Alarm Clock Blog

White Noise Machine

Online Clock — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:25:05 PST

We interrupt the Alarm Clock Blog for a very special announcement!

This is Tom here, the creator, owner and developer behind the world’s most popular online alarm clock website. I’m writing this particular post personally, because I’m excited to reveal to you the newest feature on OnlineClock.net : our new white noise generator.

This is how Merriam-Webster defines “white noise“:

White Noise: a constant background noise; especially : one that drowns out other sounds

White noise is sometimes used in sleep therapies and by persons who have problems falling asleep. It’s been proven that a constant background of a particular kind of noise can help drown out other background sounds that prevent some people from falling asleep. Does white noise really work? For many individuals, yes! – but people are all different so you’ll have to try it yourself to truly find out. Suffice it to say that noise-cancellation headphones have become very popular in recent years, and they generally work based on this same principle.

But don’t just take our word that white noise and background noise of various kinds can help you sleep…check out this report on ConsumerReports.org:

Research shows that white noise can increase sleep quality by reducing the time it takes to fall asleep and the number of times you’re awakened while sleeping.

In addition, there are studies documented by the U.S. government that cite beneficial results from the use of white noise as a sleep aid:

We studied two groups of 20 neonates, between 2 and 7 days old, in a randomized trial. Sixteen (80%) fell asleep within five minutes in response to white noise compared with only five (25%) who fell asleep spontaneously in the control group. White noise may help mothers settle difficult babies.

So we’re very excited to announce that the world’s original Online Alarm Clock website has now released one of the most important innovations since its site originally went live back in March, 2006. We call this new function our new Moods Clock.

In a cozy, fireplace kind of a mood, anyone ?

The Moods Clock is basically the same online alarm clock that everyone knows and loves…with the important new feature of a white noise generator with various background sounds added to it. By this we mean that you can use it as an alarm clock to wake yourself up or to set useful and free online reminders…but, while you’re using this clock, you can also choose from a variety of different background sounds to listen to.

The background sounds have been selected because they’re mostly soothing, quiet kind of sounds that will help many people to fall asleep faster and more easily.

For the time being, we’re offering you a choice of the following different kinds of background sounds on our new Moods Clock:

If you look at the list of sounds we’ve selected, you’ll find many kinds of background sounds and soothing sleep noise that are probably already familiar to you. Everyone’s familiar with the soothing kind of “wallpaper DVDs” that can be found for sale wherever DVDs are sold. Back when the DVD and home video technology was still very new, it was a very novel idea to see DVDs showing nothing more than an aquarium or fireplace scene, running in an endless loop with various sound effects.

We’ve expanded upon this basic idea to include it as a new option for our online alarm clock, meaning that you can now either use our digital clock silently, or accompanied by various sound effects. If you’re the kind of person who often has problems falling asleep, or if you happen to live in a very noisy environment, we urge you especially to give our new white noise generator (or “Moods Clock“) a try!

There are some of the standard kind of background sounds on our list that you would probably expect from a website offering background sounds to help you sleep: a fireplace, ocean wave sounds and the pleasant sounds of a rainforest, for example. But we’ve also included the sounds of an aquarium, which might at first seem odd. After all, aquariums are normally meant to be seen and not heard. However, after having listened to the sound that an aquarium actually makes, we thought it would be a great addition to our list of soothing sleep noises. (That blub, blub, blub in the background is truly relaxing…give it a test-listen!)

Also, the sounds of a city street might not be all that relaxing to the vast majority of Online Clock users out there, but, after having spent every day of our adult lives living in one major metropolis after another, we’re convinced that there are other people out there who might (like us) have problems when the noise of a busy city street can NOT be heard right outside their window at night (we love big city life!).

City Streets Mood: you can take the boy out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the boy!

As with all of the various time tools made available by OnlineClock.net, our Moods Clock is free and easy to use. You just set your alarm time the same way as for our other online clocks, and then choose the kind of background noise or white noise you’d like to listen to.

We’d be delighted to hear your feedback regarding this new addition to the Online Clock family. For this purpose, feel free to click the “Contact” link on the bottom of our website, where you’ll find an email address that you can send your comments to at any time. We’re especially interested in hearing from you which of these various kinds of soothing background sounds you prefer or, if you like, in hearing your suggestions for other sound effects which aren’t yet listed on our Mood Clock. Please, send us your comments – we always love hearing from our users and fans!

Once you’ve found one of the background sounds or “moods” from our new Moods Clock that you particularly like, please do us a favor and share it with your friends.

We want to continue being the world’s most popular online alarm clock, and we very much appreciate your support!

So, until our next important product announcement, let me wish all of you – pleasant dreams.

P.S.

We don’t wish to in any way imply that our Clock is the only way you can take advantage of using white noise or soothing background noises to help you sleep. If you don’t wish to use our Clock, simply try using the sound of a household fan, or the sound of your normal AM/FM radio stuck between channels…or even your television tuned to a non-existent channel. We just hope that you’ll find that our new Moods Clock is FUN to use, as well as being a truly useful sleep aid!

White Noise Machine is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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The Music Of Alarms

Online Clock — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:56:24 PST

The purposes of most alarms are to wake you up so that you are not late for work, school or perhaps an appointment. Here at OnlineClock.net, it is our expertise to do just that, and we don’t mind saying that we do it quite well. Many of you like to use the loud beeping sound for your alarms because it is annoying. This way, once the alarm goes off, you will do anything to stop the sound from continuing. The quest to stop the annoying beeping sound is what makes you wake up because no one wants to hear that for very long. With that thought, imagine if someone set off many of these beeping sounds and made a song out of them. Would it be music to your ears, or something that you would quickly turn off and hope never to hear again? We thought you might choose the latter of the two choices as a general rule; however, there is an artist in Boulder, Colorado who has made beautiful music with the sounds of many kinds of alarms. In fact, the artist calls this music an interactive art project.

Imagine that! Music from screeching beeps considered to be art. We seriously wonder how such an artist would explain the source of his music to family. Can you imagine how they might look at him as though he has finally lost his mind? Nevertheless, when they hear what the final result has come to be, the looks would soften.

Rajeev Basu's Facebook Photo: he has a sense of humor

The Artist and the Project

Rajeev Basu is a creative artist who is asking for and receiving alarm based music submissions from artists worldwide. He has named the project EEP EEP EEP EP. His global experiment encourages and challenges other artists to make music from the daily sounds that we hear from our alarm clocks. Basu is quite the interesting fellow. He previously worked in London using sirens, car alarms and traffic signal beeps to create music. We wondered where he got the idea. Perhaps he just heard music in unpleasant sounds, whereas the rest of us hear annoyance. Making something beautiful from something not so beautiful is not a new concept. When you consider artists who have fashioned sculpture from items considered to be junk, it makes sense.

Rajeev Basu is originally from London, though he is now based in Boulder, Colorado. He works across interactive and physical mediums. In personal projects, he explores ideas where the process is just as important as the outcome. Frequently, the process is the idea and he is always interested in collaborating with other artists. This is where we begin to understand Basu’s art. No one has done it, and therefore, it becomes unique and important in the world of art, if it is well done. In this case, it is. The sounds are pleasing, and they are currently all over the internet as a new art form. Many artists have responded to the call to collaborate and much of that effort can be heard through recordings on many websites. There are even some that dub themselves as mixologists that are mixing the alarm songs that are currently out there.

The Music and its Origin

Alarms are the only sounds used to make the music. Much of the alarm sounds are captured as field recordings. A field recording is a technique that has grown in its popularity mostly in avant garde and experimental works. Because of this, the musical style of the project can best be described as concrete music. Concrete music is a form of electro-acoustic music that tends to use elements which are not traditionally thought of as music. The idea behind this type of music style was created by the French composer Pierre Schaeffer during the 1940s. The music, as well as the unique direction of this type of project, was influenced by Karlheinz Stockhausen. His groundbreaking method of composing electronic music has inspired various artists to break free of traditional forms of music.

The EEP EEP EEP EP was a creation in collaboration with many musicians from around the world. Some of these sound designers include: Michael Manning of London, David Kamp of Berlin, Dominic Matar of New York and Malcom Goldie of London. They have also produced work for Deadmau5, MTV, Nokia, Puma and Nike. This is quite a team of musical artists, especially since they are exclusively using alarm beeps to make the music.

REMIX027 • BRIAN McGUIRE • GHOSTFATHER CLOCK by EEP REMIXXXX

With each of the music tracks of EEP EEP EEP EP, a unique artwork was created. The artwork was made completely by the use of clip-art. This is a style that Basu has affectionately called “Clip-art Art.” This style of art follows the theme of the project by using something undesirable to make something beautiful. The pieces of art may not be not much by themselves, but when put together with the music they work in unison. The clip-art creations are visually interesting.

Basu made the original sounds for the music available so that interested parties were able download them to remix the sounds in a contest. The winners received original artworks for each track submitted. Three of the tracks considered to be the most inventive were turned into sound-sculpture. The music was placed on exhibit at the Fach and Asendorf gallery, which can be found online.

The response to the music and the contest was quite positive. People were not only fans of the creation of this type of music; they became fans of the remix artists as well. Basu’s style of music production has a Facebook page. There are many positive comments left on the page by members who follow Basu as an artist. They have even pointed out their favorite songs. The enthusiastic comments create an interesting musical sub culture on Facebook.

