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Thursday, October 01, 2009

Incredible Astronomical Clocks


"QUANTUM SHOT" #591
Link - article by M. Christian and A. Abrams



Antique and Medieval Technology Blended With Art

Many believe early man saw the universe as a living thing: each flash of lightning, every star in the sky, the rain that fell, the ground beneath their feet – everything around them was part of some huge, living, breathing creature.

But then all that changed. The Greeks, along with their intellectual ancestors, looked at the world and while they saw life they also began to see a mechanism to it all, a precise and ordered regularity.


(Astrolabe, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art - image credit: Charles Tilford)

The Antikythera Device

Alhough we know the ancient Greeks were extremely intelligent, just how smart was hinted at in 1901 – and then confirmed many years later. At first the hunk of rusted iron pulled from the sea near the Greek island of Antikythera was just a curiosity, a bit of archeological weirdness. It was only decades and decades later that modern science was finally able to pry apart the secrets of ancient science. Very, very ancient science.



The Antikythera Mechanism, as it’s called, is a meticulous and precise assembly of 72 gears – a simply staggering piece of craftsmanship. What’s even more astounding is that scientists think the device was an astronomical calculator: an elaborate, incredibly accurate computer that was built in 150 to 100 BC (more info, also see the mechanism in action).


(images via 1, 2)

A model of the mechanism by Tatjana van Vark:



(images credit: Tatjana van Vark)

Other Antikythera Mechanism reconstruction projects and working models:


(images via)

All the instructions for the mechanism are written in Greek; one case when you can say "this manual is all Greek to me" and be entirely correct. Surprising details about this artefact are still being uncovered - for example, the various dials on the back of the Antikythera Mechanism include one dedicated to the four-year Olympiad Cycle of athletic games in ancient Greece!



What’s even more intriguing -- as well as exciting – isn’t the device itself but the broad hint it sends at how technologically advanced the ancient engineers were. The device is certainly miraculous but it was also a common working machine; not a rarity but instead what could be something that navigators used every day. Who knows what other mechanisms and devices have yet to be found?


(The Antikythera Mechanism in a fantasy environment - art by Resona Raille)


Beautiful Astronomical Clock in Prague

A few hundred years later the universe was still a mechanical place but the engineering that went into creating machines to predict and understand it became even more complicated and elaborate. Clocks got a developmental shot in the arm because they – when used with star charts and sextants – were essential navigation tools. It wasn’t long before clock mechanisms were used to track not just the hours, minutes and seconds of commerce and shipping but also the stars and planets in the sky.

One of the more incredible astronomical clocks is the legendary Prague Astronomical Clock. To say that it’s elaborate would be a ridiculous understatement. The clock is an insanely complicated instrument created not only to tell the time but also track the movements of the stars and planets – at least the ones they knew about in the 1400s when the clock was built. It's easy to think that making something as complicated as the Prague clock was a one time, supremely rare thing.


(image credit: Edgar Barany)


(images via 1, 2, 3)

Although the clock wasn’t a common working gizmo like the Antikythera device, it also used technology and craftsmanship that existed in many other Medieval cities – and even, a century or so later, insanely miniaturized to the point where, if you were rich, you could carry what was basically a tiny version in your pocket. Read this article about the grim fate of the clockmaster... which is only a tale, but an atmospheric one at that.


(image credit: ThunderMax)

While complicated, one of the greatest things about the Prague clock is that it isn’t just a working clock; it almost deserves to be called a monumental kinetic sculpture. It ticks and tocks and ticks and tocks in ways, to quote from the Bible, that are “a wonder to behold.” So wondrous, in fact, that you can find computer models online demonstrating just how elegant and beautiful the mechanism is – which says a lot that we use 21st century technology to appreciate the skill of a 1400s clockmaster.


