Hi William,

William Sommerwerck wrote:
How many VCR's blink 12:00? Do you have to be a
rocket scientist to set the clock on a VCR???

In some cases, yes. Some had setting procedures that
went beyond unbelievable.

I don't think that applies to anything manufactured
in the last 20 years... :

Perhaps. But I've seen them.

Some years ago VCRs were redesigned to, at turn-on, scan the broadcast band
for a station with an embedded time code, and set the clock. These were
usually NPR stations.

Dunno. I haven't used a VCR in more than 20 years :-/
(The one that still is in use here is only used for playing
prerecorded tapes)

Finally, too many timepieces in a home ends up relegating most
of them to "un-maintained" -- how many of us have *a* clock
that we consider The Authority in our homes (i.e., we expect
some amount of error in all the others -- intentional or
otherwise).

I do. I have two atomic clocks.

I had one here -- but it always kept losing signal. So, you
get a false sense of security *thinking* it is telling the correct
time -- only to discover it wasn't. I guess they are sensitive to
where they are located/oriented. Given how "unattractive" this one
was (think: functional not decorative), the choices for where it
could acceptably be sited were limited. So, it got relocated -- to
the trash. :

(It *was* fun, though, to watch it go into "set" mode... minute hand
sweeping across the face of the clock as if it was a *second* hand...)