EEP EEP EEP EP by Rajeev Basu

The Process

Many of the artists that participated in the creation of this alarm music were asked how they made the sounds for their tracks. Usually, there is a listing of the types of alarms used. One of the creators, David Kamp said that a key challenge to making the music was to keep track of all alarms while still trying to make it interesting in a musical sense. The foundation of his track is a single two second alarm sound. That is really hard to imagine. Making a song from two seconds of an irritating beeping noise takes a lot of talent and patience. Then again, we have featured scientists on our blog that have broken down a second of time until it slowed to the point that time itself was questioned. Perhaps Basu and Kamp are like musical scientists. David did a great deal of work to produce his mixed version of EEP EEP EEP EP music.

Kamp began his process by stretching the two second alarm sound to various lengths. Some of the lengths were up to three minutes. After that, he modulated the frequency and layered many versions on top of them. Special sound effects were added for variation and depth.

Another collaborator, Dominic Mantar, produced a song called The Big EEP. He used a six tone car alarm, a fire truck and a police siren for his sources. He thought of the song as a playful and atmospheric take on a futuristic film noir.

Dominic used alarms in several ways. One of the methods was to map the alarm sounds into smaller samples. Alarms sounds were processed and twisted into various sound effects and rhythmic elements. Finally, unedited or pure alarm sounds were used to punctuate and break down the different phases. Dominic found that the main challenge of making his version of EEP music was converting raw alarms into tools that could be used to form melodies, rhythms and ambiance.

Malcom Goldie of London created a track using alarm clocks, carbon monoxide detectors and car alarms. He experimented with them to transform them into a piece of music, but in the end he decided to just use a single sample of the smoke alarm to make the entire composition. Goldie layered the smoke alarm sound into a sampler, then fed it through various effect devices. While doing this, he played and manipulated the sounds in front of a live audience.

Regardless of how they did it, the results are thought of as wonderful by both colleagues and fans. After all, that’s what really matters. If the alarm music is pleasant to the listeners, Basu has succeeded, hasn’t he?

The processes these artists used to create the music is quite involved.

For that reason alone, we here at OnlineClock.net salute their creativity with alarm sounds.

Making music is difficult enough; imagine going through all of this for a song. Being creative and original takes planning, thought and a great deal of time. It will be interesting to see what Basu creates next. He is perceived as unconventional by both the press covering his music and the fans that follow him. Even though Basu is unconventional, his music certainly is an art that imitates life.

Music As Alarms

Of course, there are probably many more people interested in using some good-sounding music as their alarms, instead of turning ordinary alarm sounds into music! That’s why OnlineClock.net created the video clock.

The video clock lets you use just about any YouTube video as your alarm sound (providing that the video has “embedding” enabled, meaning that it is allowed to appear on websites other than YouTube.com itself).

It’s easy to set your favorite video as your customized alarm on OnlineClock.net, and this opens up literally infinite alarm possibilities to everyone. You can either choose from one of the thousands and thousands of embeddable videos already available on YouTube, or you can even upload your own video to YouTube and use that as your own alarm sound!

So the next time you think you can’t stand our patented robotic-cricket-chirp alarm sound any more (!), just visit our video clock and choose whatever you like as your alarm instead!

You can find our video alarm at http://onlineclock.net/video/

Or, as always, you can find all of the various different online clocks, timers, countdowns and stopwatches we have by clicking on the tiny clock icon on the upper left corner of just about any clocks page on the entire website.

With that we wish you…Happy Clocking !

The Music Of Alarms is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Daylight Savings Time: The Arguments For And Against It

Online Clock — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:16:53 PST

Waking up on time can be quite confusing when daylight savings time goes into effect. The practice of daylight savings time is something that most people have come to accept over the years. Here at OnlineClock.net, we make it easy for you to make the change, even if many of you are not excited about doing so. Formally, the term daylight saving time is correct, but we prefer the popular term daylight savings time (in case you haven’t noticed – the difference is the “S” at the end of “savings”).

Even though we have previously featured the subject of daylight savings time in our blog, we would like to cover the subject from a different angle by providing a very brief history of the practice, and present the arguments for and against the matter.

How Daylight Savings Time Began

Daylight savings time was both a wartime idea and a German idea. Beginning in 1916, Germany and its World War I allies first used daylight savings time for the conservation of coal during the war. Britain, its allies, as well as most of Europe’s neutrals followed suit. Russia and several other countries decided to wait until the following year to implement daylight savings time. The United States adopted the practice in 1918. Since that time, the world has seen much legislation, enactments, changes and repeals regarding the issue of daylight savings time. Among Americans, the legislative part of the subject of daylight savings time becomes the very first argument against the issue. Should time be legislated?

Legislating Time

Whether or not people think daylight savings time is a good idea really depends on who you ask; however, it is indeed an interesting issue to throw out there for discussion. Since it was a wartime idea, it made sense to most of the people during that time in history. Much like other legislation in the United States, the subsequent or future practice of daylight savings time was initially left up to the individual states as to whether or not they wanted to keep daylight savings time. Therein lies the first problem. Transportation businesses had to push for another piece of legislation to standardize daylight savings time in order to keep their services running without confusion. There were so many time differences that the transportation industry and their arrival and departure times had become chaotic. A standardized time practice had to be legislated, and whether or not your state wanted to see daylight savings time as a permanent solution became irrelevant. Many argue this as typical of big government. They believe that once legislation comes about, it is virtually impossible to get rid of it. They say that it is just one more way to lose freedoms that are at the core of the United States Constitution. Could these arguments against daylight savings time legislation be correct?

Another aspect that is brought to the forefront of the argument is the issue of how time changes can interrupt the circadian rhythm of our bodies, therefore shortening the time we sleep. Experts on the subject of sleep maintain that not getting enough sleep can put otherwise good health at risk. Sleep disorders pose a new question: Is daylight savings time good for us?

An Indian Proverb relating to Daylight Savings Time.

Health Arguments

Experts argue that our internal clocks are set by the time of natural light changes throughout the year. Therefore, by forcing a time change, it can have long-term effects.

In one European study, a collection of data on sleep patterns of 55,000 people in Central Europe produced interesting results. According to Dr. Till Roenneberg of Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, the aforementioned negative sleep effects are quite real. Roenneberg’s researchers found that if people would not have to change to daylight savings time, they would adjust to dawn in the summer and dawn in the autumn without any problems at all. The natural adjustment to daylight savings time causes an interruption. This interruption causes sleep loss and could have long-term effects.

Conversely, another expert, Dr. Louis Ptacek an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute disagrees. Dr Ptacek says that with the advent of the light bulb, we can create our own light at night, therefore negating any biological effects of the loss of light that might disrupt our internal clocks. Everyone knows a night owl that loves to read or watch television late at night, and they don’t seem to be fatigued or unhealthy if they have a job that does not require them to be up extremely early in the morning.

Dr. Ptacek further contends that there are more social activities possible with artificial light and that adds to a more balanced, healthier lifestyle. Health issues are one aspect that probably could give us all an unending discussion; however, the idea of daylight savings time began as an attempt to further an economical goal. Does daylight savings time actually save or make money? As ever, there are quite a number of arguments surrounding these economical questions.

Spring forward!

An Economic Perspective

According to British researchers from Cambridge University, England’s government contends that the practice of daylight savings time is favorable for many things, including, cutting down on car accidents. They also contend that there is a two percent daily reduction in electricity usage. The researchers found that the government’s statements are largely unsupported, and there is no reason to think that daylight savings time is an energy-saver. Further it should not be assumed as favorable for cutting down on car accidents. In fact, the British researchers could not find studies that were ever commissioned in an effort to form such opinions.

In the United States, a 2008 study conducted by Matthew Kotchen, an economist at the University of California, resulted in the conclusion that daylight savings time actually costs more money. Kotchen contends that because of the extra hour of daylight savings time, we turn on air conditioning for longer periods, thereby increasing energy costs. That is largely because people get home an hour earlier to a warmer house and have the need for an extra hour of air conditioning. That seems pretty simple; however, there are those who disagree with Kotchen. Who, would disagree? This may not be a surprise, but just like in England, the United States government disagrees with independent researchers. However, unlike England, the United States sent the Department of Energy to do the study, and they came back with an argument in favor of energy savings with regards to daylight savings time. Imagine that?

If you continue to read about the arguments for and against daylight savings time, you may be just like us and not know who to believe. However, governments seem to have a higher stake economically in keeping the practice going. Perhaps the earlier discussion of once something is legislated, it becomes difficult to change has some merit.

As for the people, they don’t all agree either. For instance, national telephone surveys by Rasmussen show that many people just don’t think time change is worth all the hassle. At least 47 percent of the people surveyed said that it was not worth it, while 40 percent thought that the time change was worth the hassle.

On the other hand, author David Prerau states that his research shows that most people are quite fond of daylight savings time. He maintains that the first day of daylight savings time is like the first day of spring for many people. Prerau contends that if you ask most people if they enjoy daylight savings time, they would give you a favorable answer.

