You don't use date to set the time from a time server. The date command is only for manually setting the date. There are several ways to set the time from a remote server. Some commands include netdate, rdate, and ntpdate. If you have it, ntpdate is the most accurate. You can pass it multiple servers, and it will pick the best one. If you are really into time, you could have ntpd running all the time to actually adjust the speed of the clock within Linux so that it stays within a few MS of the correct time. For a good list of time servers, go to http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/servers.html and find several near you with open access. Then, assuming you have ntpdate available, you could try "ntpdate server." For example, "ntpdate time.nist.gov time-b.nist.gov" would ask ntpdate to get the time from two of the NIST servers and pick the one it thinks is the most accurate and set your clock to it. Hope this helps.
