4 ms·
Cesium, NIST.
by caymanjim 3y ago
Cesium, NIST.
- aa-jv 3y agoAnd not just one, millions of them.
- gumby 3y agoWhat a waste of taxpayers’ money! They should just pick one and stare at it. Why should we be paying for millions of them???
- seanthemon 3y agoIf you don't use the budget you won't get the budget, sailor.
- fluoridation 3y agoI see no downside.
- vel0city 3y agoI get the confusion for the US Navy though, as the clock is at the US Naval Observatory. If you ever need the time, just call (719) 567-6742 "US Naval Observatory, Master Clock, at the tone, Mountain daylight time, nine hours, sixteen minutes, fifteen seconds...beep!"
- goblinux 3y agoJust called the number holy cow it’s real. I love obscure infrastructure stuff like that
- fluoridation 3y agoSpeaking clocks are pretty common. Here we dial *133.
- bityard 3y agoWhen I was a kid, you could dial the operator and ask them for the time. I still don't know why anyone would do that, but I remember it was a thing you could do. Also, dialing 0 to get a human operator. I swear I'm not that old.
- vel0city 3y agoAnother good one is Bell Atlantic's support number which is strangely still connected even though they merged to form Verizon in 2000. 570-387-0000. "Thank you for calling Bell Atlantic. Due to an emergency condition, we are operating with a reduced staff, and you may experience delay." Waiting on hold is like the forever traffic jam of Doctor Who.
- user3939382 3y agoYeah according to Wikipedia anyway the USNO is operated by the US Navy.
- hoosieree 3y ago"At the tone?" ...what kind of ship are you running here? Is it at the start or the end of the tone?
- fanf2 3y agoThe USA has two main time labs: the USNO, which provides time and navigation for the DoD, including the GPS; and NIST which provides time for civilian purposes, including WWV. NIST tends to do more research into new kinds of atomic clock (eg optical clocks, chip-scale clocks) whereas the USNO does more work on earth orientation. The USNO atomic clock ensemble includes caesium beam clocks, hydrogen masers, and rubidium fountains. NIST uses mostly hydrogen masers, and fewer caesium beam clocks, though their primary frequency standards are caesium fountains.