The one thing that both proponents and opponents for daylight savings time agree on is the fact that it is a hassle. It’s just one more thing that we have to place on the list of things to do. Of course, then we have to remember to do it! OnlineClock.net can help you with this part. We have many alarms and countdown devices that can make it easier to make the change. In fact, we pride ourselves on the efficiency of our most valued timers. As to the issue of whether or not we can help you decide to agree or disagree with daylight savings time, we are at a loss. As with every issue, there are positives and negatives. You will have to make up your mind on what is more important to you.

Fall back!

At OnlineClock.net, we are proponents of good health and exercise; therefore extended daylight hours can be good for prolonged outdoor sports and other healthy activities. However, if the practice of creating extra daylight hours have a negative influence on sleep, it negates the benefits of the extra time for exercise. See what we mean? You can be for it and against it at the same time! Oh well, we tried. Maybe you can think of different aspects to argue and decide if you like the time changes.

If changing the clocks weren’t enough of a bother, the practice of checking the batteries in your smoke detector became yet another thing that officials remind you to do after changing your clocks. This leaves us wondering what else officials will add to the list in the future. Perhaps we should check for fleas on the dog and clean out our closets as well? We are being facetious, but it is rather curious as to how that particular thing got attached to daylight savings time.

At OnlineClock.net, the time switches involving daylight savings time are a no brain. Online Clock uses your computer’s own time settings. All modern-day computers come with the capacity to automatically adjust themselves to the time changes from daylight savings time each year – automatically. In the very instant that your computer updates itself to the new time, Online Clock does, too. (Theoretically, you can even watch such a time change take place live on our online alarm clock!)

For now, it looks like daylight savings time is here to stay because there are studies that support it. As to whether or not the people support the idea is up for grabs. We are quite sure the conspiracy theorists could have a good time with this subject. In fact, during our research, we came across a rather humorous article on a daylight savings time conspiracy theory from the Huffington Post. (The article was written in 2007. This was during the George W. Bush administration. Apparently, the writer had a friend named Fred who loved to spin a good conspiracy theory for every subject, and would then proceed to connect it to the current administration. She is not sure what he does for a living, though she thinks he is either a hair stylist or an accountant. The article is worth reading just for the opportunity to imagine Fred on the other end of the phone line wearing a little tin foil hat!)

Daylight Savings Time: The Arguments For And Against It is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Hugest Sundial In The World

Online Clock — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:39:37 PST

One of the oldest timekeeping devices is the sundial.

Of course, when it is raining, measuring time by using this ancient method can be problematic. Frankly, it is much easier to log on to our website and get the precise time; however, we appreciate ancient methods of timekeeping. These methods were the building blocks for the way we measure time today.

Here at OnlineClock.net, we decided that it might be an interesting quest to find the hugest sundial in the world. What did we do that for? Don’t ask. It was a journey that took us all around the world from our computer stations and eventually produced an ambiguous answer. Just what the heck were we thinking? Nevertheless, we found the journey to be quite informative.

Our search yielded more than one contender. Unfortunately, we did not expect this to happen.

After all, we have found some of the most famous clocks in the world, and we have written about them on numerous occasions. Why wouldn’t it be just as easy to write about the largest sundial in the world? Ultimately, it became necessary to whittle down the choices to the three largest sundials claiming to be the largest… The first is in India, the second is in the United States, and the third is in China.

The underlying reason that the largest sundial in the world is hard to pin down is because largest can translate to height or width in relation to sundials. Some of the largest refer to the gnomon of a sundial. The gnomon of a sundial is the vertical structure that creates the shadow indicating the time of day. The aforementioned is partly responsible for the confusion over which is the largest sundial in the world. Below are three of the largest sundials that we were able to find.

Jantar Mantar Sundial

Jantar Mantar is a collection of large architectural, astronomical instruments located in India. The instruments were built for King Jai Singh II at the capital of Jaipur between the years 1727 and 1734. This structure was inspired by another similar structure that King Jai Singh II had built at the Mughal capital of Delhi. Surprisingly, he had five of these facilities built in different locations. He really loved the idea of large observatories. The Jaipur observatory is the biggest of the five structures. It is also in the best repair among all the structures that King Jai Singh commissioned during his lifetime. The World Heritage List described the observatory as an expression of astronomical skills and cosmological ideas of the court of a scholarly prince. That is quite a compliment to the curious king.

The Janta Mantar Sundial in Delhi, India.

Jantar Mantar has 14 large geometric devices that measure time. Some predict eclipses and track the location of the stars. Each of these devices is a fixed and focused tool. The sundial, named the Samrat Yantra, is the largest instrument of all the instruments. Samrat Yantra measures 90 feet high and its shadow is carefully plotted to tell the time of day. The face of this sundial was positioned at an angle of 27 degrees, which is the latitude of Jaipur. The Hindu chhatri, a small cupola on top of the instrument, is used as a platform for the announcing of eclipses and forecasting monsoons. The instruments were built from local stone and marble. Each one of the instruments carries an astronomical scale. These are generally marked on the inner lining of the marble. The Jantar Mantar was declared a national monument in 1948. It remains one of the most popular tourist attractions in India.

Sundial Bridge

The Sundial Bridge in Redding, California claims to be the world’s tallest sundial. The main function of the Sundial Bridge is to provide a pedestrian pathway to the north and south areas of Turtle Bay, an exploration park which contains environmental, art and history museums. It is the gateway to the Sacramento River Trail. The 35 mile trail was completed in 2010.

This suspension bridge doesn’t balance itself by using a symmetrical collection of cable forces on each side of its supporting tower. Instead, the bridge uses a cantilever tower, set at an angle and loaded by the cable stays on one side. This type of design requires that the spar resist bending and that its foundation resists overturning. While this produces a structure that is less efficient, the architectural statement is quite dramatic. The bridge is 700 feet in length and crosses the river without touching the water. This is a design criterion that helps protect the salmon spawning grounds beneath the bridge. The cable stays are not centered on the walkway but instead divide the bridge into a major and minor path.

One of the white tile Markers on the Sundial Bridge in Redding, California.

The sundial and a small plaza below the support tower are decorated with white tiles from Spain. The deck of the bridge has a surface of translucent structural glass from Quebec. This glass is illuminated from beneath and produces an aquamarine color at night. The steel support of the bridge was constructed in Vancouver, Washington, and was transported in sections by truck to Redding, California.

The bridge has a support tower which forms a single 217 foot mast that points due north at a cantilevered angle. This allows the bridge to serve as the gnomon of a sundial. The Sundial Bridge gnomon’s shadow is cast upon a very large dial to the north of the bridge. The tip of the shadow moves at an approximate rate of one foot per minute so that the Earth’s rotation on its axis can be seen with the naked eye.

The Sundial Bridge has been called the world’s largest sundial; however, a building known as Taipei 101 has a sundial that is quite a bit larger!

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 is a massive skyscraper located in China. It is the first record-setting building to be constructed in the 21st century. It exhibits many technologically advanced features that provide a center for business and recreation. Taipei 101 features two observatories. One is located indoors and the other is located outside of the building. Both observatories offer a 360 degree view which attracts visitors from around the world. The outdoor observatory is the second-highest skyscraper observatory in history.

One of the recreational features of Taipei 101 is a park. Taipei 101 is connected with this park through the symbolism of time. The park is a circular design which allows it to double as the face of a sundial. The huge 1671 foot Taipei 101 tower casts a shadow which indicates the afternoon hours for the occupants of the building. The design of the park is echoed in a clock which stands at the entrance. The clock runs on energy that is drawn from the building’s wind shear. Taipei 101 is quite an impressive structure.

The park which serves as a sundial, using the shadow of the Taipei 101 skyscraper.

Since the gnomon of Taipei 101′s sundial is the 1671 foot tower, this makes it the largest sundial we could identify through research!

Finding an official record of the largest sundial in the world was not fruitful. We could not imagine why there is no official record. The question rolled back and forth, so we decided to look in the most obvious place for the answer. We searched the Guinness Book of World Records and came up empty! There is no official record for the largest sundial in the world.

Our search took us on many twists and turns and was quite a journey. Interestingly, there was a record for the most valuable sundial in the world. Given this curious record, we could not help but read on about this odd treasure.

The World’s Most Valuable Sundial

The sundial dubbed the most valuable in the world is the Yanggu’s gold sundial which has an estimated value of $800,690,000. It is comprised of four pounds, six ounces of pure gold plating and 18,739 pounds of bronze. It was manufactured by the Nature Space Company in Yang-gu Gamngwon Province, South Korea. The project lasted from June to December of 2008.

Finding the largest sundial in the world turned into a quest that was quite educational. Researching these marvelous architectural marvels is fun and full of amazing human achievements. We suggest that you read about these structures in detail when you are interested in broadening your knowledge about giant sundials in the modern world. Whether or not you can consider all of the featured landmarks as official sundials would be a matter of opinion. They are all absolute qualifiers; however, two of the three aren’t actually complete sundials built for the purpose of time measurement alone. Does that mean that the first contender is the largest in the world? You will have to decide that for yourself.

While researching sundials, we even came across a huge dam in France that is being converted into a giant sundial! However, since this was not in the original plan, we disqualified that one as a contender. The people responsible for the conversion are hoping to attract tourists. You can watch the conversion for yourself. It appeared to be quite an interesting process, and we are fairly certain that the video will entertain you for a couple of minutes.