(image via)


Wells Cathedral Astronomical Clock

Another beautiful example of astronomical clock engineering is the famous Wells Cathedral Clock. Begun a few years before Prague’s, the clock is another accurate and heavenly (literally as well as figuratively) mechanism. Like its Prague kin, the clock is a beautiful as well as accurate view of the world as an enormous clockwork machine - a carefully assembled, meticulously crafted, creation.


(image credit: Cormullion)


(images credit: John Glass)

Unfortunately, the growing ubiquity of these clocks’ technology spelled their doom. As more and more people could afford to carry watches there was less and less of a need for a huge, central and, naturally, elaborate town clock. It simply didn’t make financial sense to keep building them, a sign that humanity's evolving view of the world was mechanical: ticks and tocks as well as dollars and sense.


(image credit: The Science Museum, London)

What’s ironic is that with the dawn of the 21st century, in a world ruled by the careful calculations of software, humans are starting to understand, and even plan to use, the uncertainty of a quantum universe: an existence where things are never quite what they seem and chaos is part of How Everything Works.




(Augustinian Friar's Astrological Clock, 1679 - one of the hands takes 20,000 years to revolve. At the Clock Museum in Vienna. - image credit: Curious Expeditions)

Still, the incredible Antikythera device, the Prague and Wells Cathedral clocks, are beautiful in their antique mechanisms – as well as evoking a time when the world was as precise and orderly as the back-and-forth swing of a pendulum.

Astronomical Clock at Hampton Court Palace, London, UK (1540):


(images via)

Zimmertoren Astronomical Clock on Zimmer Tower in Lier, Belgium (left) and Strasbourg's Cathedral Astronomical Clock:


(images via 1, 2)

Lund's Cathedral Astronomical Clock, 1424:


(image credit: Robert)

Lyon's Cathedral Astronomical Clock:




(images via 1, 2)

Beauvais Cathedral has the St. Pierre Giant Astronomical Clock, made by Auguste-Lucien Verité in 1865-8. It contains 90,000 pieces, 68 statutes and 52 dials:


(image credit: Jacques)

Germany's Munster Cathedral Astronomical Clock, 1540:


(image credit: Sacred Destinations)

CONTINUE TO "UNUSUAL ANTIQUE MAPS" ->

Also Read: "Medieval Suits of Armor"
"Weird Books and Illuminated Manuscripts"

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Category: Art,Vintage

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COMMENTS::

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Antikythera is a greek, not an african island

___  
Anonymous Tom said...

Fantastic photos! Too bad a great invention like the watch more often than not spells the demise of these old clocks - that today will carry a hefty price tag! I was reading about an ancient water clock the other day, that apparently kept time more accurately than anything else until the 17th century, or something like that anyway...

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Anonymous speakout said...

These clocks need to be preserved well, it is funny you did not include biig ben but I guess it was not astrological enough.

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Anonymous srinu said...

That's So Cool Photos, Wonderful Post, in Future People will use this old cool clock at there home..! i think..!

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

One very famous clock is missing from this collection and that's the Eise Eisinga planetarium in the modest Frisian city of Franeker. He build his clock inside his home and at present is the oldest working still acurate clock of it's kind. W

Website:
http://www.planetarium-friesland.nl/engels.html

Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eise_Eisinga

___  
Blogger Avi Abrams said...

Thank you for this great tip - we will include it in the follow-up article.

___  

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  • I believe the link to Recently Found 1941 Pearl Harbor Photos isn't accurate. While Snopes isn't perfect, this one seems to make sense from the points that it would be impossible to take all those photos from a single camera.
    http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/pearlharbor.asp
    A comment on the linked site also disputes the description based on the variation of images.

