[ubuntu-us-mi] keeping time synchronized in Ubuntu 8.04

[Robert Citek]

A little case study in keeping my system time synchronized with the
world under Ubunt 8.04.  My current system time is off by several
hours in the local time zone.

Here's what I did:

0) Check the current time: http://www.google.com/search?q=time+detroit+mi
1) Click System > Administration > Time and Date
2) Click Unlock and enter my password
3) Time zone: America/New_York
4) Configuration: Keep synchronized ...
5) Select Servers: check wuarchive.wustl.edu
6) Click Close

The time stays the same.  Nothing is getting synchronized.

Try two - manual:

1) Click System > Administration > Time and Date
2) Click Unlock and enter my password
3) Time zone: America/New_York
4) Configuration: Manual
5) Click Synchronize Now (the swirly icon to the right of the time)

Wait for Cylon status bar to synchronize.  End result: no change.

Try three - the command line:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/ntp stop ; sudo ntpdate wuarchive.wustl.edu ; sudo
/etc/init.d/ntp start
 * Stopping NTP server ntpd        [ OK ]
23 Aug 13:55:16 ntpdate[10661]: no server suitable for synchronization found
 * Starting NTP server ntpd        [ OK ]

Well that explains it.  Change to a different server:

1) Click System > Administration > Time and Date
2) Click Unlock and enter my password
3) Time zone: America/New_York
4) Configuration: Keep synchronized ...
5) Select Servers: check clock.psu.edu
6) Click Close

Time is synchronized almost immediately.  I now have the right time.

Clearly wuarchive.wustl.edu is no worky.  Two questions:

1) Does the time/date application have a log or something so that I
can know about errors without having to repeat the same process at the
command line to discover what's going wrong?

2) Any reason not to check a half-dozen or more time servers maybe
even from around the world?

Regards,
- Robert