Jeff Bezos Shares Video of 10,000-Year Clock Project (cnet.com)

Absolutely necessary? by SEMLogistics · 2018-02-20 08:58 · Score: 1

Just build a 500 foot tall iWatch and get on with it...

Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:11 · Score: 2, Funny

Don't think that'll last 10,000 years.
And apple likely won't replace the battery free of charge.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:27 · Score: 0

Every time I see a Bezos article like this, I think of this opening scene with THAT kind of male attitude "like I own you when you are doing something just to survive."
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:41 · Score: 0

Tax scam or Illuminati sign
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2018-02-20 09:59 · Score: 1

Bezosymandias.

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Never been known to fail..."
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:34 · Score: 0

I still believe in my future and the future of humanity, so having 42 million $ I would rather invest them into a dozen of start ups and try to make something new instead of trying to build another Egyptian Pyramids.
42 millions are good enough to create another CS department in Seattle University.
It is just a shame!
Thanks
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Humbubba · 2018-02-20 10:50 · Score: 3, Informative

Don't know if it will last 10,000 years, but there is the famous Beverly Clock, that has never been manually wound since it was made in 1864. That's only 154 years, so maybe time will tell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Clock
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 14:03 · Score: 0

There is a significant amount of technology development and basic research that went into this. Why are you against basic research. Not to mention the availability of the internet and thousands of community colleges around the country. Another CS department is not going to be significant.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by arglebargle_xiv · 2018-02-20 16:55 · Score: 1

Or you could buy a Jaeger-Lecoultre Atmos du MillÃ©naire, which admittedly will only get you to 3000AD but also costs a helluva lot less than $42M. And you can admire it on your mantlepiece.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by arglebargle_xiv · 2018-02-20 17:14 · Score: 1

Not only that, but the entire country had really only been around for about twenty years when it was created, the clock actually predates the University that houses it. That'd be the equivalent of a clock made in the US in 1600.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Cytotoxic · 2018-02-20 23:16 · Score: 2

Never manually wound.... but has stopped working many times.
It runs off of temperature variations that drive an air cylinder to move, lifting the weights. If there isn't enough energy from these fluctuations, they just let it stop.
So a nice stunt. But not a terribly remarkable clock otherwise.
Re: Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 00:13 · Score: 0

Go back to Vulcan you soulless asshole. You're not human.
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 03:33 · Score: 0

> There is a significant amount of technology development and basic research that went into this. Why are you against basic research.
I am not against basic research, but there is huge gap in efforts between prototyping and actual productisation of idea. I honestly believe there are a lot of good ideas waiting productisation.
> Not to mention the availability of the internet and thousands of community colleges around the country. Another CS department is not going to be significant.
Do you really believe that public schooling system in USA is ready for age of robotization?
Re:Absolutely necessary? by Humbubba · 2018-02-21 06:11 · Score: 1

Cytotoxic sayd

Never manually wound.... but has stopped working many times.
It runs off of temperature variations that drive an air cylinder to move, lifting the weights. If there isn't enough energy from these fluctuations, they just let it stop.
So a nice stunt. But not a terribly remarkable clock otherwise.
Actually, my stunt is trying to insert pithy idioms about time into the conversation, like 'time will tell', or 'from time to time'.
Although the 'Clock_of_the_Long_Now' is designed to be accurate for at least 10,000 years, it is also designed to be up-gradable, and will need continued care and maintenance. This is why I expect it will stop from time to time, much like the Beverly Clock. BTW, when not hand-wound, the 'Long Now', like the Beverly Clock, will run off of temperature variations, and thus be subject to similar problems. Shouldn't be an issue on Mt. Washington, but you never know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now
Don't get me wrong, this is one of the most admirable things I've ever heard coming from Jeff Bezos, right up there with Blue Origin. He would be the greatest person of all time if he could beat the clock and solve the Anthropocene problem (the 6th Extinction) before our time's up. Frankly, if this big time problem is not dealt with, he's just killing time.

10,000 days by 14erCleaner · 2018-02-20 09:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

I predict that money to guard it will run out in a few decades, after which it will be vandalized and plundered for metal, or occupied by survivalist squatters.

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Re:10,000 days by sinij · 2018-02-20 09:03 · Score: 1

An armored door with radioactive waste signage should be sufficient to keep people out. No need to guard it.
Re:10,000 days by Camel+Pilot · 2018-02-20 09:10 · Score: 3, Funny

Except those looking for Radioactive waste...
Re:10,000 days by sinij · 2018-02-20 09:25 · Score: 1

Those looking for radioactive waste would likely measure radiation levels prior to spending considerable effort hacking at an armored door. Also there are easier way to get it, like from medical devices that are not generally stored behind armored doors.
Re:10,000 days by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:36 · Score: 1

money to guard it will run out in a few decades, after which it will be vandalized and plundered
He should have launched it into interplanetary orbit instead of that stupid car. Nobody can touch it there, except maybe the Ru ... nevermind.

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Table-ized A.I.
Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:47 · Score: 1

The Mayans did this, and look how much it fucked with people. I'm down with leaving another practical joke for our future.
Re:10,000 days by gnick · 2018-02-20 09:51 · Score: 1

...instead of that stupid car...
There's no better place to play David Bowie than into a vacuum. And putting "Don't Panic" on the touch display was enough to win me.

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He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Re:10,000 days by DontBeAMoran · 2018-02-20 09:53 · Score: 1

Jeff Bezos != Elon Musk

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Re:10,000 days by Scorch_Mechanic · 2018-02-20 09:53 · Score: 1

Will it though? This is a fundamentally difficult problem. The cultural meaning of signage and symbolism changes. It may in fact be impossible to put up radiation warning signs retain their meaning for 10,000 years, much less physically last that long. A couple decades ago, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant formed a panel of a bunch of thinkers (Carl Sagan was invited, but could not attend due to a conflict) and asked them to invent radiation warning signage that would last for an arbitrary length of time: 10,000 years.
They were, at best, only partially successful, and the problem of the cultural meaning of symbols changing was never fully addressed.

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Re:10,000 days by nospam007 · 2018-02-20 09:55 · Score: 2

"There's no better place to play David Bowie than into a vacuum. And putting "Don't Panic" on the touch display was enough to win me."
I just hope there's a towel in the glove compartment besides the guide.
Re:10,000 days by evileeyore · 2018-02-20 09:55 · Score: 1

wrong billionaire
Re:10,000 days by glenebob · 2018-02-20 10:16 · Score: 1

I suspect the "weight hanging on a gear" mechanism would operate somewhat less effectively in space.
Re:10,000 days by sheramil · 2018-02-20 10:18 · Score: 1

...and the problem of the cultural meaning of symbols changing was never fully addressed.
I think the cultural meaning of this symbol is pretty obvious. Rich Dude wants some future Percy Bysshe Shelley to write a poem about the ruins of the giant clock he had buried in the mountains, because that's where you put a symbol if you want people to appreciate it.
Rich Dude seriously wants to be remembered? Just give all the money to Brian Eno and ask him to make a few more albums like "Another Green World".
Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:31 · Score: 0

Two weights and spin the assembly.
Re:10,000 days by Waffle+Iron · 2018-02-20 10:37 · Score: 1

Then they'd say: "Hmmm.... a radioactive waste sign, but no radiation. Somebody must have been trying to hide something valuable in here. Wilbur, go get the drill bits and a case of dynamite."
Re:10,000 days by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 10:52 · Score: 1

They could make a deal.

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Table-ized A.I.
Re:10,000 days by hey! · 2018-02-20 10:53 · Score: 1

Alternatively they could build a sun dial out of masonry, which is a cheap and long-lived material. That would keep time (during the day) as long as the structure existed.
Build it big enough and it could be quite precise, like this one.

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Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:55 · Score: 0

2045:
The clock is destroyed, spray painted gang graffiti,bubble letters, phalluses, and Satanic pentagrams cover the walls of the shaft the clock is built in, all night rave parties are held inside along with it becoming one massive drug and prostitution den.
I am torn on whether I want this clock to stand as an amazing feat of engineering, or to see a rich douchebag's dream get crushed.
Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:06 · Score: 0

no please don't
Re:10,000 days by glenebob · 2018-02-20 11:21 · Score: 1

As the weights move outward from center of gravity, the rotation of the assembly will slow down, making the weights "weigh" less, causing the clock to run slower.
In other words, "somewhat less effectively in space".
Re:10,000 days by Dutch+Gun · 2018-02-20 11:40 · Score: 1

Yea, your suffering shall exist no longer; it shall be washed away in Atom's Glow, burned from you in the fire of his brilliance.

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Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:52 · Score: 0

Definitely. This is just another megalomaniac that wants his pyramid.
I guess that if instead made a movie just for the copyright it would last more.
Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 01:06 · Score: 0

Part of the plan for it was to build it out of simple, cheap materials and to put the entire mechanism in plain view. This would be to reduce the likelihood of scavenging or somebody taking it apart to figure out how it works.
Re: 10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 02:00 · Score: 0

Godking Barron Trump, astride his 400 ton megatank, orders his misshapen mutant foot soldiers into the mountain... At last... We have a home.
Re:10,000 days by Fencepost · 2018-02-21 11:40 · Score: 1

I'll note that when the initial concept was floated Jeff Bezos was graduating from college and when the first prototype was live Amazon was only 4 years old.

