> I’m not particularly patriotic, but this kind of thing feels particularly American.<p>??? America has no doubt done some very remarkable things (the moon landing, the first backward compatible color TV standard), but I don't think this is a notable example of that.<p>I think everyone in Europe was familiar with even wristwatches getting the time from "airwaves". At least in Germany, watches were a very common thing since the 80s (I think everyone old enough vividly remembers the many Junghans commercials on TV). The corresponding signal has been broadcast for many decades earlier, as it's no surprise that railroad and airplane networks were in need of a common time: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCF77" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCF77</a><p>> But we had a problem, and we solved it with technology. And none of that fancy newfangled technology — we solved it using solid technology, the kind that you can touch with your hands and that buzzes in the airwaves.<p>There wasn't much "newfangled technology" around at the time. We essentially solved it using the simplest method there was at the time, at least I find it a bit hard to come up with a simpler one.<p>Also, what would be an example of technology that you can't either "touch with your hands" or that does "buzz in airwaves"?