RSSVisually stunning to say the least - John Taylor describes the unique operation and appearance of the timepiece he designed and built with a team of over 200 engineers, artists and scientists. After seven years in the making, the device will now be donated to Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. - Beware the time-eater [Neatorama]
The Corpus Clock
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Sep 19, 2008 06:00 AM
Arts |
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Besides the mechanical marvels of this clock, I don't get it... does it not keep actual time? How did it slow down on cue? The mechanical light "movement" was pretty amazing though!
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yah, apparently it's expected to keep accurate time for about 250 years. There are some pauses/variations built into its timing mechanism - a little light on details tho
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Who, I ask you, could see the Corpus Clock without giving a reverant tip of the hat to beloved author Tom Robbins, (72 years young)?
"Take now the clockworks... The clockworks, being genuine and not much to look at, don't generate the drama of an Earth-tilt or a flying saucer, nor do they seem to offer any immediate panacea for humanity's fifty-seven varieties of heartburn. But suppose that you're one of those persons who feels trapped, to some degree, trapped matrimonially, occupationally, educationally or geographically, or trapped in something larger than all those; trapped in a system, or what you might describe as an 'increasingly deadening technocracy" or a "theater of paranoia and desperation' or something like that. Now, if you are one of those persons... wouldn't the very knowledge that there are clockworks ticking away behind the wallpaper of civilization, unbeknownst to leaders, organizers and managers (the President included), wouldn't that knowledge, suggesting as it does the possibility of unimaginable alternatives, wouldn't that knowledge be a bubble bath for your heart?" ~Tom Robbins, "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"
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That is an outstanding piece of engineering but I wouldn't like one in my bedroom, it might be a little hard to sleep through.
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