Here at OnlineClock.net, we pay homage to all those that had the vision and skill to build such amazing timekeeping landmarks for the world to experience…as the world’s largest sundials!

Hugest Sundial In The World is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Cloud Computing: Clock History’s Newest Chapter

Online Clock — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:57:19 PST

For readers who are not familiar with cloud computing, we will give a brief overview.

The NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology) gives a good description of this. They state that cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient access in an on-demand manner to a shared resource of configurable computing resources. Resources can be in the form of storage, servers, networks, applications or services that may be quickly provided for and released with little effort or interaction. There are three main service models, including Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service and Software as a Service. These three models are commonly referred to as PaaS, IaaS and SaaS. The NIST mentions in their article that they’re working to shorten the time it takes the government to fully adopt this model of computing. They believe that cloud computing used by the government will save money and be a productive answer to difficult economic constraints.

Cloud computing’s initial concept is said to have been predicted by John McCarthy in 1960, according to Carnegie Mellon University. McCarthy stated “computation may someday be organized as a public utility.” Little did he know, he was referencing what cloud computing is today. Although McCarthy’s statement is very well-known, a more detailed description of cloud computing was given in 1966 by Douglas Parkhill in his book “The Challenge of the Computer Utility.” According to a publication from Duke University School of Law, Parkhill’s book was accurate. In the same previously-referenced publication from Carnegie Mellon University, the author indicates that the term “cloud” came into use in the early 1990s. The term referred to large Asynchronous Transfer Mode, or ATM, networks. Perhaps one of the most interesting stories of cloud computing’s history has to do with General Magic.

In a case study published by The University of California of Berkeley, the rise and fall of General Magic is explained. The company began in 1995 with Telescript and Magic Cap, two products they believed to be very powerful. Seeking a place in the communications business with a vision of hand-held electronics utilizing telecommunications resources, the company’s CEO set out to succeed. General Magic had several connections with powerful resources, such as AT&T, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Sony Corp., Apple Computer, Philips Electronics and Motorola Inc. AT&T started a network with Telescript in 1994, which was called PersonaLink. Not a day later, Sony distributed the very first hand-held communicators that were capable of deploying intelligent agents on PersonaLink. This means the internet’s fiercest competitor emerged immediately – or so they thought. When General Magic offered their shares, there was a high demand initially. There were a total of four million shares priced at $14 each. By the end of their first day selling shares, the demand was so great they actually sold 6.8 million. The first day, their stock soared 91%.

However, this was a short victory. The demand for the products and services they were offering was not as popular as they’d hoped. Their annual loss was reported at over $21.5 million. PersonaLink didn’t survive, shutting down in August of 1996. General Magic tried to adapt Magic Cap to Windows and the Telescript language to the internet, but their desperate attempts failed. In December of that same year, General Magic dissolved. The case study goes on after this to explain that because the Telescript language is closed and proprietary, it failed. The overall concept General Magic had was a good one – after all, their idea reflects that of cloud computing, which is becoming more and more commonly used every day. Perhaps if they knew then what is known know about cloud computing, they may have survived if they had done things differently.

We’re unsure as to who is credited with the real claim to the very first cloud computing software, as there are multiple claims floating around the internet. However, a publication from Michigan State University points out that cloud computing companies started in the late 1990s, offering SaaS and network management services. Carnegie Mellon in Qatar points out that SaaS itself began around 1999. Since this idea relates to Online Clock‘s services, let’s explore what SaaS is.

In an article titled “Cloud Computing: The Evolution of Software-as-a-Service” by Arizona State University, a good illustration is made. The author points out that when you plug in a toaster, you may not think about where the electrons that power it are coming from – you’re probably just thinking about toasting a food item. When you use water or electricity, you don’t usually think about where they come from and they’re not involved in the maintenance or set-up work of it. On an electronic and internet level, you can consider email as an example. Depending on the host, specific people or everyone can use the service. Likewise, when you use OnlineClock.net, you may not think about all the “inner” workings or where the service comes from. You can think of OnlineClock’s alarm clock as a form of cloud clock that can be used by anyone!

Arizona State University’s article explains that SaaS allows companies the ability to access large amounts of virtual computing power or applications without the requirement of buying them. So, in using the email example, instead of buying all the power you need to store the email, you’re using someone else’s service. Perhaps you use a free email company or you have one through your cable or internet provider, which you get as a complimentary service by paying for their internet or cable services. With Saas, by using a service that is hosted somewhere else – or on a “cloud” – this saves individual users the hassle of maintenance and other issues. Some SaaS options aren’t only used on large international email networks, though. The same concept could be used in your office with only a few computers connected to one another.

Arizona State’s article also points out that cloud computing has several “silver linings.” Not only does it cut down on IT work, which makes it time-efficient, but it is also cost-effective. The school quoted Jamshid Vayghan, Ph.D., who is a chief enterprise data architect and manager with the Executive Business Institute for IBM. Vayghan said that cloud computing provides a way for people to share resources and solve problems. Working for such a prestigious company that only moves forward progressively, Vayghan knows what it takes to generate success. He also noted that his company saw an increase in productivity after using cloud computing models. He noted that since his company employs over 370,000 people in 170 different countries, the complexity of their work is often more complex than the people they serve. Vayghan said since he no longer has to obtain hardware and software, then perform configuration on and administer them, time and money are both saved!

We also mentioned IaaS and PaaS, so you may be wondering what the story is with them.

Platforms and infrastructures are based on the similar idea as SaaS, however, you’re using platforms and infrastructures, not software, from a cloud source. Instead of paying for your own infrastructure or platform, you would be able to use an outside source that does all the work, but then you have your own fine-detail work after that to take care of. There are several other factors influencing this, also. Carnegie Mellon of Qatar created an introduction to the concept of cloud computing and its models, if you wish to learn more.

However, since IaaS and PaaS are not as relevant to the idea of using the Online Alarm Clock, we’re not going to delve into them deeply. We simply wanted to explain the three concepts to give you a clear picture and understand how an internet-based alarm clock can be used via SaaS and cloud computing.

Clock Lecture: Time for us to get on our Soapbox

Cloud computing is the perfect way to set up an online alarm clock. We use distributed cloud servers which are highly dependable, ensuring that you will wake up when you need to. By using Online Clock’s services, you save yourself the time, money and hassle of making your own clock. OnlineClock.net is carefully maintained, monitored and made available for you as your very own cloud clock. You won’t need to fix it, call tech support or worry about anything – like any other service, such as email, social network sites and checking weather online, the service is available without any work on your part. Please don’t forget that, though there are many copycat websites online, OnlineClock.net‘s alarm clock dates back to March, 2006, making us the first and original online alarm clock website!

With that, we wish all of you pleasant dreams – always!

Cloud Computing: Clock History’s Newest Chapter is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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The Aluna Clock Project

Online Clock — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:28:28 PST

[image © Mark Glean]

There is a new clock being constructed that will be the first of its kind. This new structure is a moon clock that keeps track of the phases of the moon. The creator of the clock intends to locate the project in the heart of London near the Thames River. The project, paid for by donations and grants will cost between eight and ten million dollars. The clock will be an attraction for many future visitors. The structure is considered to be a monumental piece of art that is proposed to be five stories in height. This moon clock has officially been named Aluna.

The Creator of Aluna

Artist Laura Williams is the creator of the Aluna clock. Laura wanted to create an inspiration that would teach the public that the natural rhythms of water are being ignored at our own peril. Laura considers the project to be a mixture of art, science and spirituality. The moon has been important to religions and many cultures around the world since the beginning of time. Many of London’s festivals are scheduled by the Moon’s phase. Laura feels that the Aluna clock will mean something to everyone, and is much more than a fantastic timepiece. It will be a sculpture, a visitor attraction center that will be used for learning. She also believes it will be a spiritual escape. With firm support from the local authorities and potential sites on both sides of the Thames River, Aluna’s project team are working to raise the money to develop the clock by 2012.

The Aluna Clock Team: Laura Williams, Alejandra Martins and Alan Ereira next to the Thames

Features of Aluna

Aluna features three concentrically constructed glass rings. The rings will be made of recycled glass. Each ring will be illuminated by LED lights that will show the different phases of the moon. The illumination of light showing these phases will be called Aluna time. Aluna will be powered by the tides of the Thames River. Once Aluna is up and running, it is said to be able to generate enough revenue by producing enough energy to light 200 homes in its home city of London. They Mayor of London has a climate change action plan that intends to spearhead the energy revolution. Initial talks have been held with the landowners, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and London’s Borough of Tower Hamlets regarding the potential location of the clock project. It will be considered a legacy for London that will bring a positive impact on the regeneration efforts of East London and the Thames Gateway. The Greenwich Council has given their endorsement of the project and is now hoping to bring the project to the Thames by 2012.

The Aluna Clock Team

Included in the Aluna team are Gifford and Partners Engineering. This engineering company has a sixty year history of bridge building and other large construction projects for the government. They have expanded their company over the years and are now including projects that are energy sustaining.

A company called Spiers and Major are the contractors that will be creating the lights for the clock. Spiers and Major have illuminated projects all around the world using light to accentuate the core structures of architectural designs. They are known for combining creativity with a pragmatic approach to ensuring that their lighting solutions are both sustainable and easy to manage. One of their more impressive projects has been the Copenhagen Opera House.

