In 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, as you enter the Septa part of the station, there used to be a clock that told alien time. Sometimes it broke down and showed human time (can’t trust Septa to keep things working), but on most days it showed steady numbers that no human could interpret as a time. I recorded changes to the alien time from October 2003 until the clock was removed.
On 15 April 2004, the alien clock went blank. Maybe the alien message is finished, or maybe some human pulled the plug. (_ is blank, for clarity.)
2003 10 16 20:_1:17 2003 10 17 70:_1:17 2003 10 18 70:_1:11 2003 10 28 human time 2003 10 30 83:19:00 2003 10 31 22:19:00 2003 11 04 human time 2003 11 09 81:_8:3_ 2003 11 13 human time 2003 11 14 _4:36:14 2003 11 19 28:16:14 2003 11 20 88:16:12 2003 11 22 18:06:17 2003 11 26 _8:06:17 2003 12 02 8_:16:17 2003 12 03 human time 2003 12 04 80:50:50 2003 12 08 83:50:50 2003 12 10 83:10:5_ 2003 12 11 85:10:5_ 2003 12 17 82:10:5_ 2003 12 20 28:10:_2 2003 12 26 18:10:_2 2004 01 02 28:1_:__ 2004 01 05 20:1_:_7 2004 01 06 64:1_:_1 2004 01 08 82:09:06 2004 01 12 human time 2004 01 22 __:46:38 2004 01 23 8_:46:3_ 2004 01 28 human time 2004 01 30 80:26:19 2004 01 31 8_:26:19 2004 02 05 human time 2004 02 19 28:10:47 2004 02 21 88:10:47 2004 02 27 88:10:4_ 2004 03 02 88:10:45 2004 03 04 human time 2004 03 06 _0:52:59 2004 03 11 human time 2004 03 16 12:55:25 2004 03 30 human time 2004 03 31 _8:09:27 2004 04 08 _7:30:41 2004 04 09 88:32:40 2004 04 09 80:37:42 2004 04 11 80:37:41 2004 04 12 human time 2004 04 13 80:06:32 2004 04 13 80:51:4_ 2004 04 14 _0:54:_5 2004 04 15 off
I thought it would be gone forever, but it returned. It was powered on again Monday 21 June 2004, and the next day it resumed showing alien time.
2004 06 21 human time 2004 06 22 __:1_:40
Shortly after this, the alien clock vanished, leaving a hole. I suppose that the aliens teleported it back home, since no conscientious human would have left such an unsightly gap.
Help me interpret the alien message! What does it mean?
Original version, April 2004.
Updated and added here March 2010.