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Barbelith clock

Tryphena Absent

15:02 / 04.12.03

This might be a bit of a rejected suggestion but I was wondering if there was any chance we could have a Barbelith clock on the main Underground page? I get very confused sometimes with the time especially with regards to pm's if I need to know when someone sent me a message and it would be helpful to know what time it was according to barbelith.

Not Here Still

19:15 / 04.12.03

Well, which time do we set it by? There are posters from at least five different time zones on Barbelith...

Anyway, I like the fact that, despite it being a quarter past nine PM as I write this, the clock says something different...

Spatula Clarke

00:00 / 05.12.03

It's always an hour fast for UK people. That's all you need to remember, really.

Tryphena Absent

09:06 / 05.12.03

No but the minutes are weird too... just a barb clock so the same time as it would appear if you posted something at that moment.

Linus Dunce

12:22 / 05.12.03

It's not that weird, is it? Looks like Central European Time.

cusm

20:05 / 05.12.03

Well, lets see. I'm located near the barbelith server, and my time is currently 5:04, which should be 17:04 by the clock.

cusm

20:06 / 05.12.03

Looks like GMT +1.

Quantum

08:39 / 08.12.03

I'm so easily confused. cusm says 'it's 17:04' and the post says 'at 23:05' so it would be +6hrs but then he says 'looks like GMT +1' so if he's near the server and it's lying to him then how do I know it's not lying to me?
I was happy thinking it was an hour fast (for me), now I have no idea what dimension barbetime comes from- Tryphena, see what you've done?!
Can someone who is clever tell me how Time works?

Tryphena Absent

10:28 / 08.12.03

My mobile says it's 12.23pm, my office phone tells me that it's 12.28pm, my computer believes it's 12.23pm and barbelith time is...

Linus Dunce

11:29 / 08.12.03

It doesn't matter how far away you are from the server, Barbelith will always give GMT +1. This may or may not be the time where you are. It doesn't lie, it's just a machine.

It gives GMT +1 because the chap looking after the server sets the server's clock to this time, or the 'Lith software adjusts local US time to give this. It may be a couple of minutes out because, whatever the "real" time the server uses, it is probably set against the chap's mobile phone or $5 watch.

GMT +1 (or BST +1) is the time in most of Europe -- perhaps a cross-reference to the "Englishness" thread is in order.

Ignatius_J Time (Radio 4 Pips Time +/- 30 secs) is now 13:30, giving a 'Lith time of 14:30-ish. Simple!

Linus Dunce

11:36 / 08.12.03

Not bad. I'd say it was more accurate than Tryphena's mobile phone and computer, and these need to be corrected. Perhaps I have been unfair to the server operator. It may even be the "correct" minutes of the hour, automatically checked against another server programmed to give the time as given by atomic clocks etc.

Ganesh

12:09 / 10.12.03

Could we have a relatively oversized one?

Linus Dunce

17:31 / 10.12.03

Click here and leave it open?

HCE

23:58 / 27.02.04

Barbelith says 2:57 28.02.2004

In Los Angeles it is 5:57pm, 2/27/04

Cat Chant

08:51 / 30.03.04

Is the Barbelith clock now on the same time as England???

Grey Area

09:31 / 30.03.04

The clocks went forward an hour on Friday. Therefore we are in synch with the BarbServer until it, too, adjusts itself to summer time. Of course, it may be that it doesn't do this, in which case we can look forward to half a year of not having to adjust our watches every time we come to the board.

Cat Chant

10:24 / 30.03.04

It always used to adjust itself to summer time on the appropriate day, and thus be an hour fast for UK people all year round...

Spatula Clarke

19:36 / 04.04.04

As I just said in the 'Ladies and gentlemen' thread, it's tied into a US timezone, so there'll be two periods of a few days each year where it's correct - those days between UK time springing forwards/falling back and US time doing the same.

We're now an hour ahead of UK time again and will be until we switch back to UK wintertime, when we'll have about a week of the board matching the RL experience of UK 'Lithers until the US switches to its own wintertime and the board time is an hour fast again.

This posted at 21:36, just to back that up.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:39 / 04.04.04

Yeah, it was confusing me, what with telling the right time and all. Now it's gone back to the future, all is right.

odd jest on horn

05:04 / 28.06.04

I'd much prefer GMT, but then, I would, as it's always GMT here.

But what's the deal with summertime? Do all countries switch to summertime on the same day? If not, using a clock that doesn't change with the weather would be preferrable.

Spatula Clarke

20:32 / 28.06.04

Three posts up from this one.

odd jest on horn

14:43 / 29.06.04

mea culpa *blush*
I have got better at reading the whole thread...

But .. GMT then? howsaboutit Mr. Coates? :-D

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:55 / 29.06.04

Realistically, I think it's probably best that we accept that Barbelith is only going to function relatively as a timepiece - that is, you can tell how far apart posts were made, but you shouldn't use it to plan your date for the evening. There are a number of changes that probably take precedence over setting the clock to GMT,which we have established is harder than it looks, and doing so would give accurate timekeeping only currently to a small number of users.

semioticrobotic

21:31 / 16.04.06

Have any improvements to the Barbelith clock been made recently?

I'm trying to get a sense of where we are, relative to GMT, but I'm terrible at this sort of thing (the preceding posts make my head spin a little). Can anyone help me set my world clock widget to Barbelith time?

Tryphena Absent

22:10 / 16.04.06

We're GMT+2 at the moment and when the UK goes back to GMT (in September?) we'll be GMT+1 because barbelith time is always an hour ahead of UK time.

At the moment it's 00:11 BST in the UK. BST is an hour ahead of GMT. Barbelith time is 01:11.

semioticrobotic

22:12 / 16.04.06

Much obliged, Nina! Now, synchronize watches...

Mon Oncle Ignatius

11:27 / 12.03.07

The Barbeklok is two hours ahead today (posting this at 12:34 GMT), so that means it must be nearly summer in London. Hooray!

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:09 / 12.03.07

Yeah, it's confusing fuck out of me. WOW is one hour ahead, Barbelith is two, and apparently real life isn't either.

STUPID real life. Why does it have to make shit complicated?

Mon Oncle Ignatius

21:42 / 12.03.07

Just to make it even more confusing, my PC's clock at work is always wrong, no matter how often I reset it. All of them in the office are, and they're supposed to be checked against an atomic clock somewhere.

Actually, maybe I should check the server's clock - they could be getting their time off there *slaps forehead*

Olulabelle

08:49 / 13.03.07

What's an atomic clock? Is it really esplody?

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:40 / 13.03.07

Alas no. Atomic clocks measure the time by transformations of atoms - usually caesium atoms, because caesium atoms are used to meaure the length of a second. They are massively more accurate than quartz clocks - so accurate, in fact, that to get the actual, practical time you have to adjust for irregularity in the rotation of the Earth and other such gubbins.

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