The United Kingdom’s National Oceanography Centre is the organization responsible for research and implementation of the tidal operation of the Aluna project. Their facility includes a data base that distributes data concerning the marine environment. They consult with the scientific community at various conferences world-wide.

The landscaping contractors of the project will be done a company known as LUC. This company has landscaped parks, gardens and streetscapes throughout Europe. They dedicate themselves to conserving and enhancing the environment. The company has a 45 year history and has won numerous landscaping design awards for their impressive work.

David Powell Associates will work on the cultural aspect of the project. This company promotes the role of cultural activity and community development. They will provide research, technical support and development to the Aluna project. Their relationships with clients range from short-term, intensive research, to long-term support and advice for agencies and partnerships.

Finally, the legal consultants of the project are Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer, LLP. This firm is an international law firm, providing business law advice throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States. They will work out the entire project in accordance with proper business law. After all, a clock this size certainly needs its own lawyers.

The Implications and Significance of Aluna

The moon holds an important place in our immediate outer space, as well as our lives. The concept of the importance that the moon holds on Earth can be realized through the completion of Aluna. The public can interact with the clock by actually touching and sitting on the structure during their visits. It will be an architectural marvel with a human connection to astronomy that has long been established.

The Aluna moon clock really is interesting and will be a living landmark. Here at OnlineClock.net we have featured an article about the Greenwich Royal Observatory as the world’s source of the precise time in London’s past. Aluna will be located near the same area of the old Greenwich Observatory. This project could be associated with a physical checkpoint for the precise lunar time. Aluna is potentially poised to become symbolic of regenerating the Lower Lea Valley in London. This could boost the entire Thames Gateway. If placed in the right location, it could have a defining role for the area, just as the Greenwich Royal Observatory has in the past. Although the two are not quite the same, the significance of Aluna near the original time center of the world will make the area associated with time, albeit moon time, with London once more.

How Lunar Phases Affect Tides

At OnlineClock.net we are quite familiar with astronomical clocks that feature planetary movement and phases of the moon. We have featured these clocks on our blog. However, the Aluna clock is something quite different. Aluna establishes the human connection to astronomy. Moreover, it establishes our closest connection to outer space; the moon. Our connection to the moon is historically present within every society that has existed. After all, who could not notice the moon’s waxing and waning and calling us to wonder about its existence? It was man’s first choice and experience for an actual walk on another surface in outer space.

The Apollo project was all about discovery of the moon and its environment and properties, so we are very connected to the moon. Laura Williams realizes that and has incorporated an environmental aspect that includes tidal energies that are created by the moon. Laura is trying to bring our attention to the natural rhythms of water and how ignoring these rhythms could be a great cost to human kind. The rhythms of water were once respected by cultures such as the Native American culture. There was a need to be near water to survive, but they always realized that their home was temporary near such a powerful energy source. They were ready to pack up their communities and move when the rhythm of the water changed. They never interfered with nature in this way. Unfortunately, same cannot be said of many other societies. We think Laura Williams is trying to make the point that we must be very careful with an important resource such as water. Our lives depend on it.

An artist's conception of the Aluna Clock by day.

[image © Mark Glean]

Aluna will be a beautiful sculpture. Perhaps many of those in London’s government are looking forward to the revenue the clock will bring, but there is a lot more to such a project. It’s a symbol of our ingenuity when we gather and create with a common goal in mind. It will be an architectural marvel and a spiritual renewal for many who associate themselves with astrological matters. Aluna will be more to the scale of something along the lines of the 10,000 year clock in size. It only keeps moon time and is not a clock that keeps the actual time. Of course, for actual time, you will need to log on to OnlineClock.net. We may not be clear on what phase the moon residing in, but we certainly can get you up on-time with one of our numerous alarms.

Many of our blog posts have featured science and technology in association with time and clocks. Aluna is technology, innovation and inspiration for the public and to help promote the basic understanding of science. Today, many people are concerned with the environment and science. They seek to understand the connections to Earth and all its influences, such as the moon’s gravitational pull and the effect of the tides on planet Earth. Impressive projects such as Aluna assist in integrating science into our culture. Since many will travel to see Aluna, perhaps there will be more of a concern with our environment and other science-related concerns. Online Clock wishes Laura Williams and the city of London good luck with their new and impressive Aluna project. It is a marvel of architecture and technology.

The Aluna Clock Project is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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All About Quartz Clocks And Wrist Watches

Online Clock — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:13:24 PST

All About Quartz Clocks

At OnlineClock.net, we consider ourselves to be among the foremost experts on keeping time. Before an Online Clock such as ours existed, we kept time the old-fashioned way, such as with old-fashioned pendulum clocks.

Unfortunately, if you forget to wind one of these old clocks, you will not have the correct time. Luckily, quartz clocks were discovered. Quartz clocks solved all the problems that less accurate methods presented. Quartz clocks and watches work differently than old-fashioned pendulum clocks and mechanical watches. Quartz clocks have gears, but the gears are regulated. A tiny quartz crystal is what regulates the quartz clock.

Quartz is a very common mineral found on Earth. It’s made from a certain chemical compound called silicon dioxide which can be found in sand and various types of rock formations. Interestingly, if you squeeze a quartz crystal, it will generate a tiny electric current. The opposite can also be true. If you pass electricity through quartz, it will vibrate at a precise frequency.

Inside of the quartz clock or watch, the battery sends electricity through the quartz through an electronic circuit. The quartz then oscillates at a precise frequency. This frequency is exactly 32,768 times each second. The circuit will then count the number of vibrations and uses the vibrations to generate regular one second pulses. The pulses can power LCD displays or they can drive a very small electric motor. This motor turns gear wheels that will spin the clock’s hour, minute and second hands.

The electric charge that the quartz generates when mechanical pressure is applied makes it a piezoelectric material.

Piezoelectricity: Electric polarization in a substance (esp. certain crystals) resulting from the application of mechanical stress.

Piezoelectricity was discovered by Pierre and Jaques Curie in 1880. In the earlier part of the 20th century, Walter Cady recognized that quartz crystals could be used to fabricate stable resonators. Cady also found that quartz could be cut in certain ways that would create resonators of just about any frequency that were generally independent of temperature changes. Quartz crystals were first used as a time standard by a man named Warren Marrison. He invented the very first quartz clock in 1927.

The Explosion of the Quartz Wrist Watch

In 1959, Seiko started to develop a quartz wrist watch. The project actually had a codename. It was called 59A. It’s kind of funny now, but back then it was a very secretive project. Within five years, Seiko had a working prototype of a portable quartz watch. It was used in the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Seiko - creators of the first Quartz Wrist Watch !

The first prototype of an actual wrist watch from Seiko was made by the CEH research Lab in Switzerland. From 1965 through 1967, a pioneering developmental project was done on a miniature quartz oscillator, a thermo-compensation module and a dedicated, integrated circuit. The BETA 1 prototype was then produced and set new timekeeping records.

The very first quartz wrist watch to enter production was Seiko 35 SQ Astron, which hit the market on December 25, 1969. A particularly interesting flaw to Seiko’s approach within this new development was that they decided not to patent the entire movement of the quartz wrist watch. One would think with all the secrecy of the development of the quartz watch that Seiko would patent the entire project. That would probably never happen these days. Seiko’s failure to patent this wrist watch allowed other manufacturers to make a quartz wrist watch. This played a paramount role in the quick development of the quartz watch. In less than a decade, the quartz watch was king among all other watches. This ended a 100 year reign for the mechanical watch. Now, even the cheapest watches have quartz movements.

The first Quartz Wrist Watch made for production: The Seiko 35 SQ Astron !

During the 1970s, the mechanical watch industry in Switzerland was consolidated. A mass production of quartz wrist watches was led by the Swatch group of companies, a Swiss company with control of the production of Swiss watches and related products. Their subsidiaries manufactured the watch batteries, oscillators, and integrated circuits used in the watch. The launch of the new Swatch watch in 1983 featured bold new styling, design and marketing. Not surprisingly, today the Swatch Group is the world’s largest watch company.

Seiko did go on to develop another quartz watch project. Their new project was a combination quartz and mechanical timepiece. Seiko’s efforts to combine the quartz and the mechanical movements finally bore fruit after nearly 20 years of research. This gave birth to the Seiko spring drive. It was first introduced in 1999 and then sold worldwide in 2005. The spring drive manages to keep excellent time within quartz standards without having to use a battery. This watch uses a traditional mechanical gear train which is powered by a spring. It doesn’t need a balanced wheel.

Seiko now has a kinetic powered quartz watch that uses the arm movement of the wearer to turn a rotating weight. This causes a very small generator to supply power to recharge the battery. The idea is similar to that of self-winding spring watches, except that the power is a generated power instead of a mechanical spring tension.

Benefits of the Quartz Watch

A quartz watch is able to maintain water-resistance better than a mechanical watch because there is a less of a need to have the crown unscrewed for time setting. Also, resistance to wear is better in a quartz watch because the gear trains of mechanical watches are under constant pressure from the mainspring. The wear is due to friction. Quartz watches are not under such pressure. For that reason, quartz watches almost never have to be serviced to maintain proper lubrication.