    Glad you're back from the summer schedule. I find something interesting in all your posts.
    Read more

  • "strangely, this is the Russian term for Germany"

    Well.. the russian might use that term also but the history of the name comes from the days of Julius Caesar himself who adopted the Gallic term of that are that consist most of the present Germany...
    Read more

  • I suspect the reason why would be either
    "for a bet" or
    "because he can"
    Read more

  • @ Jyri: You're absolutely correct, and I think the fact adds even more meaning to the Russians' current use of the term, and more to the Nazis' intended use. Perhaps Herr Absolutely Ridiculous Moustache intended his World Capital to trump all - even, symbolically, Julius' plans for the region. Mitteleuropa, after all, is far from a new concept..
    Read more

  • well, it is the same in Italian too... and Germany and Italy were allied countries during the war. I think this is less fascinating but definitely more probable: at the end of the day Hitler called this plan Germania and not Германия (not sure about the spelling, sorry)
    Read more

  • Wow, this is awesome. I had an uncle who went to North Korea and told me about the traffic light women, but still, I now realise that there is still so much I have to find out about that country...
    Read more

  • I have read that mothers in Korea whistle as a cue to their very young infants to urinate — early toilet training was essential before disposable nappies or automatic washing machines. The story goes that this conditioning lasts into adulthood, causing a feeling of urgency whenever foreigners whistle.
    Read more

  • Wow. I'm impressed that you'd publish what amounts to propaganda for one of the most barbaric authoritarian regimes on the planet.
    Read more

  • Oh yeah, they need more propaganda, they don't have enough on their own :)
    Read more

  • I am living in Korea and have also had comments about whistling. As I understand it is thought to attract either evil spirits or snakes. That said however I do know many Koreans who can whistle including several who do it exceptionally well, to the point that I imagine the could do it in concert etc.

    Several months ago while walking in a shopping center in the evening a man angrily told me to stop. It was not about sound pollution it was about the issues of the activity itself. Interesting none the less.
    Read more

  • There is one famous foreign car in South Korea: BMW. I have seen a number of 735s on the streets while there.
    Read more

  • @ K: Yes, showing that life in a country can have some normal aspects which are caught on film definitely is propaganda and completely wrong. People see that there is not a gallow on EVERY street corner and forget about the dictatorship immediately. In fact they might just start moving there, causing a massive exodus from the Western world and they might take all relevant secrets (military and industrial) with them for Mr. Kim Jong Il to use. All because of these pictures.

    BTW, I guess it's the common North Korean who use the BMWs. In shape of those who represent (?) them, of course.
    Read more

  • The board game, "Paduk", is more often spelled "Baduk" in english when we're talking about the game in Korea. However, it's a lot more commonly known as "Go" or "Igo" in the west, after the Japanese word for the game. The game is originally Chinese however, where it's called Wei-qui.
    Read more

  • oh, please. Gutenberg!
    Read more

  • The writing of a name in red is found in Asia. Take a look at Kill Bill movie and watch the lady write the names in red. It means death.
    Commercial breaks happen between the shows to kill the dead air time.
    There is Valentine's day and there is White day where men give to women.
    No foreign cars?
    Porche, mercedes, toyotas, bmw, masseratis, ferraris, puegeot, and others are plentiful in the South.
    Read more

  • I lived in Korea for more than a year and several of these are gross generalizations or not accurate at all. No foreign cars?? The Valentines Day info is not entirely correct - there is one holiday for girls gifting to guys, another one for the other day around, and yet another one for the single people.
    Read more

  • @Carey

    erm, it's not a whistling sound at all. They say shhh which means pee in Korean. Plz gt ur facts straights b4 they leave the hollow cavity that iz ur headz
    Read more

  • The video game channel is probably showing professional Starcraft competitions, which far from being 'not very good,' is one of the most popular and award-winning games of all time.
    Read more

  • I am realy suprised at the speed at which yo turn around these bog post, this is a great post, I normally do not sit down and read the thing slowly but I need to come back and read this one slowly
    Read more

  • Gutenberg was first with the movable type printing press in the Western world. Movable type didn't catch on to well in Asia because of the number of characters in Korean, Chinese, etc. It makes a lot more sense with European languages as only a few characters are needed instead of hundreds or thousands.
    Read more

