Random Thoughts

[hotdogPi]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

[jeffandnicole]

VCRs were well known for that. I don't thinknany of my current electronics do that. Either they start keeping time like you mentioned, or don't display a time.

[mgk920]

VCRs were well known for that. I don't thinknany of my current electronics do that. Either they start keeping time like you mentioned, or don't display a time.

Especially if you keep a backup battery in it.

Mike

[kphoger]

After much hemming and hawing and *without any legislative involvement*, the various railroad companies agreed to set up standardized time zones

To be fair, at that time the railroads were arguably more powerful than the government.

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

It's hard to believe that you haven't been in a room with such a digital clock when the power came back on.

— power goes out, house goes dark
— digital clock doesn't have battery backup, shuts off
— power comes back on
— digital clock starts flashing 12:00, keeping time from that point on
— immediately look over at digital clock, see it flashing 12:00

[hotdogPi]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

It's hard to believe that you haven't been in a room with such a digital clock when the power came back on.

— power goes out, house goes dark
— digital clock doesn't have battery backup, shuts off
— power comes back on
— digital clock starts flashing 12:00, keeping time from that point on
— immediately look over at digital clock, see it flashing 12:00

You missed the word "always" in my initial post.

[Poiponen13]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Is this 12 am or 12 pm?

[hotdogPi]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Is this 12 am or 12 pm?

12 AM, if the device even makes the distinction.

[kphoger]

You missed the word "always" in my initial post.

Ha!  Yes!  I just wasted a bunch of thought on that post for no reason, didn't I?

[J N Winkler]

We have some appliances still in service (though none of recent manufacture) that continue to flash "12:00" after a power cut.

When I have no desire to keep the time up to date on a clock, but for sentimental reasons feel unready to put it out of sight, I remove the battery or allow the spring to wind down, and then turn the hands to 12:00 to signal that it is not actively being used to tell time.

[kphoger]

We have some appliances still in service (though none of recent manufacture) that continue to flash "12:00" after a power cut.

Our microwave just shows 0:00.  I'm not sure what our stove does... 

[Brandon]

We have some appliances still in service (though none of recent manufacture) that continue to flash "12:00" after a power cut.

The microwave and range both flash the time, but they start at 12:00 when power comes back on and go up from there.  The range doesn't differentiate between am or pm, just a 12-hour clock, but the microwave does.

[kkt]

Actually, I checked more closely and it's there, but as gcal (presumably short for "GNU cal").

Code Select Expand

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3803]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

D:\downloads\deletables>gcal 9 1752

    September 1752
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
        1  2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30




D:\downloads\deletables>

That is surely British-centric (as the USA didn't exist back then). The Gregorian Calendar came into force in October 1582, so I guess cal/gcal will return anything between October 1582 and September 1752 "wrong" (at least from the perspective of someone living in the lands that adopted that calendar immediately).

Yes, the officially Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar promptly.  Other countries adopted it later, at different times.  Russia didn't adopt it until 1918 - having different calendars was causing problems working with their allies in WW I.

[kphoger]

That is surely British-centric

Yes, the officially Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar promptly.  Other countries adopted it later, at different times.  Russia didn't adopt it until 1918 - having different calendars was causing problems working with their allies in WW I.

Well, I suppose, if I were to come up with a list of countries who'd have the weakest pull toward conformity with the Roman Catholic Church, England (Henry VIII) and Russia (Great Schism) would likely top that list.

[D-Dey65]

I have to say this, but I actually like the Railroad-related portion of the most recent MUTCD update;
https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/11th_Edition/part8.pdf#page=58

Yes, this message was originally in the fictional highways section by mistake.

[1995hoo]

We have some appliances still in service (though none of recent manufacture) that continue to flash "12:00" after a power cut.

The microwave and range both flash the time, but they start at 12:00 when power comes back on and go up from there.  The range doesn't differentiate between am or pm, just a 12-hour clock, but the microwave does.

Our microwave scrolls a message telling the user to set the clock. It's a fairly new microwave, not sure how old but I think within the past three or four years.

[GaryV]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Or 13 hours and 14 minutes. Or 3 weeks and an hour and 14 minutes.

