3 ms·

What was lame about it? I hadn't heard of it before, but it sounds pretty awesome, from the Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock https://e

by pcl 10y ago

What was lame about it? I hadn't heard of it before, but it sounds pretty awesome, from the Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock)

mrob 10y ago
Gold + blue LEDs is about the tackiest combination I can think of. Blue LEDs were cool for a few years in the late 90s because they were new and high tech. I think they lost their fashion value in 2000 with the release of the PlayStation 2 (which had a blue power LED). By then it was obvious they were cheap and widely available. People still using blue LEDs in 2008 were clearly out of touch, and in 2016 the only way they can possibly be cool is if they're obviously ironic, which the Corpus Clock LEDs aren't.
- Camillo 10y ago
  Blue LEDs are the worst. They are the most annoying of LEDs, in part because of their ridiculous brightness, in part because blue light just disturbs sleep more for biological reasons. If I have a device with blue LEDs in my bedroom, it gets masking tape.
  - dguaraglia 10y ago
    Yeah, I ordered a bunch of extensions cords from Amazon and they came with an extremely bright blue LED embedded in the on/off switch. Needless to say, I was no happy bunny the first night when I went to sleep with two of those in the room.
dguaraglia 10y ago
As mrob pointed out, while mechanically interesting, the device looks really tacky. I might be that I had a lot of expectations about the clock, having read a bunch about it on the internet. I used to travel to Cambridge on a regular basis at the time the Chronophage was installed, and I remember one day making a point of going all the way downtown to see it... and it was just super tacky. It looked like a prop you might find in Disney World or something. Out of context, like if I saw that in the middle of London somewhere, it might have been OK. But this is Cambridge: the clock is on King's Parade, the street where all the historical colleges are, stunning historical buildings all around. You are straight across from King's College Chapel, the most iconic building in all of Cambridge. You are a few feet away from The Eagle, a pub that has been around longer than the US has existed as a Republic. And in the middle of all that, you have this gold and blue LED monstrosity. It just feels completely out of place. So yeah, if you are ever in Cambridge, I'd be more likely to recommend trying the amazing ostrich hamburgers in the street market about a block away from the Chronophage. Those are also out of place, but SO good, heh.
arjie 10y ago
There's one of these at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special-exhibitions/the-chronophage-clock/ http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special-exhibitions/the-chronop...
lmm 10y ago
The use of LEDs makes all the mechanics seem pointless, and it's very shiny, which makes it look out of place. A friend described it as "like some chav's car covered in bling".
- dguaraglia 10y ago
  Hah, pretty much!

by pcl 10y ago

What was lame about it? I hadn't heard of it before, but it sounds pretty awesome, from the Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock)

mrob 10y ago

Gold + blue LEDs is about the tackiest combination I can think of. Blue LEDs were cool for a few years in the late 90s because they were new and high tech. I think they lost their fashion value in 2000 with the release of the PlayStation 2 (which had a blue power LED). By then it was obvious they were cheap and widely available. People still using blue LEDs in 2008 were clearly out of touch, and in 2016 the only way they can possibly be cool is if they're obviously ironic, which the Corpus Clock LEDs aren't.

Camillo 10y ago
Blue LEDs are the worst. They are the most annoying of LEDs, in part because of their ridiculous brightness, in part because blue light just disturbs sleep more for biological reasons. If I have a device with blue LEDs in my bedroom, it gets masking tape.
- dguaraglia 10y ago
  Yeah, I ordered a bunch of extensions cords from Amazon and they came with an extremely bright blue LED embedded in the on/off switch. Needless to say, I was no happy bunny the first night when I went to sleep with two of those in the room.

dguaraglia 10y ago

As mrob pointed out, while mechanically interesting, the device looks really tacky. I might be that I had a lot of expectations about the clock, having read a bunch about it on the internet. I used to travel to Cambridge on a regular basis at the time the Chronophage was installed, and I remember one day making a point of going all the way downtown to see it... and it was just super tacky. It looked like a prop you might find in Disney World or something. Out of context, like if I saw that in the middle of London somewhere, it might have been OK. But this is Cambridge: the clock is on King's Parade, the street where all the historical colleges are, stunning historical buildings all around. You are straight across from King's College Chapel, the most iconic building in all of Cambridge. You are a few feet away from The Eagle, a pub that has been around longer than the US has existed as a Republic. And in the middle of all that, you have this gold and blue LED monstrosity. It just feels completely out of place. So yeah, if you are ever in Cambridge, I'd be more likely to recommend trying the amazing ostrich hamburgers in the street market about a block away from the Chronophage. Those are also out of place, but SO good, heh.

arjie 10y ago

There's one of these at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special-exhibitions/the-chronophage-clock/ http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special-exhibitions/the-chronop...

lmm 10y ago

The use of LEDs makes all the mechanics seem pointless, and it's very shiny, which makes it look out of place. A friend described it as "like some chav's car covered in bling".

dguaraglia 10y ago
Hah, pretty much!