  • the over generalization is ridiculous
    Read more

  • Hey, you mixed up the stories about South Korea and North Korea. Most of your comments are about North.
    Many Koreans can whistle and they just don't. And there are so many foreign cars in Korea, including Japanese cars. And I heard that I can see skinned dogs at some of the local market. I have lived in South Korea for 36 years and I have never seen skinned dog. It is regarded as orgish and no shop will want to scare customer...
    Read more

  • To anonymous number 1: I did actually read that. Thank you for pointing out that the writer was simply making stuff up.
    Read more

  • Nice post, but I was in Daejeon like 3 or 4 months ago and drank at the Wa bar, but didn't see the "Fuck Club" there. Must have closed quickly. Also, I've never seen a skinned dog, but there are plenty of Gaegogi shops around. I guess they would show you a skinned dog if you like. A lot of myths and stories about Korea are probably from the 50's to 70's. Their culture has changed a lot since then and their cities are pretty modern now.
    Read more

  • The bus is electric, I could, I think, see the railing. Not many of those still cruise around, maybe it would be interesting looking out for more of them?
    Read more

  • As someone else has mentioned, the computer game is Starcraft...probably one of the most globally played RTS games ever made. Age of Empires pales in comparison and even comparing the two makes me cringe. Whistling is taboo because it was traditionally believed to call dead spirits...its not belived anymore but the taboo still exists. "In fact," i also know some Americans who can't whistle, including me.
    Read more

  • I live in Daegu, South Korea and of the 40-50 parking spots just outside my apartment, only about 1/4 of them are taken up by Korean cars. There are many BMWs, Audis, Pontiacs, Harleys and even a Mustang and Corvette to boot. Sad thing is, most of them are completely beaten up due to traffic accidents and lack of respect in parking lots.
    Read more

  • #10 is rubbish!!! When I was living there I saw BMWs, MBs, Heavily modified Nissan Skyline R34s, etc.
    Read more

  • I'd have to agree with those who feel that this post is not a fair representation of the reality of life in North Korea. Although its important to meditate on the good, we have to ask ourselves the hard questions. How did those buildings get funded? How did their cities get built? At what cost to the people?

    Although I haven't looked into it much myself (my apologies, I'm working on opening my eyes), I've heard reports that the NK government won't allow its people to move into the apartments, and most don't have functioning utilities, on top of other injustices.

    The aim isn't to make foreigners out to be barbaric or less than human, or get stuck on fights over ideologies (for that is indeed propaganda), the point is to focus on the people who have suffered injustice, learn their stories and tell them, in the hope that there can be change in their lives for the better.
    Read more

  • On so amny North Korean posters, there is only one message:
    USA is the 'great evil' and must be crushed??
    We really need to deal with these people somehow!
    There are some real anger issues there..........
    Read more

  • 1. I'm Korean and can whistle very well, as can my brother and father. I've found that many people in general can't whistle.
    2. Writing in red is used to record a dead person's name. This isn't, however, all over Asia. Chinese people consider red to be good luck.
    8. We use scissors a lot because it's easier to cut some things, but we do use knives all the time.
    10. The reason there aren't many foreign cars is because there are large taxes. Only wealthy people can afford them.

    I understand that you're visiting many countries and you think these "quick facts" are funny, but they're really not. Even with no harm intended, generalizations like these are insulting. Generalizations are insulting to everyone. Please learn something from your trip around the world. It's one thing to think something interesting. It's another to portray other people as strange and weird.
    Read more

  • I can't make any sense which korean you most likely saying about between north and south. I am now leaving in seoul S. korea. lots of info you posted seem strange to me eventhough i am S.korean. but interesting posts if you were talking only about North. We do not know well of north either.
    Read more

  • Wow, this was fascinating. Especially the facts about addresses (I'm so glad they don't do that here in America. I have a hard enough time finding addresses); writing in red pen (wonder how many people I've killed off lol); and cutting food with scissors (that makes total sense). Thanks for a great post.
    Read more

  • Loudspeakers? Is that why they're so loud? Or is the other way around?
    Read more

  • THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

    North Korea and South Korea are COMPLETELY different countries.