Quartz watches are also very convenient. You could literally put them in the drawer for months, and then take them out and wear them again and they will show the correct time. This is not the case with a mechanical watch.

Ways to Identify a Quartz Watch

All digital watches are quartz watches. There many ways to tell a quartz watch from a mechanical watch. A lot of mechanical watches will have an automatic or self winding movement. These are labeled as automatic on the face. Quartz watches are seldom labeled as automatic. Many of the mechanical watches have a see through dials or case fronts to show off the movements of the watch. Quartz watches almost never have a see through dial.

If the watch has a second hand, you can tell the quartz from the mechanical watch by looking at the hand and how it moves. The second hand on a quartz wristwatch will move in a jerky motion. It jumps forward in one-second intervals. The second hand of a mechanical watch moves in an uninterrupted, sweeping motion.

Today, quartz crystals used inside of watches come in many shapes and frequencies. Among the most common are tiny encapsulated tuning forks that vibrate. Quartz clocks and watches continue to dominate the market because they are so accurate and reliable. Also, their cost is quite low when mass produced.The bulk of low to medium priced watches on the market today are quartz watches. Expensive mechanical timepieces are valued for workmanship and aesthetics rather than for accuracy. These watches usually have strictly mechanical movements. They are powered by springs. These mechanical movements are not as accurate as quartz movements. Quartz watches have many more functions than mechanical watches. Some of the additional features of quartz watches are timers, chronographs and alarm functions. Some really modern designs use GPS technology or heart monitoring capabilities.

How to Recognize a Good Quartz Watch

A long battery life is one thing that separates better quartz watches apart from the cheaper quartz watches. A two year battery life would be considered a long battery life. Also, a high quality crystal is another feature a good quartz watch will have.

Science and the Quartz Clock

Quartz clocks are still the most practical and accurate way to keep time for science. Quartz clocks and timers meet the standards that are nationally required for the scientific field. The atomic clock, which we have featured on one of our earlier blog posts, is more accurate; however, it is not practical because of its high price tag. Additionally, atomic clocks are not currently available in wrist watches or timers.

Interestingly, quartz crystals have an essential role in atomic timekeeping, even though they do not provide its time base. The frequency of the atomic clocks oscillation is way too high for them to be used to operate the clock directly. The oscillations of quartz crystals are multiplied and compared with the atomic oscillator. The quartz oscillations are then adjusted periodically for accuracy, and it is these oscillations that actually drive the clock.

Quartz - it's all about the oscillations, baby !

Another interesting thing about the quartz watch is that most watches that are made for women are quartz watches. Watch companies found that women are more interested in style than movements. Since the quartz watch is less expensive, highly accurate and does not need winding, women usually prefer them. Further, companies have also found that women who like the cachet of a mechanical watch prefer men’s models because of their larger size. This makes expensive mechanical watches easier to identify by brand than women’s watches. A Swiss company called Breitling sells many men’s watches to fashionable, status-minded women. Next time you are shopping for a watch for a special woman in your life keep this in mind. You can’t go wrong choosing the quartz watch. Women really don’t mind a jerky second hand as long as they don’t have to wind the watch.

Battery operated quartz clocks are found on the walls of homes and businesses all over the modern world. Their wide history and interesting development into wrist watches are examples of innovation at its best. The lesson that Seiko learned in the development and widespread distribution is an interesting, yet priceless one. The quartz clock is possibly one of the most useful inventions the 20th century; however, we are glad that you find Online Clock‘s timekeeping to be another one of the most useful things in the 21st century.

OnlineClock.net will continue to keep the precise time for you. Whatever your timing needs may be, we have the clock to meet them. We look forward to continuing our reputation as the masters of the Online Clock universe!

All About Quartz Clocks And Wrist Watches is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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24 Hour History Of The Earth

Online Clock — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:37:11 PST

If you need to keep track of time, OnlineClock.net is an excellent tool in which to do just that. Our time tools site can track the beginning and end of nearly anything imaginable.

But have you ever wondered what the beginning of existence would have looked like if it were tracked as though it happened during a measurement of 24 hours? What if we had an Earth clock? When and where would time begin and end during the creation of life?

If we looked at Earth’s creation through a clock measuring a 24 hour time span, dinosaurs, mammals and humans would be last in the line of creation on the clock. The National Science Foundation terms the creation of Earth and its life forms as emergence.

Earth and life as we know it began nearly four billion years ago.

Aging Earth is a very complex mystery that scientists have faced for many years. The process of the creation of planet Earth adhered to all the laws of chemistry and physics, yet the details are quite confounding and scientists are still chasing them with fervor. How did this clock of life begin to tick?

Theories of the Genesis of Life

Astrobiologist Robert Hazen, Carnegie Institution and George Mason University, has some very interesting theories on the origin of Earth. Through experiments that subjected elements which were found near deep-ocean vents, Hazen hypothesizes that life probably began in such an environment as the ocean. He believes that the beginnings of life were nourished by the rich mixture of the oceanic water and was energized by Earth’s tectonic forces. That is such a good explanation for where life began, but is it possible that life began or exists on other planets as well? Without being privy to direct observations of other worlds, scientists are constantly looking for ways of discovering whether life exists beyond Earth. Hazen theorizes that the origins of life on Earth, and possibly on other planets, can be modeled as a sequence of events that are considered to be the transformation of the lifeless geochemistry of oceans, minerals and atmosphere into a living planet.

Astrobiologist Robert Hazen

Hazen states that it all comes down to emergence. Emergence, in a common sense, refers to a shadowy figure from a dark place. Hazen thinks that emergence is like a submarine from the bottom of the sea, or a plot in a novel. Hazen pens the term emergence poetically and nicely packages it in his book; however, emergence has developed quite a different meaning in the field of science. Researchers refer to emergence to describe a process of complex systems that arise from simpler systems.

The process usually begins with a synthesis of bio-molecules which are in a variety of pre-biotic environments. One of the key steps on Earth in its transition from geochemistry to biochemistry was the appearance of the first self-replicating molecules, and the jump-start of rapid evolution through competition and the process of natural selection.

This sequence of steps is very important in studies of the origins of life. According to Hazen, the sequence of these steps reduce a very complex process into a series of manageable chemical episodes. Each step is a process for laboratory experimentation or theoretical modeling of the beginning of life on planet Earth, and perhaps planets in the distance of space.

The Events of the Earth Clock

According to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, on a 24 hour clock, Earth’s birth completion began at midnight, but its violent history began a long time before that. Before the birth of Earth, huge ancient stars reached the end of their life and exploded. This explosion created many supernovas that produced all the chemical elements that we know today. Over a span of time, gravity took hold, and the cloud of stardust created by the explosion collapsed. This stardust then spun into an enormous rotating disc. This rotating disc is known as the solar nebular. The particles in the solar nebular collected like dust bunnies underneath a bed. These particles collided, and some of the particles adhered and formed masses, one of which was Earth.

Below are the events of the 24 hour Earth clock. We have provided explanations for those events that are not self-explanatory:

00:00 – 3:00 a.m. – Meteorite Bombardment

Scientists have found evidence that Earth was bombarded by meteorites approximately four billion years ago. This has implications that these giant impacts annihilated any possible existing life forms at the time, but it also gave Earth complex molecules from carbonaceous chondrites, which are specific types of meteorites.

4 a.m. – Origin of life
5:36 a.m. – Oldest fossils
6 a.m. – 1:52 p.m. – Abundant banded iron formations

Banded iron formations are distinctive sedimentary rocks. These rocks contain banded iron layers. Banded layers that are rich in iron are featured in sediments during much of the early history of Earth.

2:08 p.m. – Single-celled algae
6:08 p.m. – Sexual reproduction
8:28 p.m. – Seaweed formation
8:48 p.m. – Jellyfish
9:04 p.m. – Trilobites

Trilobites are a well-known fossil group from extinct marine anthropods.

9:52 p.m. – Land plants
10:24 p.m. – Coal swamps
10:56 p.m. – Dinosaurs
11:39 p.m. – Mammals
11:58:43 p.m. – Humans

Reducing Earth’s creation to a clock may seem like a strange thing to do, since so much of what happened took a lot more time than 24 hours. According to research scientists, it gives us a picture of what kind of pause may have taken place between the events that formed the picture of life as we know it today. While it’s nice to have a number or an age of Earth, it may spark a curiosity of how scientists are able to tell us the age of Earth.

One representaton of the Earth's history on a 24 hour clock.

The exact age of Earth still cannot be calculated. The four billion year age is an educated approximation based on scientific evidence. Rock formations are one of the ways the Earth’s age is measured. Over time, plate tectonics destroys rock and impedes an exact planetary aging measurement. Ancient rocks, which are more than 3.5 billion years old, have been found all over the planet. The consistency of the ages of the rocks on every continent gives science the confidence that they are correct in aging Earth within a few thousand years.