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fencepost
just a little off
Re:10,000 days by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-22 04:06 · Score: 0

So what? Tutankhamun was 18 when buried in his brand new pyramid.
Re:10,000 days by RockDoctor · 2018-03-04 14:30 · Score: 1

A sundial is several minutes out at different times during each day (RMS error). And worse day-by-day throughout the year. The motion of the Sun across the sky is not uniform due to refraction ; the motion of the Sun along the ecliptic is not uniform through the year due to the ellipticity of the Earth's orbit around the sun (183/182 days between solstices ; 186/179 days between equinoxes within year / across New Year); the orbit of the Earth around the Sun does not repeat from year to year (nutation and precession of the equinoxes). Keeping accurate time across millennia is non-trivial.
All of which, the Clock of the Long Now ignores, using a mechanical detector to align the clock's midday with the sun crossing geographical south from the clock's position.

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Wew. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:00 · Score: 5, Funny

When they find this in about 9900 years how many will think it means the world ends soon?

Re:Wew. by The+Grim+Reefer · 2018-02-20 09:45 · Score: 2

Actually I'm thinking that after the fall of civilization there's going to be a relegion start around this thing. The followers of it will go on a holy crusade against those crazy bastards who worship a nuclear warhead. Charlton Heston will become their savior after he detonates the warhead and kills all of those crazy nuke pagans. There'll be some talking monkeys lead by Roddy McDowell and Andy Sirkis will challenge him and win by using the force.
Re:Wew. by gnick · 2018-02-20 09:57 · Score: 1

...how many will think it means the world ends soon?
Why would they design this clock to count down?

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He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Re:Wew. by jouassou · 2018-02-20 22:23 · Score: 1

I think it was a reference to the Mayan calendar ending in 2012, when people were freaking out over that it probably marked an apocalypse. Their calendar didn't count down either.
Re:Wew. by gnick · 2018-02-21 01:53 · Score: 1

Of course it was. But why would they build this clock with an end? I'd imagine this clock is supposed to last at least 10,000 years, not exactly 10,000 years.

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He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.

$42 million by 110010001000 · 2018-02-20 09:02 · Score: 1

$42 million dollars to build a clock.

Re:$42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:14 · Score: 1, Insightful

I get it's his own money, but seriously, he could use that $42 million to give workers earning less then $30K at Amazon a nice bonus.
Who gives a shit about having a clock that lasts 10K years, honestly what the fuck is the point.
Re:$42 million by 110010001000 · 2018-02-20 09:15 · Score: 1

These people are egotists who live in a bubble and think spending $42 million on a clock is a good idea.
Re:$42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:22 · Score: 0

I mean the money doesn't disappear... Someone's getting paid to do it. Any spending on non-stocks/luxury goods ends up going down to regular people in the form of wages.
Re:$42 million by gtwrek · 2018-02-20 09:34 · Score: 1

Or spending $27 million a year to watch someone throw a ball down a football field...
Or spend $15 million a year to watch a hockey player slap a puck...
Or millions to send a rocket to space, or to the bottom of the oceans.
Or hundreds of thousands to climb a remote mountain peak... ..
I mean if people would only spend their money the way I think they should spend it, the world would just be so much better...
Re:$42 million by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2018-02-20 09:47 · Score: 1

$42 million dollars to build a clock.
Yeah, but it will be paid in Bitcoin, so it won't really be $42 million dollars.
Future archeologists will determine that it is a fake Rolex bought on Canal Street anyway.

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Re:$42 million by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:48 · Score: 1

$42 million dollars to build a clock?
Sounds more like a defense contract. "Sure, these dashboard clocks are expensive, but they'll survive the apocalypse." (Sound of check-signing...)

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Table-ized A.I.
Re:$42 million by DontBeAMoran · 2018-02-20 09:54 · Score: 1

If you ask me, it's a pretty neat idea, much better than a digital watch.

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Re:$42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:01 · Score: 0

I've earned the time. Have Amazon workers earned the bonus? I think bitch-slapping yo progressive face will do wonders ... a bonus in time hahahaha ...
Re:$42 million by postbigbang · 2018-02-20 10:13 · Score: 1

C'mon. Imagine the ego involved.
Ok, Tim Cook: you thought the Apple Watch would last. Nyah nyah and effyou.
Tim Cook probably dropped $100M on the Apple Watch. Bezos et al get it for half that price.

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Re:$42 million by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:24 · Score: 2

$77 million a year to keep Trump safe...

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Re:$42 million by Wycliffe · 2018-02-20 11:11 · Score: 1

Or spending $27 million a year to watch someone throw a ball down a football field...
Or spend $15 million a year to watch a hockey player slap a puck...
Or millions to send a rocket to space, or to the bottom of the oceans.
Or hundreds of thousands to climb a remote mountain peak... ..
I mean if people would only spend their money the way I think they should spend it, the world would just be so much better...
The problem is that people aren't really voting for any of this. Each person decides that it's worth their Sunday afternoon to watch football, or that paying Amazon for that toothbrush is a better deal than paying Walmart or that they really want that new phone. Each person spends a small amount of their time or money and this combines to be a significant amount of money at the top. If given the choice, very few people would actually choose to pay a football player $27million but their collective actions means that the team that does nets more money than the team that doesn't.
Re:$42 million by markdavis · 2018-02-20 11:51 · Score: 0

>"$77 million a year to keep Trump safe..."
He must be doing something right, then, since it apparently cost $1.4 billion a year to keep Obama safe...
https://www.investopedia.com/n...
Re:$42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 12:13 · Score: 0

When you are the CEO of a company that regularly underpays and overworks it's employees, then fucking yes we can have an opinion on how he spends $42million.
Re:$42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 13:32 · Score: 0

This amount came from the Brookings Institute which is similar to the Heritage Foundation, in other words, a right wing "think tank". Funny how they don't give a break down of the costs. Never mind, I found some more information.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/bachmanns-claim-that-barack-obama-has-a-14-billion-a-year-presidency/2013/03/17/bb5f3ea2-8f40-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_blog.html?utm_term=.5e3fc210d78a
Hmm, according to how they calculated the tally it would seem Obama was cheaper than Bush at $1.6 billion a year. Of course this counts everything related to the White House's expenses not just security.
Why do conservatives like to spread misleading information?
Re:$42 million by Do+You+Smell+That · 2018-02-20 19:45 · Score: 1

I get it's his own money, but seriously, he could use that $42 million to give workers earning less then $30K at Amazon a nice bonus.
Who gives a shit about having a clock that lasts 10K years, honestly what the fuck is the point.
I 100% get your point, but a thought... were Bezos to take profits (whether via his personal income or directly from AMZN) and give them to employees... his valuation would drop. Part of his wealth valulation (mostly via AMZN ownership) is the calculation that he'll continue his known/predictable compensation policies (not the most employee/contractor friendly..), which would slip if he were shown to be caring for employees over shareholders. Such a move impacts him directly, and limits his piles of '$42 million USDs' that he has to invest.
Again, I get your point, just wanted to note that sometimes markets are designed to react to certain cues, and "gives to employees over wealth-hoarding" is a negative for long-term valuation. There are of course other incentives to consider..

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Re:$42 million by darth.hunterix · 2018-02-20 21:33 · Score: 1

They really pay Mike Pence that kind of money? Sure, government can be wasteful but...

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Re: $42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 02:04 · Score: 0

No. In a leftist mind, money is consumed on a giant bonfire when it is spent on anything except black-owned small business.
Re:$42 million by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 03:58 · Score: 0

Well, we just lowered his tax rate by probably about this much. My (sarcastic) guess is that he said to himself, "wtf should I spend this extra $42M on this year?"
I personally think it's pretty cool and a nice metaphor. If you disagree perhaps you should elect people who will tax the rich appropriately and use it for what you consider "better ideas".

No radiation. Less accurate than NIST. Lame. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:03 · Score: 0

Seriously, this was already done a few years ago and their clock lasts a lot longer.

https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/22/5333324/nist-atomic-clock-keeps-precise-time-for-5-billion-years

Also Involved by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:05 · Score: 0

Neal Stephenson has also been involved with this project. The project was also part of the inspiration for his novel Anathem (if I remember correctly).

Re: Also Involved by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 16:28 · Score: 0

I think Bezos just wants to be one of the millennials.

Live, the Universe, and Everything by WilliamGeorge · 2018-02-20 09:05 · Score: 5, Funny

"How many millions of dollars does it take to build a clock that will keep time for 10,000 years?"

42

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William George

Re:Live, the Universe, and Everything by WilliamGeorge · 2018-02-20 09:06 · Score: 1

*Life
I wish there was an edit button :/

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William George
Re:Live, the Universe, and Everything by wonkey_monkey · 2018-02-20 09:17 · Score: 1

Just like life, then.

