asking, 'What time is it, really?'"

    Time to buy a 3rd clock? :)

  11. Radio Controlled clocks would do by Jameson+Burt · · Score: 2, Funny

    Radio controlled clocks are sometimes called atomic clocks because their underlying time resides in a Colorado atomic clock.
    These clocks give accuracy within a second as does the ntpd daemon on Unix computers.
    The world seems in balance when you set 3 radio controlled clocks in front of your computer,
    then watch all four with the same hour, the same minute, count the same seconds.
    You shouldn't tell your clock the time -- your clock should tell you the time,
    which radio controlled clocks and computers running ntp do tell.

    Frustrated by clocks throughout my home with different times,
    advanced by my wife to advance me, one clock advanced by 3 hours;
    I got 7 radio controlled clocks which she cannot set because they set themselves.
    Additionally, they give the day of week (Wednesday) and the date (December 11).

    I first saw a radio controlled clock in 1992 while in Germany -- a $200 clock made by Jungans.
    Several internet companies which mainly sell weather equipment also sell radio controlled clocks.
    I purchased 7 of these made by Lacrosse, which can have a big LCD and can cost as little as $10 (US).

    1. Re:Radio Controlled clocks would do by RockedMan40 · · Score: 2, Funny

      His wife must have /.'ed him already........

  12. Please read the article by fishdan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your missing out if you only skimmed the article. Make sure you find this gem:

    When the family returned to the suburbs two days later, the cesium clocks were off by the precise amount relativity predicted. He and his family had lived just a little more life than the neighbors.

    An amazing PROOF that time is actually affected by gravity. We still know so little (ahem) relatively about time in physics, that seeing evidence of it being manipulated in this manner is awesome. will there be giant contained gravity wells in ambulances to slow time while patients are rushed to the hospital? Will I be slowing down time so I can get First Post AND spell check? The possibilities are endless!

    --
    Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
    1. Re:Please read the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      >>Will I be slowing down time so I can get First Post AND spell check?

      I'll give you benefit of the doubt that you put that line in AND then deliberately misspelt the first word in your post. So assuming that -- bravo! You rarely see that sort of self-aware irony.

      You're totally right though about the relativity stuff. Amazing

    2. Re:Please read the article by ari_j · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, anyone with a cesium clock at home lives just a little more life than his neighbors.

  13. The true obssessive by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny
    I would bet money that at least one of these guys adjusts for the speed of light between his eyes and the average viewing distance to his clock.

    I would also venture to guess that he has no girlfriend.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:The true obssessive by vadim_t · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, at least the one mentioned in the article reproduced already.

      Maybe this is what geeks should do. Pretend to be normal people for a few months, get married, have children, and THEN fill the house with strange hardware.

  14. Joke's on him by RealGrouchy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sure, he's got all those fancy clocks in his "Time Lab", but they only go forward!

    - RG>

    --
    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
  15. The real reason by jgoemat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Isn't it obvious? It wasn't relativity, the family lived an extra 22 milliseconds because they drove up a mountain and were closer to God. That's the only logical solution, I can't see this "gravity" you speak of. Every time someone has a problem with time physicists think they can solve it just by throwing a few nanoseconds at it. Ridiculous...

  16. If you have one clock... by CSMatt · · Score: 2, Funny

    "If you have one clock... you are peaceful and have no worries. If you have two clocks... you start asking, 'What time is it, really?'" If you have an entire garage of clocks, you can scare the shit out of your teenage neighbor when they all strike 8:00 AM.

    For extra fun, tell him that they are all twenty minutes slow, making him late for school.