One of the interesting features of the ancient rocks that is that they are not from a primordial crust, but are lava flows and sediments that were deposited in shallow water. This is an indication that Earth’s history began well before the rocks were deposited. For instance, In Western Australia, individual zircon crystals found in younger sedimentary rocks have ages of 4.3 billion years, making these small crystals the oldest materials to be found on Earth to date. The source rocks for the zircon crystals still have not been found. The ages of the crystals and the oldest rocks show that the Earth is at least 4.3 billion years old, but they don’t reveal the exact age that Earth was formed. Since no one was present to witness Earth’s beginnings, we have to rely on scientific evidence to point us to the age of Earth. There are other ways in which scientists can tell when Earth began.

Meteorites: Often used as a way of dating the Earth's history.

Meteorites are an excellent way of dating Earth. There are more than 70 meteorites of different types whose ages have been measured using radiometric dating techniques. The results of those tests reveal that the meteorites were present 4.53 and 4.58 billion years ago.

Fossil Evidence: Early life forms

The earliest evidence of fossil cells were found in sedimentary rocks in Australia. These fossils depict unicells in spherical, fibrous growth formations which are clumped together. These fossils were present 2.8 billion years ago. There are several avenues of evidence that prove life has been present for most of Earth’s history. Hypotheses about the origins of life vary in terms of the environmental context, and as to whether replication came about first in the earliest of life’s cells. Prokaryotic ecosystems ruled the first two billion years of life on Earth. Eukaryotes are thought to have arisen from prokaryotic ancestors by way of stages of endosymbosis. Our bodies have ten times as many cells as prokaryotic symbionts within our human genome.

Life is nearly as old as Earth itself. The Earth clock shows life and humans emerging close to midnight. It is amazing that we evolved and survived, considering the climate of the rest of the universe.

Interestingly, we should note that the supernova created an explosion which resulted in a collection of molecules and chemicals from the universe here on Earth. As one of the life forms of Earth, we are made from the same compositions of Earth as well as the universe. We are in the universe, and the universe is in us. (Hey, that’s a really cool thought…)

The science of dating the universe and the planets is still evolving. There are many answers that are yet to be discovered. It is truly amazing what has been found just in the last century. Looking at the emergence of Earth and its life forms on the 24 hour clock allows us to see just how fast life actually evolved on Earth, since Earth had such a hostile environmental beginning. If you really think about it, we made it here in record time!

Here at OnlineClock.net, we are excited about Earth science and we anxiously await to hear more about new discoveries that will enhance the Earth clock. We will faithfully cheer on our many outstanding scientists, and we wish them well in their continued study of planet Earth!

24 Hour History Of The Earth is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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A Simple Introduction To Astrology

Online Clock — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:17:14 PDT

Using the OnlineClock.net alarms to rise in the morning is one way to measure time; however, measuring time, as we have often discussed on our blog, goes far back into the history of mankind. Measuring the Earth’s rotation around the sun is how we mark time in years. The completion of one rotation of the Earth’s axis is how we measure our days. Since the stars and planets are used as a way to measure time, we thought we’d examing the sometimes curious theories and beliefs in astrology that many people have today.

The placements of planets and their effects on humans are a full-time career for some. These people are known as astrologers. An astrologer will make a map or a chart by using an individual’s date of birth to identify their astrological sign. They use the placement of the planets at the exact time and location of birth to characterize personalities and what influence the sun, moon and planets may have on the individual. It is certainly a curious practice and very lucrative for many of those who are considered accurate in their findings. These findings are often declared as foolishness by most scientists. Although astrology is not a provable science, many people actually plan the day based on their horoscopes. Nearly every city has a newspaper featuring the horoscope. Countless magazine publications also partake in servicing their readers with the latest horoscopes in order to see what may be in store for the readers over the coming weeks, months or the entire year. People find their signs in these publications and believe they are reading the future, as it were. For your reference, here is a list of the astrological signs and the animal symbol that is associated with each sign:

Aries – the ram, March 21 – April 19
Taurus – the bull, April 20 – May 20
Gemini – the twins, May 21 – June 20
Cancer – the crab, June 21 – July 20
Leo – the lion, July, 21 – August 20
Virgo – the virgin, August 21 – September 20
Libra – the scales, September 21 – October 20
Scorpio – the scorpion, October 21 – November 20
Sagittarius – the centaur/archer, November 21 – December 20
Capricorn – the goat, December 21 – January 20
Aquarius – the water bearer, January 21 – February 20
Pisces – the fish, February 21 – March 20

There is no existing proof that because a person is born under a particular astrological sign that they possess certain characteristics, but there are people that insist, for instance, that every Leo they meet has a beautiful head of hair. The astrological sign of Leo is connected to the symbol of the lion. The lion has a full mane on its head. They connect the sign with the symbol and swear by it. We can’t be positive, but here at OnlineClock.net, we think there must be a bald Leo somewhere on Earth to dispute this belief. It is unsubstantiated beliefs such as this that causes the average scientist to dismiss astrology as nonsense. Perhaps some of them actually know a bald Leo to assist them in summarily dismissing astrology. Despite the dismissal of Astrology by scientists, most academics do acknowledge people in ancient times used the planets and stars in the sky to measure time. If anyone wanted to understand time-keeping during ancient periods, there must be a willingness to accept this as a form of time-keeping. Within Egyptology, many esoteric ideas having to do with the nature of time have been undertaken as a part of theological studies; however, there are striking parallels to the basic tenets of modern astrology. Curiously, these connections to astrology are left unexplored.

Ancient Connections

Evidence that the ancient Egyptians looked to the solar system as a way to measure time is represented in many hieroglyphs. These ancient symbols show the sun and stars in stories and communications among the Egyptians.

The first professional astrologists came from Babylonia. The Babylonians observed the planets as if they were living beings traveling through the night sky. Many of their predictions concerning planetary activity are very similar to their predictions that involve animal behavior. For instance, if a planet was observed to behave in a certain way, it may have been a foretelling of famine, war, good fortune or peace for the land. Babylonians would also predict future events based on the behavior of animals. Perhaps this is the origin of why the zodiac depicts animals or symbols of animals within some of the individual astrological signs.

The most famous astrologist has to be Nostradamus; however, many believe his prophecies were rooted in end of the world prophecies. For this reason, many discount the actual connection to his work with the stars. There are many arguments associated with the Nostradamus prophecies that still continue.

Astrology - is it just a lot of Mumbo-Jumbo ?

Academic Theory

With such primitive beginnings and a refusal to investigate further connections to reality, astrology is not a subject that is frequently postulated in academic circles. There are some academics, such as, Dr. Gustav-Adolf Schoener, Hannover University, who lectures quite extensively on the subject. Dr. Shoener states that astrology is a subject that is between theology and science. He believes the two are connected through history. Dr. Shoener believes that astrology wants to be like a religion that is rooted in the scientific realm of astronomy, an actual experiential science. Of course, this sounds convoluted, but Dr. Schoener is a respected German academic and theorizes that just like religion, there is no scientific proof of the basis for belief; however, people may have certain experiences that will cause them to believe in astrology. Since astrology is rooted in astronomy, like religion is rooted in historical facts, and ancient books and teachings, the reaction of the people believing in these similar things are the same; they believe without scientific proof.

Admittedly, Dr. Shoener has a point. Some people plan their day around their astrological forecast. They believe in it wholeheartedly. For example, believers in astrology use the science of astronomy as their bible. They will follow the rules of their beliefs. If the planet Mercury is considered to be in retrograde, believers in astrology will prepare themselves for communication and general gadgetry breakdowns. Mercury is a planet associated with communication in astrology. If there is Mercury retrograde, believers in astrology will expect a lot of dropped calls from cellular phones. Additionally believers in astrology expect all electronic gadgetry to cause problems. Also, astrologers do not recommend that anyone purchase electronics during Mercury retrogrades.

Astrology and Everyday Applications

Just as religion is respected as a personal belief, perhaps astrology can be respected in the same way. If someone believes in something that they think will improve their experience, then there can be no harm in allowing them to do this without judgment. Even though there is no hard proof of astrology, there could be some sort of connection that just has not been explored. Perhaps future investigation may find a connection between the planets and stars and their influence on our existence. Currently, since this proof does not exist it becomes an individual choice.

Perhaps using astrology to make or not make big personal decisions may not be a good idea. Planetary forces and their effects on people should not be considered if a lease is about to expire and someone refuses to sign it because Mercury is in retrograde wouldn’t be very wise. Imagine if the government just brought down all of their computers because Mercury was in retrograde this week. Now that would create a very big problem.

Whether you believe in astrology or not, it is an interesting subject connected to the keeping of time as well as the implications of planetary effects on people. As far as predicting the future, this might be a stretch. It’s just a fun thought that astronomy is connected to this entire matrix of mathematical calculations of planetary positions of the time and location of our births. We have previously discussed astronomical clocks on our blog. Astronomical clocks make for quite a show with their planetary displays. People are always looking to the sky and wondering what’s out there and how the constellations relate to us. Since astrology is rooted in the science of astronomy, once cannot help but wonder if there is a connection. Isn’t that how NASA got started? We look up at the sky and wonder what else is out there besides what we can see.

The exploration of space may have also been something between an unproven belief and a science. We knew the moon and planets were out there because of telescopes. Man walked on the moon and eventually developed the technology to send probes to photograph galaxies beyond our own. We previously believed in something that had no evidence. Man kept searching and found evidence. Humans will constantly explore the stars, space and time. We may never have the answers, but we will always keep trying.

