[tz] New Yorker article on David Mills and NTP

[Robert Elz]

    Date:        Tue, 4 Oct 2022 09:07:26 -0700
    From:        Steve Allen via tz <tz at iana.org>
    Message-ID:  <20221004160726.GA5446 at ucolick.org>

  | When the clock on the wall in my house is wrong and I reset it the
  | foundation does not crack and rain does not pour through the roof.

No, because neither the foundations, nor the roof, care what the time
is in any way at all.   You could turn your calendar to an entirely
different month, with just the same lack of effect.

However, you could have electronics which are affected - your heating,
or cooling, might not turn on, or off, as expected (especially if you
moved the time from just before the scheduelled event to just after it).

Or, perhaps your kids knew that the clock on the wall was wrong (fast),
and were relying upon that to get to the bus stop to catch the bus
to school, you move the clock backwards by 10 minutes, and they miss the
bus.  They catch the next, but then they're late to school.   This isn't
the first time this has happened (your clock isn't all that reliable),
and the school decides to suspend your kids for the day.   They ring your
wife to come and collect them, if no-one comes within the hour, social
services will be called.   She leaves work in a hurry to make sure she
arrives in time.   Her bosses don't like her unexplained absence, and
terminate her employment, with no good reference (unreliable employee).
Without a job, and no immediate chance of getting a new one, your wife
is unable to help contribute to paying your house mortgage, and after
a while, the bank forecloses.   Now you're out of your home, with a bad
credit reference, no real chance of even renting anything suitable,
the whole family living in your car.   All because you reset the clock.

kre