8/10/13 6:29 AM

http://longnow.org/clock/

...So how does the Clock keep going if no one visits it for months, or years, or perhaps decades? If it is let to run down between visits, who would keep resetting it? The Clock is designed to run for 10,000 years even if no one ever visits (although it would not display the correct time till someone visited). If there is no attention for long periods of time the Clock uses the energy captured by changes in the temperature between day and night on the mountain top above to power its time-keeping apparatus. In a place like a top of a mountain, this diurnal difference of tens of degrees in temperature is significant and thus powerful...

8/10/13 8:55 AM

I think I saw a TV short on it. Very cool.

8/10/13 11:32 AM

I guess shit does not wear out on that clock, eh? ;)

8/10/13 12:20 PM

Good luck keeping the critters out of the works

Its a great project and if I came up with reaction I'm sure they've covered it .

8/11/13 8:10 AM

...what's the point?

Besides, there are extremely simple "clocks" that can easily last for thousands of years with no loss of accuracy. They're called "sun dials". Why do you need some Rube Goldberg device to duplicate their function with less accuracy? Duh!

After skimming the article, this thing is either a hoax or the biggest waste of money and effort in modern history.

8/11/13 10:21 AM

Dude it is art. Keeping time is a function of the sculpture. I commend the artist and engineer who making it happen. There are plenty of pieces of art that do nothing this one does something. I think it is damn cool.

8/11/13 11:09 AM

Dude it is art. Keeping time is a function of the sculpture.


There is that. There also is it will work when the sun dial doesn't. ;) Like when the earth is covered in an ash cloud, as one example ;)

Last edited by Sparky on 8/11/13 9:06 PM; edited 1 time in total

8/11/13 4:10 PM

...that anything that costs a lot of money and seems completely pointless is fine as long as you call it "art"? Don't get me wrong, I can see the beauty in the engineering and I realize that it's not costing me anything. It just strikes me as doing something pointless strictly for the sake of doing it. Really, it's questionable whether there will even be anyone around in 10,000 years to read the silly thing.

8/11/13 5:15 PM

Brian you described art to a T.

Loosen up dude, as you said it cost you nothing, enjoy it for what it really is, a moving sculpture and mobile.

8/12/13 5:24 AM

Yeah, like I'm actually going to haul my butt down to Texas and hike for hours just to see the silly thing. ;-)

8/12/13 10:51 AM

Suffice to say, Brian would not be bidding for it at the auction. ;)

You can bet your bippy someone that appreciates and get jazzed by it would be.

Last edited by Sparky on 8/12/13 1:42 PM; edited 1 time in total

8/12/13 1:30 PM

I know two people.

8/12/13 1:59 PM

I read Bezos put $42M into it, plus it's his mountain, but I fugure the price may drop once they get a few bugs out :)

I certainly don't understand it, and I neither support nor oppose it, but from my reading I don't see where art has anything to do wih it. It seems an engineering exercise pointing toward designing for (very) long term sustainability (both to develop knowledge and inspire others to think that way). The designer Hillis made supercomputers in the past.

Better than Bezos spending the $ on a couple yachts I'd say. He's OK with me, I've held a few stocks for 15 years or so and Amazon has done the best.

8/13/13 5:00 AM

...could have been put to use doing something useful or beneficial. Bezos needs to have a chat with Bill Gates about how to spend his billions.

8/13/13 7:53 AM

quote:

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something useful or beneficial

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8/13/13 7:56 AM

not Gates' personal fortune -- that he's spending for the benefit of humanity, exact opposite of MSFT!

i dont know how bezos' philantrophy stacks up, but bill & melinda are world-class in their giving.

8/13/13 12:47 PM

I don't get the Windows reference, neither the context or the content.

Context: Is this thread about a creative project to build a series of durable mechanical monuments to mark our presence like Stonehenge, the Great Wall or the Pyramids; whose permanence is more important than their function? Or did I miss something?

Content: Opinions may vary to the degree but no O.S. is profoundly better than another and they are becoming more similar as the demands mature. For end users Linux is a cheap confusing amalgamation of duplicative apps that often don't function as expected and Apple OSes are not as stable or universally complete as their adherants pose. For the back end the Windows offerings are stable, robust and expensive. And they all are expensive to professionally maintain.

What does that have to do with self sustaining timepieces being built in bedrock?

8/13/13 1:11 PM

quote:

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Is this thread about a creative project to build a series of durable mechanical monuments to mark our presence like Stonehenge, the Great Wall or the Pyramids; whose permanence is more important than their function?

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8/13/13 2:50 PM

quote:

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Granted, I maybe the one who's missing something...

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8/13/13 6:22 PM

Or, you're the one who's missing something (else)?

What I wrote:

quote:

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each new version of which looks completely different from its previous version

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8/13/13 7:01 PM

I've been using Windows for the last 21 years, and maybe I've been asleep, but I don't recall any version looking significantly different. I don't have 8 so can't comment on that. I'm really not even aware of Windows. I just run the apps, and have no problem doing that. I do think some of the Office interfaces have gotten overcomplex, but even they are not too bad. I have one Mac and prefer Windows (of course I'm more used to it).

8/13/13 7:45 PM

21 years... that would make it 82 when you first started.

Do you still remember what it looked like in 82? I bet you've forgotten...

8/13/13 8:34 PM

I still don't get how this tangent relates to the clock. But I'm in for a dime.

I mean, sure, okay, MS OS is artless. Do you seriously want an OS created by artists? Look at the anarchy of webpages... where is that d*** log-out button. "Oh f*** it, I'm going back to oil on canvas and found object sculpture! Keep your computer!" And the development team leaves the building. (humor)

So what OS do you propose instead? (earnestness)

8/13/13 9:04 PM

2013-21=1992. That would be, what Win 3.0? Me, I was using MVS in '82.

8/13/13 10:53 PM

Andy 1, April 0.

I got a Gateway in '92 when I opened my office, with whatever Windows it came with. First computer i owned. My friend Mike tried to get me to get a Mac because he thought I couldn't figure out Windows. However since I took a course in Fortran in '74 and enjoyed it, I figured in could learn Windows.

I don't remember any problem adjusting to any new Windows version. Some apps yes, not Windows. There are icons end you click them.