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systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Re:Live, the Universe, and Everything by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 16:32 · Score: 0

Life edits itself.

Competing with Elon Musk? by Mirozake · 2018-02-20 09:08 · Score: 1

The competition is on! One guy sends a massive rocket to space with retrievable boosters. The other?... builds a large clock.

Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:44 · Score: 1

To compete, take a different tactic: hide thousands of little long-life clocks all over the planet. At least a few will survive. It's web-scale :-)

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Table-ized A.I.
Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:21 · Score: 1

"Do you think maybe he's compensating for something?" -- Shrek

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Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by sheramil · 2018-02-20 10:27 · Score: 1

The competition is on! One guy sends a massive rocket to space with retrievable boosters. The other?... builds a large clock.
The original plan called for something quite different, but the engineers couldn't quite believe that was what they'd been asked to build. "Just inset an "L" into the proposal. We'll build a giant one of those instead."
Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by kaatochacha · 2018-02-20 10:44 · Score: 1

To be fair, when the got Bezos to pay, he thought it was a ten thousand year Clock, but without the L. Bezos is big on that.
Re:Competing with Elon Musk? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 23:26 · Score: 0

Eh?
https://www.blueorigin.com/new...

Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Bruce+Perens · 2018-02-20 09:09 · Score: 2

The Long Now Clock could be found by man's successor or people who have survived the fall of civilization. If it's aliens they're thinking of, Elon Musk's car in orbit is a fitting memorial to mankind.

I think the car's cooler and makes me think more of long-term planning.

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Bruce Perens.

Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:27 · Score: 1

Doubt it. The thing is being built at the top of a mountain in the middle of the West Texas desert, in an area with negligible pre-industrial population.
Its own website admits it is difficult to get to even with the aid of cars and planes, which will be gone in 100 years after the Oil Age is over.
Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by drinkypoo · 2018-02-20 11:00 · Score: 1

I think the car's cooler and makes me think more of long-term planning.
The car is probably already damaged beyond reasonable repair, and is now space trash. Long-term planning?

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"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Bruce+Perens · 2018-02-20 11:21 · Score: 1

It's still obviously a car, not a space vehicle, and there it is in space on the end of the second stage. Regardless of the fact that the bearings might not turn any longer, it says something.

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Bruce Perens.
Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by AmiMoJo · 2018-02-20 22:51 · Score: 1

I wonder what prep they did to it. Maybe filled the tyres with something other than air. Presumably removed the battery pack for safety.

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Re:Musk's Car vs. The Long Now Clock by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 07:34 · Score: 0

It's still obviously a car, not a space vehicle... it says something.
Aliens: These people really don't understand how space travel works at all do they?

Doesn't make any sense. by Camel+Pilot · 2018-02-20 09:09 · Score: 1

What the hell is the purpose? The say "designed to be a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking". Pick up a rock, any rock and identify it and understand the process by which it was formed. There is your icon for long-term thinking.

Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Krishnoid · 2018-02-20 09:22 · Score: 3, Funny

If it also keeps away tigers, I'm in.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 09:40 · Score: 1

It's a 'symbol' of Jeff Bezos' penis, specifically his inflated idea of how large it is.
(or, perhaps, in compensation for how big it isn't)

Occasionally, our species pleasantly surprises me with it's ingenuity, and how far it's come in it's evolution. This is not one of those times.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2018-02-20 10:03 · Score: 2

What the hell is the purpose?
Some folks can't deal with the fact that they will eventually die, and want to leave a monument behind as a remembrance of their fantastic existence.
Why did Pharaohs build Pyramids . . . ? If the dead Pharaohs could see the dorky tourists visiting their Pyramids, they would be deeply disappointed.
Amazon won't be around in 10,000 years. The Washington Post won't be either.
Dorky alien tourists 10,000 in the future will be gazing at the clock asking themselves, "What fuckwits wasted resources building this thing . . . ?"

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Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:17 · Score: 1

“I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.” -- Woody Allen

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I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:20 · Score: 1

The difference between Bezos and Trump is that Bezos pays for his own penis extenders, whereas Trump wants YOU to pay for his (The Wall). I don't have any problem with Bezos doing whatever he wants (legally) with his own money.

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I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 10:28 · Score: 1

Listen friend: I hate Trump at least as much as the next guy, but your comment is off-topic, and I do have a problem with rich assholes and their Conspicuous Consumption, so as far as I'm concerned I'll damned well tell him where he should be spending his damn money.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Prien715 · 2018-02-20 10:46 · Score: 1

If it also keeps away tigers, I'm in.
Have you seen any tigers in Texas lately (outside a zoo)? It's working even before its built!

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-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Powercntrl · 2018-02-20 15:23 · Score: 1

Some folks can't deal with the fact that they will eventually die, and want to leave a monument behind as a remembrance of their fantastic existence.
Thing is, people are generally remembered best for their contributions to society. You know, things that we give people awards for. You don't necessarily have to be rich to leave the world a better place than you found it.
There's always some richer asshole with a bigger clock.

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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by darth.hunterix · 2018-02-20 21:46 · Score: 2

Ok then: try naming three greatest philanthropists in ancient Egypt. Now try naming three Pharaohs buried in a pyramid. Who is remembered better now?

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What is best in life? Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 23:30 · Score: 0

Wow. Lack of self awareness really is a thing, huh?
You can have all the problems you want. Telling other people what to do is still a no go.
Should Bill Gates get a say in how you spend your time? Should Oprah Winfrey get to tell you how to invest your money?
No. And you shouldn't get even the tiniest say in how they spend their time and money. It ain't yer business.... anymore than who you spend your time with is their business.
Re:Doesn't make any sense. by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:18 · Score: 1

I can say whatever I want and there is NOTHING you or anyone else can do about it. So go scream at your monitor and pound your keyboard more. I have no respect for rich assholes who throw their money around on useless stupid things, and I'm FAR from being alone in that sentiment, so how about you bugger off?

Not here by plloi · 2018-02-20 09:10 · Score: 1

there -> http://www.10000yearclock.net/... Nice of the editors to copy-paste but not include the link

Couldn't find a better use for $42 million? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:12 · Score: 1

Starving children in the world and the best one of the richest men in the world could find to use his money on is building a 500 foot tall mechanical penis in a remote mountain. The Mayans managed to tell time without it, why do we need it?

Re:Couldn't find a better use for $42 million? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:06 · Score: 0

The old "there are starving children" argument.
Yes, there are starving children. That's bad, in case you need to hear it. Would the $42 million have been spent on starving children, absent the clock? Probably not.
Suppose it would have been spent on starving children though. It's not nothing, but neither it is enough. Wars, drought, bad government, corruption, disease, ignorance, overpopulation, intolerance, there is a huge list of causes of starving children. All that could suck up 100x, even 1000x that $42 million, and come back the same or worse every year.
Finally, the Maya, was that your best shot? The Maya built an enormous number of "mechanical penises", also known as "pyramids", "temples", and many other monuments. Every Maya city had at least one and usually a bunch of them.
Re:Couldn't find a better use for $42 million? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:10 · Score: 0

Too many starving children ? Really, too many ?? Ah ... you seem to miss the point. Too many people on time ? Never ! Now if you believe too few starving children live, then of-course you feed the ones you have and grow more. Likewise, if punctuality reigns ... like babes use 3.9 sec to put on lipstick, then yes. Too many clocks and a few large ones may be sacrificed.

Latest? Read about this like 10 yrs ago. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:12 · Score: 0

But wasn't involved back then...

You know what they say by willoughby · 2018-02-20 09:14 · Score: 3, Insightful

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just take a look at who he gives it to.

Re:You know what they say by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:05 · Score: 0

That is, if Yahweh even existed.
You might as well say "Unicorn" or "Leprechaun", and it would carry the exact same weight.
(when one of the literally 10,000+ "gods" man has come up with and worshiped throughout is existence can take just a few seconds from their busy schedules of sitting on cushy thrones, and damning people to hell, and say "Howdy!" to the world, I'll become a believer. Until then......)
Re:You know what they say by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 13:25 · Score: 0

So no longer it's the Satan's job to distribute wealth. Instead God has found Buddhism and uses money to draws metaphorical mandalas with it to show us its non-self nature. On the other hand, this clock is severely needed to time the next beat in Brian Eno's coming work and God knows that.
Re:You know what they say by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 14:13 · Score: 0

More pertinent is who he gives them to when we reach the context where there is no money.
Luke 16:25
Re:You know what they say by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 14:18 · Score: 0

and say "Howdy!" to the world, I'll become a believer.
Of course you would. Worldwide proof would be equivalent to worldwide forced conversion. Or go directly to an asylum for denying what was then universally proven.
You want forced conversion?
Too bad, you still have a choice in the matter.

What powers it? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:14 · Score: 0

Anyone know? I saw no reference to a power source.

Re:What powers it? by tsqr · 2018-02-20 09:22 · Score: 1

Anyone know? I saw no reference to a power source.
You didn't try very hard. From TFA: The clock is powered by a large weight hanging on a gear, built out of materials durable enough to keep time for 10 millennia.
Re:What powers it? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:13 · Score: 0

There was a mention of using day night heat cycle to wind it up, but no details on how exactly.

