In all this Kafkaesque thread there is only one thing that has remained unexplained imho: Why would anyone, for any reason, set a clock for a different time than present, and that as accurately as possible ? I mean, if you don't need the exact time, why not use a photograph of a clock set for some convenient time (pleasant memories etc) ? At least there is no need to wind it up and its batteries won't run down. just curious, Peter -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.