(YouTube link)
Stephen Hawking will return from the CERN collider today to unveil the new clock at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, England. The unusual clock was designed by inventor John Taylor.
For all its apparent eccentricity, the clock is based on solidly traditional clockwork - unusual in these days of digital electronic clocks. It has taken seven years' research and construction, incorporates six patented inventions, and is predicted to run for at least 250 years assuming the world lasts that long.
Engineer Stewart Huxley refuses to reveal the secret of its tricks, which include the pendulum occasionally apparently catching and stopping for a heartbeat, and then swinging faster to catch up.
Link -Thanks, Jayne Howley!
Comments (14)
"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" (1976)
Damn raccoons, they're always a bunch of thieving bastards!
a) hope your cat (or dog) doesn't corner a racoon - they're a lot tougher than they look
b) Racoons are filthy and your pet can catch some bad shit from them
c) Speaking of which, they can also spread some pretty terrible disease to kids and things via ... um ... droppings - which can cause blindness among other things
Beyond their cuteness, I really admire racoon's ability to adapt, and their clever, inquisitive nature. But they're wild animals. Your cat could get seriously F*ed up.
Forgot that word last time.
What's this about some raccoon and cat? I don't think I saw any over the beautiful backyard ...
So raccoons can eat/beat a cat. How is the feral cat population in the area where raccoons live? Feral cats can get very big in Oz, big enough to take down a small kangaroo (wallaby) see http://www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/worldnews45.htm
I'd a thought a cat that size would eat a raccoon for entrée.
ps: When I was in Florida we left our car for 30 seconds (all doors open) in a state park, enough time for a smash and grab of our pack of 5minute noodles by one of these things. It was so cute, didn't realise they were so dirty.