Finally by mlynx · 2018-02-20 09:26 · Score: 1

I remember reading about the idea for a long clock over a decade ago. I'm glad to see someone finally building it. I love the idea of a timepiece that will outlast our civilization.

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:26 · Score: 0

Won't be for long. It is only a matter of time before we pass law by law, making gun ownership illegal eventually, and bringing the US into the civilized world.

Peter Theil had a project too by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:27 · Score: 0

He called it the 10000 Year Cock.

Re:Peter Theil had a project too by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:15 · Score: 1

Breitbart is still working on "The 10,000 year cuck".

--
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

We Are The Next "Lost Civilization" by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:29 · Score: 0

Seriously? Some time after the next global cataclysm (and there is one at least every 12,000 years) someone will dig that thing up and conclude that aliens must've built it since our kind were rather primitive. "Fingerprints Of the Gods" or "Magicians Of The Gods" anyone?

Gravity by The+Grim+Reefer · 2018-02-20 09:29 · Score: 1

Anyone know? I saw no reference to a power source.

Gravity.

I figured I better put the answer in the subject and first word since it is in TFS

From TFS:

The clock is powered by a large weight hanging on a gear

Re:Gravity by 110010001000 · 2018-02-20 09:33 · Score: 1

So they invented a perpetual motion machine? Pretty cool.
Re:Gravity by naughtynaughty · 2018-02-20 10:29 · Score: 1

It's a 10,000 year clock, not a perpetual clock
Re:Gravity by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:31 · Score: 0

No they built a 10,000+ year motion machine, not perpetual but consistent for a 10,000 year period is pretty close
Re:Gravity by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 01:03 · Score: 0

Elsewhere it says it is powered by the heating cycles of the earth - so just like the Atmos it uses heating and cooling cycles to lift the weight.
It also says it only ticks once per year.

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:29 · Score: 0

The bitch lost. The SC is safe for your lifetime. Suck it.

Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 09:33 · Score: 3, Insightful

I like clocks. I like accurate clocks, to be precise. I have several 'Atomic clocks', synchronized to WWVB out of Fort Colins, Colorado every night. I have a GPS receiver connected to my desktop, synching and RTC-clock-frequency adjusting it every minute, so it's never more than 1 second off. I went to a considerable amount of trouble to fine-tune the 32.768kHz crystal oscillator in a kitchen timer I have, that also displays the time of day, so it's down to single-digit PPM accuracy, only gaining a few seconds per week. More than once I've considered building a clock using an expensive low-PPM TCXO oscillator, so I'd have a clock that doesn't need to have it's setting adjusted for a year or more. So you could say I appreciate clocks.

However: this is one of the most wasteful and stupid things I've ever heard of. Only some rich dude(s), with apparently nothing better to do with their money and time, would waste 42 million dollars on some shit like this. How many poor people could benefit from judicious application of $42M? Charities? Development projects? How much would Habitat for Humanity, for instance, be able to accomplish with that much money?

MEMO TO JEFF BEZOS: Instead of lighting $42M on fire for something as fucking stupid and useless as this, how about you find out how many homeless people live within 50 miles of you, and see how many of them you can help get back on their feet again with that money?

Seriously: We, allegedly, are the greatest nation on earth, yet we have a homelessness problem? People going hungry every day? Really?
How about less RICH PEOPLE money spent on stupid excessive hobbies, and more spent on actually SOLVING SOME PROBLEMS.

..and YES, I'm angry on the inside about things like this when I hear about them. What of it?
..and NO, I'm one of the POOR PEOPLE, I can barely afford to take care of myself these days, let alone give money away to anyone else. What of it?

Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:40 · Score: 2, Interesting

When, in your opinion, are people allowed to do frivolous things they want with their money?
Is the 10k year clock allowed only after bezos solves homelessness?
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 09:46 · Score: 1

"Let them eat cake"
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by fahrbot-bot · 2018-02-20 09:48 · Score: 1

However: this is one of the most wasteful and stupid things I've ever heard of. Only some rich dude(s), with apparently nothing better to do with their money and time, would waste 42 million dollars on some shit like this. How many poor people could benefit from judicious application of $42M? Charities? Development projects? How much would Habitat for Humanity, for instance, be able to accomplish with that much money?
Noting that the recent US Presidential Inaugural events (swearing-in and party) cost between $175M and $200M. The events for Obama and Trump were both in that ballpark, though Trump's was the more expensive.

--
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by beckett · 2018-02-20 10:22 · Score: 1

how about you find out how many homeless people live within 50 miles of you, and see how many of them you can help get back on their feet again with that money?
he did; some of those homeless are amazon warehouse employees. (n.b. if you sleep with your head on a smiling box it cushions the harsh sidewalk.)
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:24 · Score: 0

If everyone thought like you we'd never make it out of the agricultural era, after all everything should go back to the farms, right? Or, why any statues, art, space programs? Those lousy French building us a statue, should have solved cancer!
What you're really saying: "Me, me, me, me!"
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 10:26 · Score: 1

(making an assumption that I don't think that's a stupid waste of money, too)
I very specifically remember thinking a week or two ago that if I was elected POTUS, I wouldn't bother with nonsense like that, and when asked by the Press, I'd tell them "I've got a big job ahead of me, I really don't have time to throw big parties."
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:31 · Score: 0

news flash: a lot of people don't see homelessness as a problem, but homeless people as a problem. they would no sooner spend money on homeless people than they would a terrarium for bedbugs.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:39 · Score: 0

Not that I disagree with some of your ideas, but you have dodged the question.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:59 · Score: 0

I have several 'Atomic clocks', synchronized to WWVB out of Fort Colins, Colorado every night.
Pfft, only every night?

How many poor people could benefit from judicious application of $42M?
Probably a few more than would spending your own money not on things you wish to spend your own money on.

and NO, I'm one of the POOR PEOPLE
Oooh you mean you want his money.

, I can barely afford to take care of myself these days
That's what we expect from people unwilling to synchronize their atomic clocks to wwvb more than once a night.

, let alone give money away to anyone else.
OK then probably a lot more than "a few more"
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:00 · Score: 0

Now you put it that way, yes, I hope this douchebag project does get fucked up in a couple of decades. I want to see the dickclown scream like and cry like a little Japanese school girl when he is informed that the machine is ruined, and crackheads and crazies now inhabit it's space.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:04 · Score: 0

Didn't we just find out that the Trumps basically just embezzled a good chunk of that money to their friends.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:13 · Score: 0

I don't understand. How would helping homeless people keep time for 10,000 years?
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-20 11:34 · Score: 1

Post from an actual account and maybe I'll take you seriously.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:42 · Score: 0

More than once I've considered building a clock using an expensive low-PPM TCXO oscillator
Why don't you do it?
I've done and now feel much better, my design features:
- 1.8" seven segment display for hh:mm:ss plus small display for everything else
- supercapacitor-backed temperature-compensated maxim RTC
- radio time receiver
- bme280 temperature/humidity/pressure sensor module
- PIC18 microcontroller
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by AlanBDee · 2018-02-20 11:58 · Score: 1

I really wanted to correct you and point out that Jeff Bezos has donated much more then 42 million dollars to charities but it doesn't look like he has. Many other Billionaires have pledged to give away at least half their fortune before they die. Bezos has not: https://givingpledge.org/
Looks like he is a greedy git!
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by rthille · 2018-02-20 12:19 · Score: 1

How much money is wasted on the NFL? NHL?

--
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by rthille · 2018-02-20 12:22 · Score: 2

You can "build low-PPM TCXO oscillators" and you can't find a job that keeps you from being "one of the POOR PEOPLE" in this economy?
WTH?

--
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by RobinH · 2018-02-20 12:36 · Score: 2

Yeah, like those pyramids. Nobody ever benefited from them. Except the bazillion people who benefit from the tourism in Egypt ever year. Also, it's his money. He's American. He can do whatever the heck he wants with it. Last time I drove south along I-75 through Ohio there was a 3-storey tall Jesus standing at the side of the road at a church looking at the highway. Apparently it burned down, so they built it again. People build stupid shit all the time. At least he spent 42 million employing some skilled trades and apparently (according to TFA) filed at least one new patent during the process. People go to sporting events all the time. Far more than 42 million is spent. Is there a point to that? I fail to see it.

--
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by sphealey · 2018-02-20 12:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

That $42 million didn't just evaporate - it was spent on things. Probably including a lot of engineering, performed by mechanical engineers with salaries in the 60-80k USD range, and machinists with pay rates in the (yearly equivalent) 30-120k range. Also construction workers, similarly in the 30-120k range. And restaurant workers, truck drivers, titanium refiners, etc. All of whom are going to spend that money or invest it in relatively short-term family investments. All in all not a bad way of expanding the economy by some multiple of $42 million (eeeek! fractional reserves! call for the Bitcoin(tm)!) by merely using some otherwise useless markers out of Bezos' account.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Trogre · 2018-02-20 12:47 · Score: 1

Because throwing money at some problems doesn't make them go away.