    North Korea has been shut off from the world for over 60 years and has faced nothing but misery and isolation, while South Korea has thrived to become a developed country.

    Putting North Korea and South Korea would be putting apples with grapes... not even oranges. USA and Saudi Arabia. They're THAT different, and I find it ignorant and offensive how North and South Korea are described as the same thing in this article.

    ...and Koreans can't wistle? I can thanks. They choose not to? I've never heard this. Also, we use knives - also don't know where you got that from... and a lot of other things.
    Read more

  • Korean doesn't have "hundreds or thousands of characters" in the alphabet as someone commented above, there are about 14 consanants and 10 basic vowel sounds. It seems perfectly possible that koreans could have come up with a printing press first.
    Read more

  • 1/3 of the stuff on this post (not the responses) are wrong. No wonder why South Korea is often called 'the most misunderstood country'.
    Read more

  • Dog meat is only a summer meat. You only eat dog meat in summer and not that often.

    Besides, it tastes better than beef and chicken.

    Some people love North Korea because it's the only country in the world where dog meat is legal.
    Read more

  • this article is so fail, do some research about north and south korea, they are totally different country
    Read more

  • How is this any different from the nationalism of Washington DC with its long boulevards and structures honouring every single President? I don't see much of a difference really. This is scary because it's nationalism you guys don't like. DC is just as terrifying.
    Read more

  • Yes, showing that life in a country can have some normal aspects which are caught on film definitely is propaganda and completely wrong. People see that there is not a gallow on EVERY street corner and forget about the dictatorship immediately.
    Read more

  • Bloody hell some commenters are thick. This is about North Korea, too! Just because you went to Seoul once doesn't make you an expert on the entire peninsula.
    Read more

  • Actually, whistling in the night is the taboo; not in the daytime. At old times people used to believe that whistling in the night will bring snakes out of their nests... and for Carey, mothers' cue for urinating is not exactly whistles, they are 'shee' sounds, very much the same sound you make for requesting silency.
    Read more

  • you have some misunderstanding about Korea. What you are talking about is almost about North Korea, not South Korea.

    You just collect very raunchy pictures and talk such as all life Korea is like that.

    It's not right.
    Read more

  • Now we can assume Britain and America are pretty much the same.

    Clap. Clap.
    Read more

  • I worked at the Battersea power station site a few years ago, the site was the venue for two weeks of concerts. I spent a day exploring the interior of the power station its amazing and strangely beautiful,especially the amazing control room with the brass knobs and old gauges is a steam punk dream. will try and find the pics i took.
    Read more

  • Battersea Power Station is an iconic piece of Art Deco architecture, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and as such should be restored and preserved. There is a group dedicated to doing just this, and it can't come quick enough for me.
    Read more

  • I love the steampunk look of some of these places! They should be preserved as examples of industrial architecture.
    Read more

  • It would be good for a low-budget film like Cube
    Read more

  • Some fantastic photos and info there - especially the images of Battersea Power Station. Can't believe that tank, how random is that?! I guess it must be left over from Full Metal Jacket... I've been past BPS so many times on the train and am always impressed. Great to see sime pics of the inside though. Looking forward to the redevelopment but hopefully it won't lose too much of its mystery in the process.
    Read more

  • More significant than Pink Floyd or Full metal Jacket, Battersea was used to fill several of the scenes in McGyver the Movie.