I wish there was a good way of determining how long power was out and when it came back on, if you're not in the house. You come home, see the clocks flashing, and wonder if the food in the fridge and freezer is still good.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I wish there was a good way of determining how long power was out and when it came back on, if you're not in the house. You come home, see the clocks flashing, and wonder if the food in the fridge and freezer is still good.

I've never done it but I've heard some people use a test where they put a quarter on a frozen cup of water in the freezer. to monitor if their frozen food is still safe. If the power goes out and the water melts, the quarter sinks and re-freezes in the ice showing the food thawed out and re-froze.

[tmoore952]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Or 13 hours and 14 minutes. Or 3 weeks and an hour and 14 minutes.

I wish there was a good way of determining how long power was out and when it came back on, if you're not in the house. You come home, see the clocks flashing, and wonder if the food in the fridge and freezer is still good.

You could figure out how long the power was out if you had an analog clock that runs by electricity (and you are using it for its intended purpose). just figure out how far behind the clock is when the power comes back on. Method also works if there are cumulative power outages but you'll only get the total time the power was out. Works best, obviously, if the power has been out for a total of less than 12 hours. (the old person in me is coming out again, everyone is going to tell me they only use computers or digital clocks).

EDIT - we had a 1990s era stove that had an analog clock and it didn't get replaced until 2021. So that's how i did it for all those years.

[fhmiii]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Or 13 hours and 14 minutes. Or 3 weeks and an hour and 14 minutes.

I wish there was a good way of determining how long power was out and when it came back on, if you're not in the house. You come home, see the clocks flashing, and wonder if the food in the fridge and freezer is still good.

You could figure out how long the power was out if you had an analog clock that runs by electricity (and you are using it for its intended purpose). just figure out how far behind the clock is when the power comes back on. Method also works if there are cumulative power outages but you'll only get the total time the power was out. Works best, obviously, if the power has been out for a total of less than 12 hours. (the old person in me is coming out again, everyone is going to tell me they only use computers or digital clocks).

My oven has a digital clock that resets to 12:00 and then starts counting instead of continuing to blink 12:00.  So I know how long it was out by a simple calculation.  Same method as you mention, just an instance of it not being analog.

[tmoore952]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Or 13 hours and 14 minutes. Or 3 weeks and an hour and 14 minutes.

I wish there was a good way of determining how long power was out and when it came back on, if you're not in the house. You come home, see the clocks flashing, and wonder if the food in the fridge and freezer is still good.

You could figure out how long the power was out if you had an analog clock that runs by electricity (and you are using it for its intended purpose). just figure out how far behind the clock is when the power comes back on. Method also works if there are cumulative power outages but you'll only get the total time the power was out. Works best, obviously, if the power has been out for a total of less than 12 hours. (the old person in me is coming out again, everyone is going to tell me they only use computers or digital clocks).

My oven has a digital clock that resets to 12:00 and then starts counting instead of continuing to blink 12:00.  So I know how long it was out by a simple calculation.  Same method as you mention, just an instance of it not being analog.

This does work for one outage. If I am understanding you correctly it wouldn't work if there were multiple outages -- we have had that happen on days when there have been constant thunderstorms, maybe due to a stationary weather front.

I edited my earlier post and will add what I edited here. We had a 1990s era stove that had an analog clock. Stove lasted until 2021 or so. So that's how I actually did what I describe.
That analog clock would only allow me to move the hands forward. I eventually got to the point where I only left it on standard time because moving it ahead 11 hours in October (in the old days) or November was a pain. So I had to take that into calculation with outage time computation (and then move the clock hands forward, since we did (sort of) use that clock even at the times it was an hour off).

[kphoger]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Or 13 hours and 14 minutes. Or 3 weeks and an hour and 14 minutes.

I wish there was a good way of determining how long power was out and when it came back on, if you're not in the house. You come home, see the clocks flashing, and wonder if the food in the fridge and freezer is still good.

You could figure out how long the power was out if you had an analog clock that runs by electricity (and you are using it for its intended purpose). just figure out how far behind the clock is when the power comes back on. Method also works if there are cumulative power outages but you'll only get the total time the power was out. Works best, obviously, if the power has been out for a total of less than 12 hours.

That does not solve the problem actually posed by |GaryV|.  How can you tell the difference between an outage lasting 1:14, 13:14, and 25:14?

My oven has a digital clock that resets to 12:00 and then starts counting instead of continuing to blink 12:00.  So I know how long it was out by a simple calculation.  Same method as you mention, just an instance of it not being analog.