--
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 13:13 · Score: 1

You think you get to decide? The president is not a dictator.
I think the point of the OP is that a massive, massive amount of money is pissed away on things that produce far less than Jeff Bezo's clock. If you want to get all cranked off at such things, you really are going to have to pace yourself.
Tell me, would you also be the guy getting all cranked off at the expense of producing Mount Rushmore, or the Washington Monument, the colossus, or the pyramid at Giza? The Washington Monument alone cost around $30,000 2016 dollars.
This is a public monument. They inspire meaning. That's why Bezos is building it. Nobody really liked the Eiffel tower when it was built either, but you try to tear that thing down now, and it'd be war.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 13:21 · Score: 0

They did, right in the middle of their headquarter
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyUDNwwxt7o
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5STSnKX2Tfg
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 14:07 · Score: 0

What's this one second off via GPS nonsense? You can get within a few nanoseconds if you do it right. You have to get the signal direct rather than allow the GPS chip to process it. You then handle that signal outside the GPS chip and get about the best accuracy available to us mortals. Or you could just buy a Japanese GPS clock that does this and get much better than "within a second."
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by soc_cost_priv_gains · 2018-02-20 14:22 · Score: 1

Well, according to conservatives if you are poor it is because you are lazy.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by soc_cost_priv_gains · 2018-02-20 14:26 · Score: 1

I find it fascinating that people would complain about something like this but not spending a billion dollars on a sports stadium with mostly tax payer money. Now that is a waste. If Jeff Bezos wants to build the world's largest toilet in order to flush money down it then I don't care as long as it's his money.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Corbets · 2018-02-20 16:19 · Score: 1

Well, according to conservatives if you are poor it is because you are lazy.
Whereas that kind of broad libel against an entire political spectrum isn’t laziness per se, it’s just lazy thinking.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by n3r0.m4dski11z · 2018-02-20 17:17 · Score: 1

"I like clocks. I like accurate clocks, to be precise. I have several 'Atomic clocks', synchronized to WWVB out of Fort Colins"
Wow, then i would think then that you are THE target audience. So you are either 1) jealous or 2) have lost your sense of wonder.
42million over 10,000 years works out to $420 a year, so smoke some green and chill the fuck out bro.
its a god damned art piece, and a pretty cool engineering challenge to boot.

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Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Procrasti · 2018-02-20 23:31 · Score: 1

NB: Jeff is on record as supporting a UBI, which will go a long way to helping ALL the poor and homeless people.
What ever else he does with his money is his business if it is not harming anyone.
That alone is more charity than most billionaires ever do.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 01:17 · Score: 0

Fuck off.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by azadrozny · 2018-02-21 01:35 · Score: 1

Except you are going to need the support of most of those people to get anything done. You are not throwing the party for yourself, but the thousands of people who worked for you for more than a year to get you elected. Sure many of theme are super wealthy people who did nothing except donate money, but many are rank and file employees and volunteers of the campaign. So while I appreciate your sentiment, and might even applaud a decision like this, you will be leaving out many folks who do deserve a thank you celebration.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 03:51 · Score: 0

if I was elected POTUS, I wouldn't bother with nonsense like that
We had a fairly recent POTUS do that for his inauguration. When Carter was sworn in, he decided to forgo a lot of the pomp and ceremony associated with the inauguration--parades, special lunches, and other various grand spectacles.
Readers can do their own research about Carter's motivations and the extent at which he believed to not waste taxpayer money nor elevate himself too high, but this wikipedia article contains a few mentions of the specific things he eliminated for his swearing-in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inauguration_of_Jimmy_Carter
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 04:03 · Score: 0

It's your (and my) job to elect a government that will raise funds to meet societal needs. If you don't think those needs are being met you (and I) should elect people who will increase tax collection to pay for societal needs. Don't get mad at the rich for not doing good. Get mad at yourself (and me) for not doing what our country needs and electing a sane government.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 04:57 · Score: 0

Why do YOU care what HE does with HIS money? FOAD.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:19 · Score: 1

Yeah that's what I thought: you don't have the strength of your convictions, you're just full of hot air.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 05:21 · Score: 0

Asshole.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:23 · Score: 1

You've been spotted, go back to 4chan and lurk more.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:25 · Score: 1

Well then if true then maybe he needs better PR people so the optics on something like this don't write a false narrative.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:26 · Score: 1

Then how about spending $42M on researching what WILL end homelessness?
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:28 · Score: 1

Well, according to ultra-fundamentalists/Dominionists if you are poor it is because you are lazy.
Fixed that for you.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:31 · Score: 1

There is such a thing as having a sense of SCALE, which this doesn't seem to; it comes off as excessive, and as conspicuous consumption; like poking everyone else in the eye. Also it's actually pretty useless. I could spend a couple hundred bucks and build a clock that wouldn't need to be set for DECADES, who the hell needs a clock that'll run for 10000 years?
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:32 · Score: 1

UBI is bullshit and a non-starter and believing in it unironically just proves you're bad at math. Stop bringing it up.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Rick+Schumann · 2018-02-21 05:33 · Score: 1

No, you.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 06:41 · Score: 0

There will always be poor people who need other people's money
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 07:27 · Score: 0

Not at all - he doesn't believe in philanthropy. Which is to say he doesn't want to simply give away money. He would much rather create jobs that can be at least somewhat stable and provide people a path to improve themselves and earn their money. Obviously there's a large swath of those who can't work (or can't work the jobs he creates - either mentally or physically demanding) and they need handouts and support from society. Bezos leaves that group up to others and focuses on those he can help through jobs.
Of course people are going to have issue with that but saying he simply isn't giving away his money as a bad thing leaves out a good portion of the story.
Re:Rich people and their wasteful whims by Procrasti · 2018-02-22 02:48 · Score: 1

Do you even second welfare theorem you fucking idiot?
I've done the maths, but you not so much.

Mystery of my childhood solved! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:33 · Score: 0

So this is where all those shrines in futuristic video games are coming from! Now it all makes sense!

Re:Mystery of my childhood solved! by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:14 · Score: 2

Just wait 'till aliens bring the Tesla Roadster back to earth, looking for it's creator... Maybe it will go by the name "V'Ger" by then.

--
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

Useless waste of money by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:37 · Score: 0

Disappointing considering the names involved, for such a vanity project.
Could probably get the same result buying a box of five dollar casio watches.

Or better yet, contribute those same five dollars into meals for the homeless people back in Seattle.
You know, the funny looking guys camped outside your shiny buildinging. No, not the ones waiting in for the new iThing.
That's probably more meaningful than a giant mechanical clock that *might* still work after we've all gone extinct.

Re:Useless waste of money by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:12 · Score: 1

Casio batteries don't last 10,000 years. Not sure how one proves this clock lasts 10,000 years either.

--
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Re:Useless waste of money by naughtynaughty · 2018-02-20 10:32 · Score: 1

By analysis
Re:Useless waste of money by kaatochacha · 2018-02-20 10:51 · Score: 1

I dunno, there's a lot of engineering that goes into it, and that may be applied to other things.
It's not like they're just buying a solid gold Lamborghini.

Also in the works ... by fahrbot-bot · 2018-02-20 09:38 · Score: 1

Bezos is building a Prime 10,000 Year Clock, that will run to completion in 2 days.

--
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .

Re:Also in the works ... by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:11 · Score: 1

You are obviously paraphrasing Linus Torvalds' famous comment, "We all know Linux is great... it does infinite loops in 5 seconds."

--
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

"Long Now" name by Tablizer · 2018-02-20 09:39 · Score: 1

Long Now is an odd name. Sounds like a Chinese restaurant: "Happy Long Life Now Lucky Gold Family Noodle-House".

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Table-ized A.I.

Clock already useful by SuperKendall · 2018-02-20 09:39 · Score: 3, Insightful

The Clock is already illuminating with stark clarity the further decline of Slashdot into a realm of howling luddite monkeys.

Ironically prooabiy many of the same people complaining about the clock are the same ones that complain modern electronics are no longer durable.

If anyone wants to know the deeper reasoning behind why the clock exists, read the book "The Clock Of The Long Now: Time and Responsibility".

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley

Re:Clock already useful by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 01:18 · Score: 0

There are cosmological clocks with more accuracy and durability. Stick some simple astronomical tools in a vault with some charts. You are done.
Re:Clock already useful by SuperKendall · 2018-02-23 14:36 · Score: 1

Hmm, assume that someone wandering in 9000 years hence will know how to read your complicated charts, or be able to get the time by simply turning a dial. Hmm.
You are also making a lot of assumptions of the durability of the tools and chart you place in there, not to mention the King Tut effect where after ten years, much less ten centuries, they are gone...

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley

Re:if it was anyone else by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 09:40 · Score: 0

Bozos...