    If you want to see what an old powerstation can become have a look at this. apologies, i think it is only in German...
    Read more

  • As publicity for the Simpsons movie, the version of the pig from the animated movie was floated in front of this station in the same place Pink Floyd's pig was. Photos are probably still around the internet.
    Read more

  • hmm. high voltage insulators. good for a collector.thats a place to go insulator hunting.
    Read more

  • Abandoned Mystery Site (What Could This Be in the Caucasas Mountains near Kislovodsk, Russia

    It is a prototype of a radar tracking tower! Love you Site some great forgotten stuff on it!!!
    Read more

  • The Tank you see was part of an exhibition, I went to it as it made Battersea PS open to the public and always wanted to see it. From inside its very big and empty, Thatcher let the vulchers in and they stripped the place for its metal during the 1980s I'm sorry to say (that would never have happened in France!).

    If anybody else went to see the exhibition do you recall the wall of Apples? It was slowly decomposing, a great piece. I also got a recording of the video playing. Oh and there was a penny machine which took pennies and you put them in and turn the machine crank with a handle, they would come out flattened with a logo on them - I still got mine. At the time it was of the shopping centre complex to be invested in by a Chinese firm, but they pulled out.
    Read more

  • Battersea PS was also used as a location in the 1995 film, "Richard III".
    Read more

  • http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K4-M/SqchnPxaPUI/AAAAAAABHos/F7wtmSynLUQ/s640/76ie7utrshdtfd.jpg
    That's sign by an hungarian street artist, Magyar Kétfarkú Kutya Párt (Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Faction :).
    Some of his related works:
    http://mkkp.hu/parkolasirend.html
    http://mkkp.hu/leesik.html
    http://mkkp.hu/godzilla.html
    There are many of stuffs on his page, but most of them are hungarian-language related :)
    Read more

  • The "mystery sign" at Prospect Mira Metro station is an icon for Greco-Roman Wrestling. This station is next to an olimpic complex built for Moscow '80 olympics, so they decorated the station with blasons for different olimpic sports.
    Read more

  • the zebra crossing made my day. Why the design in the first place. Haha
    Read more

  • From what I can see:

    "sorry" on the bus happens in Victoria, Australia for buses not in use.

    The first signage for bathroom comedy comes from Busaba, a Thai restaurant in London.
    Read more

  • The Anti-Monkey Butt powder is a real product, aimed at motorcyclists to counter the unfortunate effects of sitting in the same position for long periods wearing tight leathers. The same company sell a range of products with risque names, such as visor-cleaner called "Foxitorff".
    Read more

  • AND, the Harley Parking sign is commerically available from lots of suppliers. There are "retaliatiory" signs (Suzuki parking, Triumph parking etc...) too.
    Read more

  • The "Enter Only/Do Not Enter" one is from a Target store. I noticed it on a door of the Target in my town and always meant to take a picture of it. I never use that door because I'm never quite sure what's expected of me!
    Read more

  • Nice pics....what a collection..i really appreciate your work..

    looking forward for some new...
    Read more

  • The loop road sign is in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee), on the road up to Clingman's Dome -- there's a short tunnel at one end of the loop.
    Read more

  • http://lasgirl.blogspot.com/2008/08/these-are-funny-sign-pictures-my-friend.html You may use any of these pictues
    Read more

  • Probably stating the obvious but the 'artifact' from 'District 9' is just an ordinary walk/don't walk sign that flashes alternately
    Read more

  • Great collection! Hard to say which is my favorite. I have seen the Harley sign available for sale in the past. Thanks for sharing!
    Read more

  • Funny that people actually know where this signage comes from!
    Read more

  • The television tower was spectacular - I'm sure that lifting it took a lot of hot-air.
    Read more

  • Lol
    Read more

  • The TV Commercial Blind and the Armpit Dryer ads are not from from an old mail-in catalog, as the caption suggests, but a NatLamp parody. Drawings by Bruce McCall.
    Read more

  • Thank you, page updated.
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  • The cow is a corn labyrinth in Berlin to teach children how a cow produces milk out of corn.

    http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Stadtleben-Marienfelde-Labyrinth-Tempelhof;art125,2873489
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  • It isn't a movie poster, but a parody work by lj user waldemar_kazak.
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  • Reames has a book on the subject.
    http://www.arborsmith.com
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  • WOW

    I don't think I've ever clicked on quite so wonderful a link before.

