On 09/03/2018 15:33, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Fri, 09 Mar 2018 11:59:21 -0000, Max Demian
wrote:

On 09/03/2018 00:21, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Tue, 06 Mar 2018 13:46:31 -0000, Andy Burns
wrote:

They've lost 5 minutes worth of cycles since mid-January

https://www.entsoe.eu/news-events/announcements/announcements-archive/Pages/News/Frequency-deviations-in-Continental-Europe-including-impact-on-electric-clocks-steered-by-frequency.aspx


Why the **** are we trying to synch the whole ****ing grid instead of
just.... stop using outdated piece of **** clocks that actually use the
mains to keep time!!!

There may not be many synchronous *clocks* around nowadays, but there
must be *millions* of synchronous *timeswitches" in use for various
purposes, from Economy 7 metering

The economy 7 ones must be cleverer than that as they don't lose time if
there's a 2 hour powercut.

The traditional electromechanical timeswitches used for Economy 7 have a
"clockwork reserve": if the power goes off they switch to a clockwork
mechanism, which is wound up when the power comes back. About once a day
they switch to clockwork to keep the mechanism going and the oil liquid
- the last place I lived it started ticking for a couple of minutes
every 6:30 pm.

to the ones used to fool burglars into
thinking there are people at home by switching the lights on and off at
arbitrary intervals.

Why on earth would those need to know the time?* They turn the lights on
and off when it's dark.

Not those kind of lights; re-read the paragraph.

(The cops used to give away the latter; I've never known quite how to
use them: do you only use them when going out for the evening, or, also,
when you go away on holiday? If the latter, do you open, or close the
curtains? If you leave them closed it would make the house look
unoccupied; if open, people would be able to see inside at night when
the lights come on. And are they even effective in deterring burglars,
or are they just to make people /feel/ safer?)

I just don't worry about burglars.* If you want to, then own two cars.
Always leave one in the driveway.* Way too risky to burgle a house with
a car present.

They may be burglarising (very quietly) to get your car keys.

--
Max Demian