And in "Irony Of The Week news" .... by mnemotronic · 2018-02-20 09:49 · Score: 0

And in "Irony of the week news", the Tesla Roadster launched into Earth/Mars 5 years ago orbit by fellow bazillionaire Elon Musk, mysteriously re-entered Earth's atmosphere today. Pieces of the roadster unaccountably survived reentry and struck the directional unit for the Phoenix-Austin Hyperloop project, causing it to veer off-track and drill through President Bezo's millenium clock project. The clock was destroyed and the Boring Company's drilling was severely damaged by the tungsten components used by the "Big Donger". Bezos and Musk are planning to sue each other.

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The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.

Re:And in "Irony Of The Week news" .... by HornWumpus · 2018-02-20 09:56 · Score: 1

Do you think you're funny or something?
I've got bad news, you're just stupid.

--
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'

press the button every 108 minutes... by kiviQr · 2018-02-20 09:50 · Score: 1

someday someone will find it and they will be pressing button every 108 minutes... another DHARMA Initiative...

the future by bonedonut · 2018-02-20 09:51 · Score: 1

how many years until tribes of people are worshiping this clock and making sacrifices to it?

Oh Cool! by Ferretman · 2018-02-20 10:03 · Score: 1

I'll swing by every hundred years or so to see how it's going. I'll post pictures.

Ferret

--
Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc

Am I the only one by rsilvergun · 2018-02-20 10:04 · Score: 1

who finds it disturbing that we're starting the see the kinds of absurd wastes of money here in America that we traditionally associated with Saudi Arabian Sheiks and Abu Dubai? Not too long ago the uber-wealthy were making it a point to hide this stuff from us working class slobs least we get uppity about it.

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Re:Am I the only one by Mister+Liberty · 2018-02-20 10:09 · Score: 1

No, you're not alone. This is in the same category as selling flamethrowers.
Having a lot of money apparently leads to idiocy.
Re:Am I the only one by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:13 · Score: 0

Not too long ago the uber-wealthy were making it a point to hide this stuff from us working class slobs least we get uppity about it. AND not too long ago we would not have hired a self promoting egomaniacal president,who gave the rich tax breaks!
Re:Am I the only one by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 13:52 · Score: 0

Ikr. Whatever happened to buying $400,000,000 yachts and Hawaiian islands like Larry Ellison. Captcha filthy as in filthy rich.

Re: if it was anyone else by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:06 · Score: 0

Why?

Meh by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:08 · Score: 2

Sure, but does it adjust for DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME???

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I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

Re:Meh by naughtynaughty · 2018-02-20 10:37 · Score: 2

It keeps uses Solar Noon as it's time zone, so it adjusts every day or at least every day that has enough solar light at solar noon
Re:Meh by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 00:51 · Score: 0

So it should read "Jeff Bezo spends $42 million on mechanical clock with the accuracy of a sundial, and potentially less longevity."
I mean, we can build a very solid sundial out of big rocks that will last for millions of years (provided we can keep the ground around them stable) think stonehenge... while it's only half the age of bezo's proposed clock, it shows no signs of wearing out any time soon...
Re:Meh by Locke2005 · 2018-02-21 08:42 · Score: 1

Take a look at the Google Earth picture of Stonehenge... and tell me what time the picture was taken.

--
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:22 · Score: 0

The SC? You mean the SA or 2A? Nope. We are likely going to have a majority shift in Congress, then the impeachment proceedings begin in earnest. From there, reasonable gun laws like the ones in NYC will be passed.

What's bad about it? NYC has the lowest crime rate of any city in the world its population range.

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Locke2005 · 2018-02-20 10:22 · Score: 1

"SC" is now an acronym for the Second Amendment? Or are you just illiterate? And 17 dead in Parkland might just be the straw that broke the NRA's back.

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I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

Why not carbon dating clock by u19925 · 2018-02-20 10:27 · Score: 1

Giant piece of calibrated carbon will work as well. If it is big enough, its isotopes can be measured using a simple handheld machine and it will have no moving parts or environmental effect. Ok, it won't have display that human eye can see it but then its remote location will prevent that as well.

Are they going to add a math filled with avout? by enjar · 2018-02-20 10:34 · Score: 3, Insightful

The concent of Saunt Bezos?

Re:Are they going to add a math filled with avout? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 15:48 · Score: 0

Time will tell but its not a bad idea. Confine all those math/science geeks in one place where we can keep an eye on them! If we write the proposal correctly I'm sure Mr. Trump will contribute to the funding.
Re:Are they going to add a math filled with avout? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 16:15 · Score: 0

yes! i was thinking this too... will it survive the next sack?
Re:Are they going to add a math filled with avout? by twistnatz · 2018-02-20 22:35 · Score: 2

The story for Anathem actually came from Neal Stephenson thinking about a clock design for the Long Now Foundation.

This is a sign! by mackul · 2018-02-20 10:38 · Score: 1

Someone who made his billions with digital technique (and greedy exploitation, of course) does not trust any digital technique to work! This is a clear sign that we cannot trust digital data for "eternity", not for 10,000 years, not even for 100 years. Ask Vint Cerf!

Re:This is a sign! by RockDoctor · 2018-03-04 15:07 · Score: 1

Someone who made his billions with digital technique (and greedy exploitation, of course) does not trust any digital technique to work!

Do you actually know how a mechanical clock works? An analogue power source (flowing electrons, descending weights, gerbils on a wheel - whatever) is applied to an oscillator resulting in the (almost) instantaneous change of state of a mechanism - the escapement - from one state to another. That DIGITAL change it then applied through various gearing to change the position of various dials. A mechanical clock is essentially digital in it's operation - even if in base 157 (or however many teeth the escapement wheel has) rather than base 2.
Off the top of my head, the last design of time measuring device I can recall as actually being analogue is the clepsydra.

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Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 10:40 · Score: 0

By civilized you mean boot on face,eternally, right?

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by kaatochacha · 2018-02-20 10:43 · Score: 0

I love the NRA boogeyman. It's like it's the Illuminati, the Rothschilds and Adolf Hitler all run by the Lizard People. Please, tell me more.
PS: He meant "Supreme Court". You just didn't figure it out. That's OK, even the literate sometimes make mistakes...

the real question by TimMD909 · 2018-02-20 10:47 · Score: 2

Will it blend?

Come on now! by Sqreater · 2018-02-20 10:53 · Score: 1

We all know they are going to build a highway through this part of the Universe, necessitating the destruction of the Earth. When they rebuild the Earth I doubt they will remember to rebuild a clock hidden in a limestone mountain.

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E Proelio Veritas.

New Zen for the Ages by Quirkz · 2018-02-20 10:54 · Score: 1

If you bury a clock in a mountain, does it still tell the time?

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The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay

It's a front by kaatochacha · 2018-02-20 10:54 · Score: 2, Insightful

For Jeff Bezos' Lex Luthor lair.

When people hear I'm in favor of gov't housing by rsilvergun · 2018-02-20 10:54 · Score: 1

they look at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears. If I use the term 'public' housing I still get the look, but it's more of a condescending "isn't that cute" look (even though they're the same thing). Folks remember the "projects" from the 70s. What they don't remember is what those projects were. We brought a bunch of super-poor dirt farmers to the city with the intent of providing them training, education and jobs. They got the apartments built and then the funding got pulled before the training/education got done and the whole thing collapse. Our manufacturing base being allowed to go overseas without so much as a peep didn't help matters either. The moral is half assed approaches don't work. Start something and finish it.

--
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Re:When people hear I'm in favor of gov't housing by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 12:59 · Score: 0

If you can keep nibbers and white trash and narco.MEX and Muzzi-wogs outa public housing then you gotta deal.

More over-rich people. by dbreeze · 2018-02-20 11:31 · Score: 1

We need more over-rich humans, they obviously know best how to wisely govern the wealth they are blessed to control. That's why the world is so good for everyone, and getting better.
Consider that we know the world's wealthy elite gather and associate quite a bit. They've had access to near all info for a while now, control the majority of the world's resources, and we've still got war and hunger. Less than a 100 humans could gather and end most, if not all, of the world's major issues tomorrow and there wouldn't be much to stop them short of armed revolution. They own everything. Make that mebbe 300 of the richest and it's not even a contest within "state" structures.
Now consider what they do with their wealth and influence. $42 mil for a "toy" clock, cars in orbit, multi-million $ yachts and homes, needless waste and excess in all they do, No economic model can survive a gluttonous, greedy, selfish few ruling over many.
Giving individual humans too much wealth and influence has rarely if ever ended well.

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When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes.2Kings22:11

Re:More over-rich people. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 01:21 · Score: 0

Every thought you just expressed is underpinned by an evil assumption that you own other people. You do not own other people. Neither do they own you.
Nobody gives these people too much wealth. They go out and earn it.
The closest thing we have to giving people wealth is when we take it away from people and give it to the government to spend. Then we do end up with people cozying up to that wealth and power in order to ensure that they get a chance to wet their beaks. So things like the defense industry, road construction, schools and police, light rail.. all rife with corruption because there is so much money to be doled out.
So nice job! You've allowed yourself to be played by the people who really do run around giving individuals wealth!
Did you ever take a moment to wonder how people come to Washington DC with a nice little nest egg of a million or two and work in a $300k job for a few years and somehow manage to collect $10 or $20 million? Ever wonder what people thought they were buying when they were paying Hillary Clinton $250k for a 15 minute speech? Ever ask yourself what a guy like Dick Cheney brings to the table that gets him a seat on the board at the largest government contractors and millions of dollars in stock options? Ever wonder how Bill Clinton managed to earn $50 million in just a couple of years - without ever starting a business or having a job - simply by taking honoraria?
The original gangsta used the phrase "useful idiots" for a reason. It is a way to power. Useful idiots who are small-minded and jealous can be manipulated into anything.
Repeat to yourself: Nobody owns me. I own myself. I get to decide how I live my life. Nobody else.
The same goes for every other human on the planet.