    I've often thought about this kinda thing, read about it in fantasy novels... extremely excited to see it coming to life. Good show.
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  • I think that Tomasz Bagiński's Cathedral is a bit on topic here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8GyHvBogrI
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  • Wow...every bit of that was incredibly interesting. Thanks for sharing that information with us!
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  • There are new building materials being introduced nowadays made with super dense formed fungus. Its apparently tons stronger than drywall, and far lighter as well.
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  • This is wonderful! The "chair that grew" reminds me of Odysseus' marriage bed (made of a living tree, so when Penelope tells him she's moved it, he gets angry and thus proves he's really her husband).
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  • Down here in Australia, the Boab tree of the semi-arid west has a short, squat and voluminious trunk that had been used variously as a house, jail and particularly sturdy restroom.
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  • Meat - "Superdense Formed Fungus Furniture"! Sounds great, can't wait to get one (just don't want it to grow too much...)
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  • I actually grew up with a shaped tree in the backyard— my dad spent a couple of decades shaping a cave out of the lower branches of a mulberry, while the upper area has a fort-like feel, big enough for several adults (we've gotten at least eight up there at one time.) It was a great place to read.

    When I was going to college, my dad asked if he should remove the cave. "Dad, you are going to have grandchildren at some point!"

    Not to the level of these things, but it goes to show that even an amateur can come up with something lovely and appreciated.
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  • Next up? Skyscrapers! http://blogs.discovery.com/news_sustainable/2009/09/tree_tower.html
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  • This is so fantastically beautiful. Thank you: this made my week!
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  • AMAZING!!!
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  • Fantastic presentation! Marvelous! But, all that is not just fantasy of some crazy peoples. It is part of our own cultural heritage. Not only huts and shelters of reeds or twig-arks bound with lianas covered with leaves are still part of everyday life in many places of the world. In ethnology or cultural anthropology this is well known today. But archaeology has mistakenly taught us to accept only durable materials as prehistory of material culture. In contrast to this we can construct a "soft prehistory" getting together all the secondary sources of signs (early script in China and Mesopotamia) and symbols (life trees) and even early representations of deities (Ishtar-Inanna of Uruk) with their roots in neolithic village culture where they were important as territorial signs and nuclear aesthetic models of the local village culture.
    We know even that there were "Babylonian Creation myths" focused not on the universe but on the foundation of the local "cosmos" (that is the spatial organization) of an agrarian village by making a deity of reed which grew and grows in abundance in the Eufrat/Tigris region. The founder becomes some sort of chief of the village. The "Marsh Arabs" are still widespread living there in reed huts and around reed mosques, but having Islam as their religion today.

    Paradoxically this very ancient "soft prehistory" is still vital as a sacred tradition of annual cyclic renewal of sacred Shinto-symbols in Japanese agrarian villages. From these traditional survivals we can understand that, originally, this was not "primitive religion", but was a very complex event, an essentially aesthetic territorial demarcation system which used only one symbol in the center of the village built of reed an bamboo and using its aesthetic structure to define the village territory Yin-Yang style: "holy woods and agricultural fields". The annual renewal of the symbol had become a festival of central importance for the village. The destruction of the old one put the whole population into a crazy ecstasy for one night until the new one was rebuilt next morning.
    Important: early civilizations copied a lot from this nuclear territorial system of the neolithic agrarian village!
    See my 6 videos 01-06 at YouTube (type: 'negenter' in search)
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  • Those "beautiful glass trees" in the BONUS section are by sculptor Dale Chihuly

    http://www.chihuly.com/
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