The first line says that the gunner operates the cannon every day at noon
> However, the gunner does not always operate the cannon: He only does on cloudy days. On sunny days, the cannon operates itself, using the time signal of the actual sun
That's why I don't understand how you came to this conclusion, what's your thinking behind it?
You're right. The OP article contains a line, that they fire the sundial cannon manually as a "fallback":
> The 6-pound cannon is fired everyday at 1 PM, from May to September. On sunny days the sun automatically sets it to light, but on days when clouds obscure the sun, the sun gunner on duty fires the midday salute with a match.
I imagine that was what reminded the GP of the joke and I kinda used it as context - but yeah, on rereading, it's not part of the joke. I admit, I jumped to conclusions there.
> However, the gunner does not always operate the cannon: He only does on cloudy days. On sunny days, the cannon operates itself, using the time signal of the actual sun
That's why I don't understand how you came to this conclusion, what's your thinking behind it?