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 11:42 · Score: 0

If it were not for the NRA, we would have 30,000 more people alive monthly.

Gun laws are simple to enforce. After a ban is enacted, and some mandatory sentences put in place, including civil commitment after they are served (like how Texas locks up the pervies in Littlefield for life after they serve their prison sentences), yakking about what pieces you have on social media or a survivialist board is considered probable cause. After a few people wind up in the clink for a bit, the rest of the herd will be handing them over.

Stars tell time accurately over greater scales by rigorrogue · 2018-02-20 11:53 · Score: 1

We already have astronomy. This is simply idiotic.

As a physicist I would ask how do they manage (I like the project but it's Art not Science)

* Small oscillation errors
* Distributed clock synchronization
* Wear and tear on mechanical parts
* Long term maintenance guidelines (the Pyramids are simpler and still decaying, have a look at (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrange)

Einstein described relativity in terms of fingers in a flame and moments with a loved one. Bezos has no such insight. The notion of a Long Now is perhaps best characterized by (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-electron_universe)

We are so much more that electrons, world-lines, light-cones, or any other simplification of theoretical physics. We are made of the stars that observer time on relativistic scales.

This is Bezos bullshit

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science in government

This is the end dum-dum-dum by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 12:00 · Score: 0

Reminds me of the Mayan calendar, should we be worried? Has society gone too far when we reach the point where the wealth is spent on sending cars to space, clocks and huge rocks telling you how to maintain a society effectively in English. I wonder how our descendants will mistranslate our words of wisdom and worry over what that clock really means, is this the end?

Bullshit by NicknameUnavailable · 2018-02-20 12:01 · Score: 1

It's just an underground bunker so Bezos doesn't get lynched when shit hits the fan thanks to him monopolizing most industries, trying to hide it in plain sight since otherwise the workers would assume there's a bunker they know how to get into safely.

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by rthille · 2018-02-20 12:14 · Score: 1

SCOTUS justices can die unexpectedly. See A. Scalia.
Even several could die, given the number of guns in this country...

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Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/

My name is Jeff Bezos, king of kings by Khashishi · 2018-02-20 12:17 · Score: 1

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Nothing but a vanity project for someone who wants to be immortal.

Gregorian calendar and the leap year by OrangeTide · 2018-02-20 12:34 · Score: 1

The Gregorian calendar will start getting out of sync with the tropical year by at least a day after 7700 years.

Despite its average accurate over long periods we should dump the Gregorian calender. The periodic correction tends to make the days for solstice swing wildly between extremes.

Also September, October, November and December are archaically named and do not appear at the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months. (or we should go back to using March as the first month of the year. but I'm not suggesting some oddball 50/51 day "winter" season like in the old Roman calendar)

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“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire

Re:Gregorian calendar and the leap year by iggymanz · 2018-02-20 14:09 · Score: 1

the only accurate calendars over that timespan are those that depend on astronomical observations that need to be done periodically in the future and can't be done ahead of time. doesn't matter what calendar is used, by 12018 it will be wrong
Re:Gregorian calendar and the leap year by OrangeTide · 2018-02-20 16:34 · Score: 1

I just want the predictions of astronomical mechanics to be accurate to about a day over a longer period than that clock. That's reasonable, I'm not asking for infinite precision.

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“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Re:Gregorian calendar and the leap year by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 01:22 · Score: 1

Can't do it.
Predictions of orbital mechanics are wildly inaccurate. We can only "unwind" the solar system for a few tens of thousands of years, max.
OK, so maybe you can do it for this clock, but don't go thinking we can do it for an indefinite period of time.
Re:Gregorian calendar and the leap year by iggymanz · 2018-02-22 12:07 · Score: 1

except you forgot one half of the issue, the length of the day which is irregular and can't be predicted over such a scale. That's why leap seconds can't be announced a year ahead of time, we don't know if one is needed

The NRA isn't what's blocking gun laws by rsilvergun · 2018-02-20 12:38 · Score: 1

it's the millions of single issue voter gun otaku. Bill Clinton might have been a right wing philanderer (we have him to thank for the big push to deregulate Wallstreet in the 90s) but he got one thing right: You don't mess with a mans guns. For the gun crowd it's a culture and a community. Anything that threatens that threatens their identity (as well as a hobby that grants them access to their entire circle of friends). It's like anything nerds obsess over: a third rail. These people show up to vote pro gun at every election. Unless you can talk some sense into them then getting the NRA money out won't even put a dent in the current apathy towards gun legislation.

What I'm staying is stop dumping on the NRA and start getting these folks to vote against anything that touches guns. Either that or give up on gun control laws. Really I'd rather see us do that. I don't think this is a battle we can win.

--
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Not just Bezos by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 12:47 · Score: 0

Doesn't anyone recognize the other names? There are (or were) famous and the real drivers of the project which Bezos funded. . From their website: Thatâ(TM)s Danny Hillis, a polymath inventor, computer engineer, and designer, inventor and prime genius of the Clock. He and Stewart Brand, a cultural pioneer and trained biologist, launched a non-profit foundation to build at least the first Clock. Fellow traveler and rock musician Brian Eno named the organization The Long Now Foundation to indicate the expanded sense of time the Clock provokes -not the short now of next quarter, next week, or the next five minutes, but the 'long now'of centuries.

Re:Not just Bezos by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 16:14 · Score: 2, Informative

Neal Stephenson made good use of the idea in his Anathem novel where monks had kept the tradition of scientific knowledge through multiple dark ages. Each monastery had a giant ancient clock in it that had called the cadence of the order through the ages

500 Foot Staircase? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 14:11 · Score: 0

Too cheap to install an elevator? Waste of money.

"thx to the genius" by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 14:48 · Score: 0

Bezo Coyote. Super-genius.

That's just time though by SuperKendall · 2018-02-20 14:57 · Score: 1

Alternatively they could build a sun dial out of masonry

Imagine a visitor 9000 years hence, wandering into the clock.

A sundial would tell them what time it was that day, sure (well, during the day...).

But the Clock would not only tell them what time it was, it would tell them what YEAR it was, according to our frame of reference which may be different or forgotten by then.

The point is not so much to simply display the time as to keep track of it over a very long time.

And also of course, a reward for visiting in terms of a unique chime for winding the Clock...

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Powercntrl · 2018-02-20 15:10 · Score: 1

Won't be for long. It is only a matter of time before we pass law by law, making gun ownership illegal eventually, and bringing the US into the civilized world.

The Columbine perpetrators tried to blow up the school's cafeteria. The death toll would've been significantly higher than anything they did with their guns, had the bombs worked. Point being: kids who are sick in the head are going to find a way to try to cause harm to others - even if you managed to wave a magic wand and make all guns disappear.

Furthermore, as my original post has been modded into oblivion, the quip about "no wonder kids are shooting up their schools" was not intended as flamebait. It meant that if your society feels giving huge tax breaks to the rich is more important than providing healthcare as a basic human right, things such as mentally sick kids shooting up their schools are going to be part of your society. But at least some rich asshole gets his overpriced toy clock, amiright?

As for the guns, I think we might want to keep them. Things in this country are going to get really interesting when you've got Mr. Bezos playing with his clock like scrooge McDuck in his money vault, while Bubba the NRA member truck driver just got laid off because his job was replaced by a drone.

--

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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.

Oblig. Asimov by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 16:05 · Score: 0

From TFA: "Carved into the mountain are five room-sized anniversary chambers: 1 year, 10 year, 100 year, 1,000 year, and 10,000 year anniversaries. "

It's the dates of the secret anniversaries we all want to know about, when a pre-recorded hologram appears, announcing the climax of a new Bezos Crisis.

Oh really? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 16:40 · Score: 0

Bezos is fronting the cash for the $42 million project, saying on the project's website that the clock is "designed to be a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking

Whatever it is "designed to be," what it WILL be is a symbol, an icon for wasting 42 million dollars.