This does work for one outage. If I am understanding you correctly it wouldn't work if there were multiple outages -- we have had that happen on days when there have been constant thunderstorms, maybe due to a stationary weather front.

Excellent point.  If the power goes out for ten hours one day, then twenty minutes that night, you'd never know about the ten hours.

[tmoore952]

I've never seen a digital clock always flashing 12:00. When I see a clock flash after a power outage, time runs normally even though it begins at 12:00, so if it's flashing at 1:14, I know the power came back on an hour and 14 minutes ago.

Or 13 hours and 14 minutes. Or 3 weeks and an hour and 14 minutes.

I wish there was a good way of determining how long power was out and when it came back on, if you're not in the house. You come home, see the clocks flashing, and wonder if the food in the fridge and freezer is still good.

You could figure out how long the power was out if you had an analog clock that runs by electricity (and you are using it for its intended purpose). just figure out how far behind the clock is when the power comes back on. Method also works if there are cumulative power outages but you'll only get the total time the power was out. Works best, obviously, if the power has been out for a total of less than 12 hours.

That does not solve the problem actually posed by |GaryV|.  How can you tell the difference between an outage lasting 1:14, 13:14, and 25:14?

Good point. There were additional factors I forgot to add that limit the method's usefulness. It doesn't work for outages longer than 12 hours.

My only experiences with power outages are when I leave for work in the morning and come back in the evening (e.g., with thundertorms, or if the power company turns off the power for some reason in the middle of the day).

I think my method can only work 100% of the time --- if the longest time you are gone is for a few minutes less than 12 hours (e.g., the extreme case, suppose you left at 6 AM, the power went out at 6:01 AM, and you return at 5:45 PM. with the power still being out. The analog clock would say 6:01. Getting back any closer to 6:01 PM (but not EXACTLY at 6:01 PM) with the power still being out, one needs to be absolutely sure that the analog clock is keeping time correctly. Getting back at 6:30 PM with the power still being out will give you ambiguous results -- assuming analog clock is working right, was power out for 29 minutes or 12 hours 29 minutes?). I am almost always home from work by 12 hours after I leave, so my method has always worked for me.

If the power goes out several hours after you leave (say you leave at 6 AM, power goes out at 12 PM instead and comes back on at 2 PM), you could get back home by 7:45 PM and the analog clock would say 5:45, and you would know the power was out for 2 hours. But if you came back at 8:30 PM, the analog clock would say 6:30 and you have ambiguous results -- was power out for 2 hours or 14?).

I believe I got this right, after several revisions --- the power outage cannot be longer than "slightly less than 12 hours", otherwise the analog clock results are ambiguous. You can be away for no more than 12 hours longer than the length of the power outage, also for ambiguity reasons. Which means you can never be gone for any amount of time longer than "slightly less than 24 hours".

And so --- my method does not work for multi-day absences.

I have seen analog clocks with date and AM/PM functions, but they are a rarity. That WOULD work.

[ZLoth]

My TrueNAS server is set so that if it goes on or off UPS power, I get a email notification. Problem is.... the backup power for that server is only two hours while the network switch, router, and wireless gateway are on their own UPS.

The good part is that I'm on the same circuit as a major medical enter and a police/fire station, so power outages are usually rare and treated with high priority.

[kurumi]

Fido and Rover are popular dog names in stories, and likely close to the top (at least of Americans of a certain age) when you're prompted to think of a general dog name.

But people don't seem to choose those names for their own dogs. I've never met a dog with either of those names, and they're not in the top 10 (even though that website is named rover.com)

(For cats, it's a bit different: Felix and Sylvester belong to specific characters, but Fluff/Fluffy I've seen in both fiction and real life)

[kkt]

We have some appliances still in service (though none of recent manufacture) that continue to flash "12:00" after a power cut.

The microwave and range both flash the time, but they start at 12:00 when power comes back on and go up from there.  The range doesn't differentiate between am or pm, just a 12-hour clock, but the microwave does.

Our microwave scrolls a message telling the user to set the clock. It's a fairly new microwave, not sure how old but I think within the past three or four years.

How annoying.  I like my microwave's clock because it can be set to just blank.  Don't have to set it and reset it if you've got another kitchen clock and just want to use the microwave as a microwave.