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> I’m not particularly patriotic, but this kind of thing feels particularly American. Maybe that tinge of patriotism is why Americans don't even bother to see
by tanepiper 2y ago
> I’m not particularly patriotic, but this kind of thing feels particularly American.
Maybe that tinge of patriotism is why Americans don't even bother to see if something isn't an American invention - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_from_NPL_(MSF) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_from_NPL_(MSF) - they'll just claim it anyways since they barely read outside their borders.
Radio 4 would also like a word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Time_Signal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Time_Signal
- cjs_ac 2y agoThe US Bill of Rights is copied almost word-for-word from English legislation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689
- mixmastamyk 2y agoA copy of the Magna Carta was in the National Archives for a while, and John Locke was a notable influence on founders such as Jefferson. Nihil novi sub sole.
- pohl 2y agoI saw it there the day before yesterday!
- mixmastamyk 2y agoCool—I saw it once, and then it was gone a few years later. Maybe being serviced.
- HocusLocus 2y agoOh dear. Where is it now?
- CPLX 2y agoIn fairness, the United States is a breakaway region of Great Britain.
- yatopifo 2y agoAfaik, not Great Britain which is Scotland, Wales and England combined. It was part of the British Empire when it broke away.
- cjensen 2y agoInspired by, certainly. The founders were not ignorant and were aware of precedent. But calling it "almost copied word-for-word" is not justifiable. On a trivial basis, it's literally not word-for-word in any way. On a more serious basis, there are significant changes in the laws, and enshrining something in an Act which can be changed by future Parliaments is a lot different that enshrining something into a Constitution which is much harder to change.
- new299 2y agoWWVB also broadcasts on 60KHz and a number of other frequencies. WWV (time signal on different frequency) was started a few years before the one you mention. Though I’m not sure it’s really worth arguing about… not sure who was the first radio time signal. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_clock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_clock
- zh3 2y agoRadio 4 is particularly interesting, as it carries additional 25bps data [0] using for radio teleswitch operation [1] - a service whose days are numbered. Quite fun to receive this signal, as it's trivial to build a 198KHz receiver and to recover the data stream (+ time signal) using a signal, e.g. mix it with a 200KHz signal and process the resultant 2Khz audio tone. [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1984_19 https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1984_19 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_teleswitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_teleswitch
- tanepiper 2y agoRadio 4 is also the station that if there is no communication with mainland UK, and Radio 4 no longer broadcasting, submarine commanders were to assume the country was attacked and destroyed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort
- nabla9 2y agoExisted everywhere in the world since radios became common. I have an old solar powered Casio g-shock multi-band watch and it gets signals from transmitters located in US, Germany, UK, 2X Japan and China. I have never needed to put watch on time, or change batteries. https://gshock.casio.com/intl/technology/radio/ https://gshock.casio.com/intl/technology/radio/
- lxgr 2y agoThese are indeed very cool! If for some reason you are a few standard deviations more paranoid about not having the correct time than the average person, they now apparently have models that can get the current time via GPS, time beacon, or Bluetooth from a connected smartphone :) https://gshock.casio.com/us/technology/3way/ https://gshock.casio.com/us/technology/3way/
- tompccs 2y agoNPL - the National Physics Laboratory in Teddington, London, also invented packet switching, the foundational technology for the internet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_switching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_switching
- ToValueFunfetti 2y ago>The first radio time signal, sent by telegraphic code, was broadcast in September 1903 by the United States Navy. Most sources list Navesink, New Jersey as the site of this broadcast, but the reference clock was located at the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) in Washington, DC. The first regularly scheduled time broadcasts began on August 9, 1904* from the Navy Yard in Boston. By the end of 1905, the Navy had transmitted time signals from stations in several other cities, including Norfolk, Newport, Cape Cod, Key West, Portsmouth, and Mare Island in California (PDF) https://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/2131.pdf https://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/2131.pdf *Another source said August 9, 1905
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tanepiper 2y agoYes but it's not "particularly American". "In November 1898, an optical instrument maker and inventor named Sir Howard Grubb addressed the Royal Dublin Society and proposed the concept of a radio controlled clock." It was already used in telegraph transmission. America just implemented first.
- zaxomi 2y agoAnd before radio, between 1880-1927, time was pumped throughout Paris in the form of compressed air using a network of pneumatic tubes.
- asddubs 2y agoinventing a solution to a problem, only in america
- benhurmarcel 2y agoIt’s like apple pie then
- dusted 2y agoI was going to remark on this as well, but my observation is different: It strikes me as a very (old-school) American thing indeed. But not a modern American thing, if it was a modern American thing, it'd be privately owned, for profit with continually degrading quality and multiple incompatible "service providers" competing to trick people into their particular walled garden..