From sla at ucolick.org  Sat Mar  7 14:01:52 2009
From: sla at ucolick.org (Steve Allen)
Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2009 11:01:52 -0800
Subject: [LEAPSECS] 25000 years, or my money back?
Message-ID: <20090307190152.GA25985@ucolick.org>

Another "atomic clock" advert;  good for 1 second in 25000 years.
http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/556476

If it fails by one second before then should I sue?  Who?
NIST?  Control Company of Texas?

How exactly does one get ISO 9001 certs that extend 25 millennia?

Or maybe they just noted that the historical variations in the rate of
what we now call TAI are just about that big.

--
Steve Allen                 <sla at ucolick.org>                WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory        Natural Sciences II, Room 165    Lat  +36.99855
University of California    Voice: +1 831 459 3046           Lng -122.06015
Santa Cruz, CA 95064        http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/     Hgt +250 m

From magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org  Sat Mar  7 14:13:50 2009
From: magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org (Magnus Danielson)
Date: Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:13:50 +0100
Subject: [LEAPSECS] 25000 years, or my money back?
In-Reply-To: <20090307190152.GA25985@ucolick.org>
References: <20090307190152.GA25985@ucolick.org>
Message-ID: <49B2C76E.2080208@rubidium.dyndns.org>

Steve Allen skrev:
> Another "atomic clock" advert;  good for 1 second in 25000 years.
> http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/556476
> 
> If it fails by one second before then should I sue?  Who?
> NIST?  Control Company of Texas?
> 
> How exactly does one get ISO 9001 certs that extend 25 millennia?
> 
> Or maybe they just noted that the historical variations in the rate of
> what we now call TAI are just about that big.

I don't think they actually means that TDEV(25000y) + MTIE(25000y) < 1 s 
or that expected lifetime of the clocks, NIST transmission service or 
the user to be 25000 years either. It's all about some product people 
trying to make our incomprehensible jibberish understandable to the lay 
person while trying to say that this is a bargain deal. Scientific 
analysis usually breaks before you look at the title of such a thing.

So in the end all you can do is to laugh at it and go about the usual 
buissness.

I expect the LCD to fade long before 25000y for instance.

Still, it can be a usefull clock for many not being time-nuts but just 
want a fair feel of time of day without reset hazzle and for about 10 
years or so. Should fit the need to know when to run for the bus etc.

Cheers,
Magnus

From mgy1912 at cox.net  Sat Mar  7 15:56:28 2009
From: mgy1912 at cox.net (Brian Garrett)
Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2009 12:56:28 -0800
Subject: [LEAPSECS] 25000 years, or my money back?
References: <20090307190152.GA25985@ucolick.org>
Message-ID: <180C455F2E144CA6BD0BF25E2358AB86@company48fcb68>

"Resolution is 1 second.  Accuracy is 1/10,000 of a second."  Funny, the 
radio signal travel time from Fort Collins to here was still about 7ms, last 
time I checked.  Does this clock have warp drive too?  :-)


Brian



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Allen" <sla at ucolick.org>
To: "Leap Second Discussion List" <leapsecs at leapsecond.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 11:01 AM
Subject: [LEAPSECS] 25000 years, or my money back?


> Another "atomic clock" advert;  good for 1 second in 25000 years.
> http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/556476
>
> If it fails by one second before then should I sue?  Who?
> NIST?  Control Company of Texas?
>
> How exactly does one get ISO 9001 certs that extend 25 millennia?
>
> Or maybe they just noted that the historical variations in the rate of
> what we now call TAI are just about that big.
>
> --
> Steve Allen                 <sla at ucolick.org>                WGS-84 (GPS)
> UCO/Lick Observatory        Natural Sciences II, Room 165    Lat 
> +36.99855
> University of California    Voice: +1 831 459 3046 
>           Lng -122.06015
> Santa Cruz, CA 95064        http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/     Hgt +250 m
> _______________________________________________
> LEAPSECS mailing list
> LEAPSECS at leapsecond.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs


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