Abandoned Insanity

Here’s how to synchronize your Mac’s system time to the nearest atomic clock here in the Philippines…

PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) Press Release:

DOST-ASTI, through the Philippine Research Education and Government Information Network Project (PREGINET) announces the availability of a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server for public access. This is made possible through a partnership with the Time Service Division of PAGASA. PAGASA, as mandated by law, is the official agency that will disseminate the Philippine Standard Time (PST). In connection with this, PAGASA acquired a Global Positioning System Common View (GPSCV) time transfer system which basically provides a timing signal. The GPSCV is composed of a rubidium clock (used for maintaining accurate time), a computer, and a GPS receiver to receive timing signals from the GPS satellites.

To disseminate the time signal received by the GPSCV system in the Internet, PAGASA designates ASTI and DOST-Bicutan to setup their own public NTP servers that will directly connect to the GPSCV system. PAGASA has one public NTP server (ntp.pagasa.dost.gov.ph) as well, and a web-based time reference at their website. ASTI’s NTP server (ntp2.asti.dost.gov.ph) is now also available and DOST-Bicutan’s will be up and running in the near future.

What is NTP?

NTP is a network protocol that synchronizes clocks of hosts and routers in the Internet. NTP is very useful in applications where time accuracy is very important. It is used in network monitoring and measurements, intrusion detection systems, and cryptographic timestamping services, among others. Furthermore, the fact that everyone who uses the NTP service will now have one unified time reference, there will be no longer any excuse why people should blame time for late appointments, late submission of reports, and generally unsynchronized time references.

How to Avail of the NTP Service:

To avail of the service, one must have a client software that will connect to the NTP server. Open System Preferences, then the Date & Time preference pane… and under Internet Time you can connect to ASTI’s NTP server by specifying its hostname (ntp2.asti.dost.gov.ph) or PAGASA’s (ntp.pagasa.dost.gov.ph) in your configuration.

So you’ve got the Monday blues, and are looking for something stimulating, perhaps even intellectual to waste some time with? Look no further for we’ve got the perfect thing for you. “How Many Countries Can You Name“ is a very simple, yet effective game in which all you need to do is think of, and type into your browser, as many countries names as you possibly can. In five minutes. With nearly 300 countries in the world, it’s just as much a game of ‘how fast can you type?’ as it is ‘just how many countries can you name?’

In the name of research (honest!), we’ve been playing with this a little, and managed to get the number of remaining (i.e. un-named) countries down towards the 200 mark, but we’re sure that readers can do better!

Remember when typing was an elective in school? You’d have to spend hours learning “asdf jkl;” and everything in between. I never really liked the way they’d teach you in school with those vintage typewriters than appear to be made of rust than steel. Eventually, computer programmers find a way to make learning typing less sterile with Kindergarten-ish typing apps (remember Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing that came with your first non-PPC Mac?). The games were fun—racing cars, shooting bugs, or what have you. Before you knew, you were typing admin speed at 50+ WPM.

Now there’s a new web-based typing tool for those of you needing a little typing practice or for those just wanting a little afternoon entertainment. It’s called TypeRacer. You can start out by practicing and typing movie quotes or book quotes. Make a typo, and you’ll have to fix it. By the end of the race, you’ll get your score in WPM.

Those with fidgetty fingers should have fun with this…

Visit the site here: play.typeracer.com

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LOL. I’m idling around at 50+/- WPM… i never liked straight-up typing.