Astrology certainly doesn’t have provable answers, but it could be a start to something bigger if the possibilities are one day explored.

Who knows?

We will just have to wait and see what the future holds without trying to predict it without concrete evidence. One day we might just find that when Mercury is in retrograde, we should take it seriously. However, we still believe there will always be a bald Leo to disprove the myths related to this most curious subject of astrology.

OnlineClock.net will inform our members of any future astrological developments that are scientifically provable; however, we believe it’s a bit too early for a Mercury retrograde countdown timer!

A Simple Introduction To Astrology is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.

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Famous Astronomical Clocks

Online Clock — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:18:01 PDT

What is an Astronomical Clock?

An astronomical clock is a clock that shows the time of day as well astrological information. This information could be the location of the sun and moon in the sky, the phases of the moon and its ecliptic condition, sidereal time, the current zodiac sign, and more, depending on the individual clock.

Astronomical clocks are special clocks that we felt deserved some extra attention, in the form of a new post on OnlineClock.net‘s blog.

Astronomical clocks differ from the clocks we normally see because they give us an array of information, instead of just the time of day. I suppose life has gotten too complicated for most of us that the time of day is quite enough to track! It would be unimaginable to hear someone say: “What time do you have, and by the way, what phase is the moon currently in?” Without a doubt, this could garner some strange looks from others. Still, astronomical clocks are quite impressive and have various features that are simply captivating. During the Middle Ages, master clock makers built many mechanical clocks. The astronomical clock was one that amazed the people during that time in history. They believed that it was a magical device. That may explain its popularity during this time period. Today, they are generally historical displays which are considered engineering marvels, aesthetically pleasing and they have precise, fully operational mechanisms for those who enjoy following the planetary positions.

Historical Origins of the Astronomical Clock

In the fall of 1900, a team of sponge divers who were under the command of Captain Dimitros Kondos, were on their way home after a diving expedition when a storm necessitated the crew to take shelter. They anchored near the Greek island of Antikythera. During the wait, they decided to dive for more sponges. One of the divers discovered an ancient shipwreck dating back to the second century B.C. Among many artifacts discovered from the shipwreck was the Antikythera mechanism. This mechanism was used by the early Greeks to calculate the position of the sun, moon, and the stars at any given point by use of complicated metal gears. The exploration of the shipwreck continued for a year and the research continues today on the capabilities of the Antikythera mechanism. This mechanism was the first known example of an astronomical clock, and is considered a marvel of engineering for the time in which it was constructed.

Development of the Astronomical Clock

During the 11th century, the Sung Dynasty of China created the water driven astronomical clock for a clock tower in Kaifeng City. Su Sung incorporated an escapement mechanism and the earliest known endless power chain drive for their clock tower. Contemporary Muslim astronomers, and their engineers, crafted a variety of accurate astronomical clocks for their uses and observations. This included the castle clock by Ibn al-Shatir in the early 14th century.

European development of the astronomical clock started in the 1300s. Initially, the clocks were unreliable. They were as much as 30 minutes off, in most cases. Later the development of astronomical clocks produced more accurate versions of the earlier models. Usually, astronomical clocks were made for demonstration. The clocks educated and informed people who viewed them. They showcased technical skill, and carried a philosophical message of an ordered universe. During the 18th century, there was a renewed interested in astronomical clocks. The people during that time liked the clocks for their accurate astronomical information, due to a renewed in astronomy and how planets influenced people and agriculture.

Astronomical clocks are still constructed today in a variety of themes and styles. It’s all up to the patron as to what they want to keep track of, and how the clock display will fit in with their home decor. Astronomical clocks possess a perfect technology that people love to display and talk about. Some of the coolest astronomical clocks are quite old and have been displayed for generations. Here are some of the most famous astronomical clocks and their locations:

Strasbourg

Located at the Strasbourg Cathedral is an astronomical clock built between 1776 and 1856. It was built by Jean Baptiste Schwilgue. Jean employed 30 workers to complete the project. It shows an array of astronomical and calendar functions and is a marvelous display outside of the massive cathedral. Besides its beauty, one of the more interesting things about this clock is that the mechanisms inside of the clock actually predict the date that Easter will fall on each year.

Olomouc

Olomouc, which is the former capital of Moravia in the Czech Republic, has a great exterior astronomical clock located in their Town Square. It is a rare heliocentric astronomical clock. It dates back to 1420, and was remodeled once each century. It was damaged by the retreating Nazi German army during the last days of the war and was remodeled in the 1940s.

Originally, the clock had religious and royal figures which have since been replace with athletes, workers, farmers and scientists. The lower dial represents the sphere of Earth, and indicates minute, hour, day month, year and the phase of the moon. The upper dial displays a representation of the heavenly sphere, and there is a star map. The sun, earth and planets are displayed against a background of the twelve houses of the zodiac. The third level, which is the highest, is where the saints and apostles once paraded during the daily musical display each day at noon. The current display is now performed by worn-looking volleyball players, auto mechanics and factory workers.

There is an intricate background mosaic which covers the clock’s entire height of 14 meters. This background mosaic has a representation of the 12 seasons, and two traditional festivals which are known as the ride of the kings and the processions of maidens.

Sweden

The astronomical clock located at the Lund Cathedral in Sweden was constructed at the end of the 14th century. It was formerly in storage since 1837, and was restored in 1923. When the chimes play, six wooden figures representing the three Wise Men and their servants pass by Mary and Jesus.

The Ramsus Sørnes Clock

The most complicated astronomical clock ever constructed was made by a Norwegian named Ramsus Sørnes (1893-1967). The clock is characterized by its complexity. Features of this clock include locations of the sun and moon in the zodiac. It has a Julian calendar, Gregorian calendar, sidereal time, GMT, local time with daylight savings time displayed, including leap year. Also present are solar and lunar cycle corrections, eclipses, local sunset and sunrise, the moon phase, tides, sunspot cycles, and a planetarium which includes the 248 year orbit of Pluto. All the wheels are made of brass and are plated in gold. Each dial is silver plated. This clock has been displayed in museums all over the world. This remarkable clock will probably be the last one of its kind to be hand-designed, and made by one man. It is true craftsmanship. The clock was sold in 2002 and its current location is unknown.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen’s city hall has a complete astronomical clock on display. It is set in an interior glass cabinet. The clock took 50 years to design and was designed by an amateur astronomer, and professional clockmaker, Jens Olsen. Some of the components were inspired by the Strasbourg clock, which Olsen studied. It was constructed and assembled from 1948 to 1955. In the mid to late 1990s, the clock was completely restored by the Danish watchmaker, and conservator, Soren Andersen.

Prague

The astronomical clock in Prague is probably the most famous of all the astronomical clocks in existence. It is located at the Old Town Hall in Prague, Czech Republic. It is also known as the Prague Orloj. The center portion of the clock was completed in 1410. There are four figures that move in the display every hour, including a skeleton that is representative of death that strikes the time. Each hour, there is a presentation of statues which are representative of the Apostles. The statues are located at the doorway, right above the clock. At noon, all twelve are represented in a display. A calendar display was added to the clock in 1870. The design of the building is Gothic and it presents a very impressive display.

During World War II, the clock was nearly destroyed by a fire set by Nazi German soldiers. The townspeople were heroic in their efforts to save most of the parts. Gradually, the clock was renovated and finally completed in 1948. In 1979, the clock was cleaned and renovated. According to local legend, the city will suffer if the citizens neglect the clock (!).

The clock indicates five kinds of time; the Central European time, the unequal or temporal hours, the Bohemian or Italian hours, the position of the sun in the zodiac, and the sidereal time. It continually provides a complete range of astronomical data. The dial of the clock shows three independent movements: the mean revolutions of the sun, the mean revolutions of the moon, and the position of the stars. The horizon is indicated by the boundaries of the blue and the red colors on the clock. The dark circle at the bottom displays the astronomical night. There are three pointers that rotate around this dial. One is for the sun, one for the moon and the third is for the zodiac.

The astronomical clock in Prague recently celebrated six hundred years in existence. The birthday display was something spectacular. Video mapping was used to overlay the clock. The display went through the history of the clock as well many sublime projections which were synchronized with sound. The display progressed images mostly representing events that happened during the life of the clock. The display culminated through the era in which NASA landed men on the moon. The video of this display is online, and you really have to see it to appreciate what the company did for the people of Prague and the 600th anniversary of their clock. The display took four months to finish, and was witnessed by multitudes of people cheering wildly at the end of what they saw. Many were left in absolute awe after watching the display.

Here at Online Clock, we believe that astronomical clocks are a combination of technology, mechanics, science and art.

These astronomical clocks are admired not only for their impressive stature, but for the fact that they represent the best of all the aforementioned fields. Many people still have a love for the planets, and a belief that the entire universe is a balance in which we somehow fit into. The clocks play a part in reminding us of that balance. There is an artistic aspect to astronomical clocks that we generally do not see with most clocks. When people see an astronomical clock, they are reminded of their advancements. One cannot help but appreciate the men who came before us and created such impressive mechanisms for future societies to utilize and enjoy. These kinds of things remind us that great accomplishments are possible, and that we need to keep going in a forward, progressive direction, just like OnlineClock.net .

Famous Astronomical Clocks is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.