On Friday, renown physicist Stephen Hawking unveiled what has to be one of the most wonderful and terrifying clocks of all time.
The million dollar time piece was designed to grace a new library at the University of Cambridge in England. It features no numbers--only narrow openings in it's gold-plated face through which blue LED lights flash the time. (You can see them if you look closely at the photo above.)
But the most remarkable feature of the clock is the killer grasshopper that sits atop it. Known as the Chronophage, it perpetually walks the perimeter of the clock. Every 59 seconds, it's mouth snaps open and shut as it "eats" the minute that's just passed.
According to college officials, the clock has a few other features worth noting. For instance, at the top of every hour, it "reminds us of our mortality with the sound of a chain dropping into a wooden coffin. More playfully, the clock plays tricks on the observer, seeming occasionally to pause, run unevenly, and even go backwards."
How fabulous!
Read more here and see a video here.
19 comments:
That's really cool, but a little creepy. But I wouldn't mind having one like it in my room :D
That's pretty awesome. It's brilliant-- it almost looks like a perpetual motion machine.
Oh, and I almost forgot: I saw a billboard the other day with a rather large face of a pale girl with almost white hair. It seriously looked like Kiki except for the fact that her lips were crimson. It was even drawn in a similar style to the cover of the books and the illustration on the website. I would have taken a picture, but I was in a car on the other side of the highway and I didn't have a camera easily available.
*Squee!* XD That is an AWESOME clock!! OoO But the grasshopper looks sorta scary... ^^'
my dad told me about it when he was reading the newspaper! i didn't really get what he meant though.
Wow. I think its sort of creepy.
That is so awsome! The grasshopper is really creepy though. But I totally want that!
Wow ananka! That's really cool. Do you mind if I post that on my blog too?
That is... interesting.
I'm not sure whether to be enthralled or spooked...
Patsee: do you remember what the ad was for?
UU: sure! Go right ahead.
aaaaaahhhhhhgggggggg, theres such a thing as a deadly grass hopper????!!??!?1 bisides that, thats apsolotly amazing
This is a little confusing but it sounds interesting.
Doesn't "chronophage" mean "time-eater"? That's so creepy!
I don't think the billboard actually said anything, but I could be mistaken.
Oh, duh. I just realized that the name of the post is "The Time Eater". Silly me.
I want one of those!
;D
that thing is so mesmerising. i could watch is for days. i think the gasshopper is cool and creepy at the same time.
That's amazing! wow! i LOVE LOVE LOVE grasshoppers! and all kinds of things like that! and time! woooooow!!!! xD
yay! i have never tried this before! (the open id thing) how helpful!
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