U.S. refuses Taiwan request for new jets

[DGuller]

Hmm, good point.  I guess the assumption is that a hypothetical "broken clock" has gears still properly aligned, it's just that those gears aren't moving. 

Also, while your point about high levels of precision is technically correct, the same point would apply to analog clocks in perfectly good condition.  Most analog clocks that I know move in discrete steps, with the second hand starting and stopping constantly, rather than gliding all the way around.  That means that it's almost always wrong as well once you get precise enough. 

In any case, the saying talks about how often the broken clock is right, not what percentage of the time it is right (although that may be viewed as an important ommission in its own right).  The classic broken clock is always right twice per day, regardless of level of precision, even if the percentage of times it is right per day varies based on precision used.

[grumbler]

It is easy for a stopped analog clock to always be wrong. For example, the short hand points directly at the 12 and the long hand at the 6. In fact, the probability that a random hand configuration is valid approaches zero at high levels of precision.

I've never seen a clock that is merely stopped with hands in that configuration.  How did your clock stop with the short hand at 12 and the long one at 6?  What time was that?

The relationship between the hands on a clock isn't random.

Edit:  like DG said.

[The Brain]

Two hands is not enough for my cock.

[Barrister]

Two hands is not enough for my cock.

Two paws on the other hand...

[grumbler]

Two hands is not enough for my cock.

Two paws on the other hand...

To pause, on the other hand,... what?

[Maximus]

The relationship between the hands on a clock isn't random.

On a broken clock it is.

[DGuller]

It depends on what's broken on it.

[Maximus]

Yes, and absent that information we might as well assume that's random as well.

[Razgovory]

Yes, and absent that information we might as well that's random as well.

It's broken cause I lit it on fire.  There, happy?

[Maximus]

So yes, random.

[DGuller]

Random doesn't mean that every event is equally likely.  While we don't know for certain why the clock is broken, we can make an educated guess based on probabilities. 

Usually analog clocks are broken because for whatever reason they lose power.  That means that they simply halt, without any dramatic disintegration.  Therefore, when someone is talking about a hypothetical broken clock, it should be assumed that the clock is broken due to loss of power.

[Maximus]

I don't think we can assume that. We could probably assign a high marginal probability to it but there are plenty of other ways it could be broken, like being set on fire. So it's still random, just not uniformly distributed.

[DGuller]

If you had to make a guess, though, would you say that a randomly chosen broken clock is right twice a day, or right some other number of times per day?

[Maximus]

I think it's either twice or never.

[DGuller]

Those are not the only possibilities.  A broken clock can be right any number of times per day, from zero all the way to infinity.