The end of TIME (no...not the magazine)

[Miss Neecerie]

First my freaking Wonder Bread...now this.....I might as well just go eat some lead based paint now.....

Time of day calling it quits at AT & T
August 29, 2007

It's the end of time, at least as far as AT&T is concerned.

The brief note in customers' bills hardly does justice to the momentousness of the decision. "Service withdrawal," it blandly declares. "Effective September 2007, Time of Day information service will be discontinued."


What that means is that people throughout Southern California will no longer be able to call 853-1212 to hear a woman's recorded voice state that "at the tone, Pacific Daylight Time will be . . ." with the recording automatically updating at 10-second intervals.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus29aug29,0,7634434.column?coll=la-home-center

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Are there any other companies that do the same?

 

[Nashoba]

I used to live by calling popcorn.....anytime the power went out. Of course that was before cell phones that had the time on it....a sad sad day....

 

[Lady Day]

At the tone, a little part of me will die inside
*beeeep*

LD

 

[Starius]

I used to catch a frequency on a shortwave radio that did the same thing... it would be a series of clicks and every so often, announce the time.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

This is dreadful.

 

[Feraud]

You had me worried for a second. I thought you meant the end of "Time". :eusa_doh:

 

[carter]

This is back to the future....

 

[Twitch]

Oh well, I guess we'll all just have to get along. If you want accurate time check you cable/satellite system.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

We have time, temperature and the weather forecast, free. There's a cheerful ad at the beginning.
I thought TIME magazine was folding.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Here's a link to the (unofficial) Bell System Memorial page about Jane Barbe and all those recorded phone company messages: http://www.porticus.org/bell/recordedannouncements.html


(Hey, by the way, whatever happened to "This is a recording."? I guess everybody knows by now that there isn't a live person repeating the same stuff over and over. lol)

 

[Bebop]

In the San Francisco area you can call (415) 767-8900 for time announcements. If you have free long distance and you want pacific coast time, you can put that on your speed dial. I set my watch every couple of days to what this nice lady says. Not many of these percise time announcements left.

 

[52Styleline]

I used to catch a frequency on a shortwave radio that did the same thing... it would be a series of clicks and every so often, announce the time.

Radio station WWV broadcasts time and frequency information 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to millions of listeners worldwide. WWV operates in the high frequency (HF) portion of the radio spectrum. The station radiates 10,000 W on 5, 10, and 15 MHz; and 2500 W on 2.5 and 20 MHz.

 

[Paisley]

You can get the official time here.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

You can get the official time here.

which works if you have power....if you dont...

UL3-1212 was a stalwart in the 'oh crud the power went out overnight and now the clock is blinking 12....what time is it anyhow' arena...

and yea...i know...cell phone will now tell you...etc....

just sayin'...not the same

 

[Foofoogal]

Thank Paisley. That was in military time and I used to live on a base. lol

Weather can be found with satellite for your area at http://www.wunderground.com
On the satellite you can push the animate map when you get to your local area. I look at this alot lately due to being by Houston with rain, rain, rain.

 

[Starius]

which works if you have power....if you dont...

UL3-1212 was a stalwart in the 'oh crud the power went out overnight and now the clock is blinking 12....what time is it anyhow' arena...

and yea...i know...cell phone will now tell you...etc....

just sayin'...not the same

Heck, most people with modern cordless phones can't even use the phone when the power goes out.
I was without power today, actually, from 4PM to 7PM. A grain wagon broke lose and hit a powerline pole in town. Our neighbor called us up to see if we lost power like he had, and I just happened to hear the phone ringing upstairs and ran to answer it. It is the only old lan line phone left in the house. Of course, the modern cordless set on the main floor was rendered useless during this time...

Interestingly enough, without power, I didn't care about the time at all. Among other things, I went out side, picked tomatoes out of the garden, read a national geographic article on the Mayans, and read a chapter in a novel. When the power returned, I was surprised to see 3 hours had passed.

 

[Undertow]

Heck, most people with modern cordless phones can't even use the phone when the power goes out.
I was without power today, actually, from 4PM to 7PM. A grain wagon broke lose and hit a powerline pole in town. Our neighbor called us up to see if we lost power like he had, and I just happened to hear the phone ringing upstairs and ran to answer it. It is the only old lan line phone left in the house. Of course, the modern cordless set on the main floor was rendered useless during this time...

Interestingly enough, without power, I didn't care about the time at all. Among other things, I went out side, picked tomatoes out of the garden, read a national geographic article on the Mayans, and read a chapter in a novel. When the power returned, I was surprised to see 3 hours had passed.

You know, something similar happened in West Des Moines right when it started getting really hot. It was a Thursday, I was at home having just returned from St. Joes with my hats and the power went out during a nasty storm. I stopped caring about the time and read a book, went antique shopping, took a nap, ate dinner and when I got home, I went to sleep because it was dark. I woke up in the middle of the night with the power on and it was only 2am. For me, 2am is early on a weekend!

I know Des Moines, IA still has BIG-JO11 (244-5611) as our time/temp line. God, I hope they don't get rid of that! I don't own a cell phone and I will NEVER own a cell phone. If that goes away, I'm in trouble!