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In the first episode of the New Year, we get as close to the concept of time as possible: by climbing into Chatham’s 1872 clock tower with village timekeeper Stephen Piazza.

Here are some things we learned:

• It's very steep to the top and hard to do with a microphone and really large headphones.
• Don't touch the pendulum.
• Why heat and cold change a pendulum’s pace
• How gravity pulls on the gear train differently from 12 to 6
• And why a tiny turn smaller than a 64th of an inch can mean minutes gained or lost.
• We talk through the choreography of daylight saving, from stopping the clock to avoid “fall back” confusion to advancing the hands ever so gently in spring so the village sees the new time without phantom bells throwing everything into disarray.
• We also made it into the Village Timekeeper's Logbook for all of time to see!

Here's more on "Selling the True Time," by Ian R. Bartky

Here's more on the Chatham Clock Tower from the Chatham Village Historical Society

Here's my previous "Guide To The Many Chathams" episode

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"The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast" is an audio documentary zine – the official podcast of The Jiffy – exploring the odd histories, cozy mysteries, and surprising characters of upstate New York. Each episode is an adventure, and new episodes drop every other week.

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