Just think, as Amazon and its affiliates have been bypassing taxes and laws to become one of the largest companies in the known universe, and making that asshole Bozos (by some accounts,) the most obscenely wealthy asshole in all of recorded history, he's taking 42 of those million dollars, and using them to bury a CLOCK that even if it kept perfect time, would be completely useless. It's all for show, people. It's all a gesture. Well, I've got a gesture of my own for them, on behalf of all the people who could have been paid a decent wage to be little humanoid robots for Bozos so he could become filthy stinking Über-rich, or provide them air-conditioning in the overheated environments where they work... OH, or, or, how about this, he could take that $42 million and give it to the Washington Post so they could pretend to be a real, reputable news organization again... instead of just a bunch of puppets of Bozos and his rich friends' agendas... (and by rich friends, I mean Bozos and all the people who pay him, which I hear includes one or more government agencies which The Amazon Post oops, I mean Washington Post, (sorry, little Freudian Slip there,) are SUPPOSED to be reporting and keeping tabs on on behalf of anyone stupid enough to still be reading that useless bird-cage-bottom-liner, since as it's now owned by someone like that, makes it useless as there's no way to imagine they are allowed to tell the truth about things that matter anymore oh fuck what's the goddamned point...

A symbol of what, really? by Picodon · 2018-02-20 17:39 · Score: 1

...saying on the project's website that the clock is "designed to be a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking."

Buried deep in a west Texas mountain...

A symbol, an icon... is rarely an whimsical or esoteric device buried deep in a mountain. Instead, it’s typically an artifact of current culture, usually intended to perform some useful (possibly artistic) function, built in a public location where it ends up being a visible reminder of something intuitively meaningful to many.

This... is at best a symptom of megalomaniac arrogance, inequality and waste that will be soon forgotten after a fleeting time of shallow fame.

On the Alps meanwhile.... by LordHighExecutioner · 2018-02-20 19:48 · Score: 1

...there are plenty of peaks nicknamed as "Aiguille du Midi", "bec de Mesdi", "Cima Undici", and so on. Probably every country has their owns. The names of these peaks come after the daytime hour when sun shines over the peak. This natural clock is of course not very accurate, but farmers ruled their daily work by looking and them, and they never complained about timing errors.These natural clocks work ummaned since more or less the Jurassic age, will go on working until erosion do not level them, and their vision is very inspiring. But I guess mr. Bezos never hiked around the Alps...

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 21:25 · Score: 0

The Columbine perpetrators tried to blow up the school's cafeteria. The death toll would've been significantly higher than anything they did with their guns, had the bombs worked. Point being: kids who are sick in the head are going to find a way to try to cause harm to others - even if you managed to wave a magic wand and make all guns disappear.

True, but current gun laws make it as easy as possible for people who are sick in the head to kill a fair number of people.

An icon for long-term thinking by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 22:33 · Score: 0

Wouldn't a motivational poster be more cost-effective?

Re:No radiation. Less accurate than NIST. Lame. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-20 23:50 · Score: 0

Yeah, until it loses power.

A symbol for "all" to enjoy... by azcoyote · 2018-02-21 03:02 · Score: 1

That's great; now for the next 10,000 years we can look at the thing and wonder just how many poor people could have been saved from starving to death if we had just done something useful with the money.

--
Incipiamus, fratres, servire Domino Deo, quia hucusque vix vel parum in nullo profecimus.

Spoiler by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 03:04 · Score: 0

The video goes something like this: Tick... Tick... Tick... Tick... Tick...
It's not boring at all.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 04:06 · Score: 0

You're slowly becoming creimer.
https://slashdot.org/~FatCashewsLoveMe/firehose

Re:This is why the rich should pay higher taxes by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 04:49 · Score: 0

Modern society makes it easy for people to become sick in the head. We must direct our efforts to the actual cause of the sickness. People that mentally break and explode in an orgy of violence are mere symptoms of the disease.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 05:10 · Score: 0

I heard a rumor that creimer was going to buy Slashdot for three cents. You should watch your ass and treat him nicer.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 05:34 · Score: 0

THREE cents, Chris? Where you getting this kind of cash?

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 07:07 · Score: 0

The firehose is two things 1) An unfiltered feed of user submitted and unapproved slashdot story candidates. At one point in time it was a flood of content that nobody could read in a single day. Now it's more like an aquarium, it can give you more water than your probably feel like drinking but you could if you wanted plus it has has a high concentration of self-promoting content from various blogs submitted by users who only have accounts for this purpose. It's very creimer-like but to his credit he's never gone there. Also like aquarium turds most of these shitnuggets get filtered out before anyone sees them.

2) An aggregate of all a user's comments, journal posts, story submissions, etc. It seems that crimer is a disaster area that makes all the bugs in slashdot's shitty 20 year old PERL codebase all come out at once. Who knows maybe he actually caused some sort of underflow error and did genuinely have a 4294967295 karma.

I will present creimer at the next defcon: Fuzz testing and static analysis is finished, Long live the Fat-Testing-Framework.
I have to wonder if he is only employed by the US government for the purposes of walking back and forth in front of the FBI's fuzz testing cluster under the guise of cleaning out IT closets.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 07:58 · Score: 0

It seems that crimer is a disaster area that makes all the bugs in slashdot's shitty 20 year old PERL codebase all come out at once.

Uh, no. FCLM is fixated on creimer and 99.9% of his comments are in response to creimer. A very unhealthy fixation

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 09:10 · Score: 0

It's as healthy as your fixation on silver, sham diet advice, useless YouTube schemes, Amazon affiliate spam, haiku (when is it being published?), and karma-whoring on Slashdot, Chris.

https://slashdot.org/~cdreimer/friends

cdreimer (4977441) is all alone in the world

Ouch.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 10:23 · Score: 0

Nobody but creimer cares if they get banned from slashdot.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 10:29 · Score: 0

A very unhealthy fixation

Well I agree he is fixated on you and you are unhealthy.
He seems fascinated by men with breasts in general though you're no Bailey Jay.

99.9% of his comments are in response to creimer.

And it's a fucking shame too because I'd love to improve his karma but there is no way I'm modding up anything in response to creimer. I already wish that I could self-demote all my AC responses to you but sadly they start life at an undeserved 0.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 10:40 · Score: 0

Creimer likes to feel like he is part of a select group of people who possess "secrets" to "goal". When the goal comes in the form of zero or lackluster progress it's easier to rationalize away the failure than give up the fun feeling of being an expert.
Study IT fads and accept the occasional failure for being a failure is probably the most unsexy advice a person can receive and there is nothing secret or special about it. Even though following it would change the remainder of his life dramatically, he'll never do it. If he'd been born anywhere else he'd have been laid off from a factory about 10 years ago, moved in with relatives, and would be telling anyone who listens about his "small business".

Lol he even has the bullshit precious metals retirement plan. Fuck creimer you should be re-inventing yourself as a republican!

join the illuminati by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 11:34 · Score: 0

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Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 12:13 · Score: 0

I'm sure the ACs who have the same ridiculous grammar and constantly defend you are actually somebody ese. Also, the 30 year old woman who comes here to defend you and happens to like the same stuff you like and even used the same technology as a kid as you isn't a sockpuppet.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 15:34 · Score: 0

"He seems fascinated by men with breasts in general though you're no Bailey Jay."

Hey! Check out these lovely ladies:

Andrezza Lyra
Michelly Araujo
Tina Marie
Yasmin Pires

Think about this: no periods, no unwanted pregnancies, no menopause, anal every night, and she puts in EFFORT to be a woman!

Re: Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 16:17 · Score: 0

FCLM has proper grammar and seems kind of witty.

Re: Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 16:33 · Score: 0

And dances whenever creimer comments on Slashdot.

Re: Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-21 16:50 · Score: 0

He *can* dance. The way you're built, walking seems to be about your limit.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-22 02:05 · Score: 0

"I spend five minutes a day on Slashdot."

With your addictive personality, I doubt that very much, Chris. You gloated about your high post count last year, suddenly you gave up?

Riiiiight... Your brain is WIRED to spend countless hours frittering away your life on trivial idle pursuits.

Love? No! Women? No! Relationships? No! Family? No! Career? No!

12 sockpockets on Slashdot, wasting time and money on buying worthless silver coins, making terrible videos to get a 7$ t-shirt, writing haiku no one reads, THAT's your thing!

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-22 04:19 · Score: 0

Don't forget EVERY AC is creimer. I'm not sure how he gets away with posting multiple comments to multiple stories 24/7 for years on end.

Re:Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-22 07:14 · Score: 0

"He seems fascinated by men with breasts "

Um, they're women with cocks, in some cases absolutely fucking enormous horse cocks.

Re: Wait minute... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-22 07:29 · Score: 0

My silly invitation to exchange keys with FCLM received 50+ views on pastebin and that a similar posts other places on slashdot both barely got 5 clicks I think there is a large mostly silent group of slashdotters who intentionally read your threads to laugh at the drama and it's much larger than it was when I checked last year. I often check slashdot to see if you've generated a fresh batch of lulz for me to mod down. Seeing as how when I mod you down I often find that other people have already modded down your already -1 posts... well your following is "loyal"

I've told FCLM that I will mod up funny posts outside of your threads so his karma will be good enough to post multiple times a day and he seems totally uninterested in taking me up and he's already at -1 terrible. I doubt he's doing anything to dodge the mods. He probably has a normal account somewhere where he acts like a civilized person.

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Jeff Bezos Shares Video of 10,000-Year Clock Project (cnet.com)

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