I want to build a clock that ticks once a year. The century hand advances once every one hundred years, and the cuckoo comes out on the millennium. I want the cuckoo to come out every millennium for the next 10,000 years. If I hurry I should finish the clock in time to see the cuckoo come out for the first time.
~Danny Hillis, “The Millennium Clock“, 01995
As we at the Long Now are well aware, one thing about designing clocks is that, like any mechanical system, they can go wrong.
This 01953 sketch from Sid Caesar‘s live-to-air weekly comedy program Your Show of Shows reminds us just how true that is.
The Baverhoff clock may be broken — but surprisingly, after more than half a century, the comedy still works.
(Link via Nerve.com)
