NIST and little miss chatterbox

February 17, 2009 · Posted in Updates 

I read Hannah the Little Miss Chatterbox (Mr. Men and Little Miss) book tonight. The premise is that she talks and talks and gets fired from a bunch of jobs until she finds the perfect job.  The person who tells the time over the phone.  

Hannah didn’t get it and I couldn’t explain it to her satisfaction.  I guess the days of calling time are over.  I did get a little curious, and it turns out that you can still call time.  NIST (the National Institue of Standards and Technology), the people who are the official deciders of what time it is down to the nearest nanosecond (1 billionth of a second), have a number that still tells you the time.  (303) 499-7111 or (808) 335-4363 if you prefer calling from Hawaii.  It says the time once then beeps at you. 

And I thought that calling time was ancient history.

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Comments

2 Responses to “NIST and little miss chatterbox”

  1. Tina on February 18th, 2009 8:30 am

    Ha…I didn’t know it was still around either. I remember calling (who knows where) to hear the story of the day, too, when I was young.

  2. Laurie on February 18th, 2009 9:38 am

    I think it’s really funny that Hannah didn’t get it… Like, who would need to CALL somewhere to know what time it is?!? How silly.

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