Sunday, January 23, 2011

A broken clock is not always right twice a day*

This clock on the corner of 6th and Cedar is valuable to bus riders. "Am I late?" "Is the bus early?" The clock will tell you. It also told you the temperature. Less directly useful, but still -- nice. But for month or so in December and January, it was broken and bus riders were left to their own devices.

But the clock was broken in an interesting way. Not just dark. It would be dark for the count of five and then quickly flash a -- usually -- non-number. Interesting! For a couple nights, I tried to count along and then snap a photo at just the right moment. The results were not great. Eventually I remembered (again) the camera can take video. So, over a couple nights, I took video to capture the different things flashing. There are actually more than I thought there would be.

Click the image for larger.

*You could argue that this clock was right once a day if you're using a 24-hour clock. But this clock -- when working -- is a 12-hour clock.