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Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4408
Buried on page 25 of the 2019 budget proposal for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), under the heading "Fundamental Measurement, Quantum Science, and Measurement Dissemination", there's a short entry that has caused plenty of debate and even a fair deal of anger among those in the amateur radio scene:
NIST will discontinue the dissemination of the U.S. time and frequency via the NIST radio stations in Hawaii and Ft. Collins, CO. These radio stations transmit signals that are used to synchronize consumer electronic products like wall clocks, clock radios, and wristwatches, and may be used in other applications like appliances, cameras, and irrigation controllers.
The NIST stations in Hawaii and Colorado are the home of WWV, WWVH, and WWVB. The oldest of these stations, WWV, has been broadcasting in some form or another since 1920; making it the longest continually operating radio station in the United States. Yet in order to save approximately $6.3 million, these time and frequency standard stations are potentially on the chopping block.
Source: https://hackaday.com/2018/08/20/what-will-you-do-if-wwvb-goes-silent/
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday August 28 2018, @02:08PM (4 children)
Yeah, same principle, just done on a purely voluntary basis. It's not like they go around setting fires in houses that don't pay up.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 28 2018, @02:17PM (1 child)
That is a good thing.
But doing so would strongly encourage everyone to pay up.
Insurance companies still haven't picked up on this technique to increase revenue.
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(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday August 28 2018, @04:19PM
Good point.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday August 28 2018, @06:55PM (1 child)
Not as a general practice, no. Of course, there are individual criminals in any group.
There have actually been quite a few known cases where people who were firefighters or associated in some way engage in essentially random arson. John Leonard Orr, for instance, was an arson investigator and former fire captain who was tried and convited of serial arson. Currently serving a life sentence.
All the examples I can think of were associated with public departments though, not volunteers. Not that it couldn't happen; in fact I bet it has, I just can't think of an example off the top of my head.
But yes, that's clearly criminal behavior that's not tolerated when it's detected.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday August 28 2018, @08:09PM
Well, yeah, there will always be a few nuts who descend from professed altruism into criminal behavior....
...and I don't doubt that in the days of private protection rackets that preceded state-run police, the occasional staged robbery encouraged everyone to pay up.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.