[lug] Why can't I set my date

[Michael Hirsch]

I'm testing some calendar sensitive stuff, so I'm trying set my Ubuntu
desktop to be in the future.  Though I've set my clock hundreds of
times in the past, it isn't working any more.

I've tried the commandline:
sudo date -s  "01 Sep 2015 12:53:00"
sudo date -s 'next month'
and a few dozen variations on this.  Date prints out the date I
requestion, but the clock is actually unchanged:

595] $>sudo date -s 'next month'
Sun Jun 14 12:58:35 MDT 2015
[596] $>date
Thu May 14 12:58:38 MDT 2015
[597] $>

I've also tried to use systemsettings (the KDE admin GUI) and it
behaves similarly.  I set the date and press "Apply".  The gui seems
to have a different date, but it refreshes in a few seconds with my
original date and time.

WTF?  This used to be easy.

Oh, I was running ntpd but I turned it off.

Any ideas?

Cluelessly yours,

Michael