Top 10 Bizarre Facts About Clocks The life of a clock seems straightforward. Tick until the battery pops, wait for it to be replaced, then tick some more. But just like cats, these time-keepers have a secret life. They influence each other, warp time, and attract the unconventional fringe in art. Thanks to the latter, people can now scare their kids with the biggest cuckoo bird and a grasshopper reminding everyone of their doom. Good times.
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The relevant portion, footnoted to sciencealert.com:
//////////In 2018, the clocks in several European countries lost their unity. At first, nobody noticed. A few months later, the time difference became too obvious to miss—some clocks ran 6 minutes late. There was nothing paranormal going on. The wrinkle in time was caused by politics.Clocks that use the grid need a certain amount of electricity to count the hours. In Europe, 50 Hz keeps a timepiece regular. But for months, the grid ran on 49.996 Hz. The dip was eventually tracked to a power plant in Kosovo which was lagging due to maintenance issues. Kosovo said Serbia was responsible for the upkeep. Serbia said the same thing about Kosovo. On paper, Serbia was left holding the baby but apparently the situation was politically more sensitive than that.Thanks to the weakened grid, every clock on mains power fell behind. These included heaters, microwaves, alarm clocks, and ovens. Clocks that updated themselves with the Internet or had batteries kept the correct hour. At the end of the day, the plant was restored and 25 countries returned to the right time.//////////