The Tuesday measurement

The anomaly appeared at 14:37:29. Peak deviation: -0.20 Hz. Duration of anomalous window: approximately 48 seconds. Correlation with Ruslan’s readings: 0.89.

Five weeks in a row. Five Tuesdays. Five deviations. Same time, same magnitude, same shape.

I should be pleased. I am not.

The Problem

Dima ruined it. Not intentionally. He asked the right question, and the right question ruined everything.

All of our observations - mine in Almaty, Ruslan’s 340 kilometers away, Morozov’s in Karaganda thirty-nine years ago - are in the same time zone. UTC+5.

When I say the anomaly occurs at 14:37 local time, and Ruslan says it occurs at 14:37 local time, and Morozov’s notebooks show it at approximately 14:35-14:38 local time, we are all saying the same thing. 09:37 UTC.

This means we do not know:

  • Does the anomaly occur at 14:37 local time everywhere? (Tied to solar position, local noon, something geographical)
  • Or does it occur at 09:37 UTC everywhere? (A global phenomenon, same absolute moment)

These are fundamentally different things. The first would suggest a local cause - something related to power grid load patterns, perhaps, which follow the sun. The second would suggest something else entirely.

We cannot distinguish between these two possibilities with observers in a single time zone.

A 14-year-old saw this in five minutes. I missed it for thirty years.

The Map

I spread a map on my desk. Not Ruslan’s 2003 road map - a proper map, printed from my laptop, showing Russian time zones.

Russia has eleven time zones. Eleven. From Kaliningrad (UTC+2) to Kamchatka (UTC+12). A ten-hour spread. If there were observers at both extremes, and the anomaly occurred at 14:37 local time in both places, it would be happening at 12:37 UTC in Kaliningrad and 02:37 UTC in Kamchatka. Different absolute times. Local phenomenon.

If it occurred at 09:37 UTC in both places, it would show up at 11:37 local time in Kaliningrad and 21:37 local time in Kamchatka. Same absolute time. Global phenomenon.

One observer in a different time zone. That is all we need. One person, one frequency counter, one Tuesday.

The Inventory

I made a list of everyone I know and their time zones.

Person Location Time Zone Offset from Almaty
Anatoli Almaty UTC+5 0
Ruslan 340km from Almaty UTC+5 0
Morozov (historical) Karaganda UTC+5 0
Dr. Yevgeny Yekaterinburg UTC+5 0
Dima Yekaterinburg UTC+5 0
Mikhail Novosibirsk UTC+7 +2 hours
Svetlana Omsk UTC+6 +1 hour

Yekaterinburg is UTC+5. The same as Almaty. Dr. Yevgeny and Dima are useless for this purpose. I mean no offense.

Mikhail is in Novosibirsk. UTC+7. Two hours ahead. If the anomaly is local-time-locked, he would see it at 14:37 his time - which is 12:37 my time. If it is UTC-locked, he would see it at 16:37 his time.

Two hours is not a large offset. But it is enough to distinguish between the hypotheses.

Svetlana is in Omsk. UTC+6. Only one hour ahead. Less useful, but still informative.

The Problem With Mikhail

Mikhail is an old friend. He is a good person. He is not a measurement person.

I called him at 16:00.

“Mikhail, I need a favor.”

“Last time you said that, I spent three hours helping you calibrate something over the phone. I still do not know what it was.”

“This is different. I need you to measure something.”

“What?”

“The power grid frequency. Once a week. On Tuesdays. At exactly 14:37 your time.”

Silence.

“You want me to stare at a frequency counter every Tuesday at 14:37.”

“You do not need to stare. You just need to record the reading.”

“I do not own a frequency counter.”

“I will send you one.”

More silence.

“Anatoli, is this about your Tuesday thing?”

“You know about my Tuesday thing?”

“You have been writing about it on the internet. Dima sent me a link. Also Yevgeny mentioned it. Also Ruslan called me last week.”

I did not know that Ruslan had called Mikhail. I did not know that my private research was being discussed across multiple time zones before I had the idea to use those time zones.

“Will you do it?” I asked.

“Will it involve traveling to Karaganda?”

“No.”

“Will it involve opening boxes belonging to dead scientists?”

“No.”

“Then I will do it. But you are buying the frequency counter.”

The Plan

Mikhail will receive a frequency counter by next week. I will send my spare - the Chinese one from January. It is sufficient for this purpose. I will order a replacement for myself.

The protocol:

  • Every Tuesday, 14:30-14:45 Novosibirsk time (UTC+7)
  • Record frequency every 60 seconds
  • Note any deviation greater than ±0.05 Hz
  • Send data by email

If the anomaly appears at 14:37 Novosibirsk time (12:37 Almaty time), it is local-time-locked. Something follows the sun.

If the anomaly appears at 16:37 Novosibirsk time (14:37 Almaty time), it is UTC-locked. Something is global.

If the anomaly does not appear at all in Novosibirsk, that is also data. Absence is information.

First observation: Tuesday, February 24th. Assuming postal service cooperates.

What I Told Dima

I emailed Dima:

The time zone question is the most important question anyone has asked about this phenomenon. I am acting on it. Details to follow.

Your instinct was correct. Keep asking questions.

He replied in eleven minutes:

Cool.

What if you put the data online and people in other time zones could measure too? Like citizen science? My friend in Moscow has a computer with a good sound card.

Moscow is UTC+3. Four hours behind Almaty.

I read this three times.

Then I closed my laptop and sat in the dark for a while, thinking about the fact that a 14-year-old has a better distribution network than three retired scientists.

Current status:

  • Tuesday anomaly: Confirmed (week 5, peak -0.20 Hz at 14:37:29)
  • Time zone problem: Identified (thank you, Dima)
  • Mikhail recruitment: Successful (Novosibirsk, UTC+7)
  • Frequency counter to ship: 1 (Chinese, 47€)
  • Replacement to order: 1
  • Dima’s friend in Moscow: Exists (UTC+3)
  • Citizen science suggestion: Under consideration
  • Time zones covered: 1 (soon: 2, possibly 3)
  • People who knew about my research before I asked: Apparently everyone
  • Emotional state: Humbled

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