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For those who never have enough time, a 10,000-year fix.
Delray Beach, FL – December 2, 2005 –
The best time management tool of 2006 may well be an iconic symbol of 10,000 years' worth of time. Levenger, an upmarket retailer known for its tools for serious readers, has commissioned 365 numbered bronze reproductions of the time equation cam that forms part of the Clock of the Long Now.
The creation of The Long Now Foundation, the clock is a marriage of computer design and mechanical workings that will keep accurate time for the next 10 millennia. Mark your calendar for 12005, when the clock will need to be reset.
"We describe the clock as an abiding charismatic artifact that gives us permission to think long term," says Stewart Brand. "It's a patience machine."
Brand is among the founders of the San Francisco-based Long Now Foundation, whose mission is to encourage long-term thinking about the planet. He is also the creator of the iconic Whole Earth Catalog.
Foundation member Danny Hillis, a leading designer of the brains of computers, is the clock's designer. It is being constructed in a Nevada mountain and will stand approximately 60 feet high. A working model is in the London Science Museum.
And the replica of its time equation cam, a three-dimensional capture of the earth's rotation that synchronizes with absolute time, is now available from Levenger.
"It's art that the earth has sculpted," says Steve Leveen, the CEO and co-founder of Levenger. "We’ve nicknamed it the Time Venus because of its sensual shape. The allure is its fundamental connection to our earth.
Hold it and you don’t wish to let go."
The 5-pound bronze stands 5 3/4 inches high, a totem for weighing, as Brand says, the "truly important over the merely urgent." Think Stonehenge and cathedrals versus instant messaging and microwaves.
When we step back and consider the sound and hurry of our days, what are we really accomplishing in our rush?
The irony is that, because only 365 time cam replicas have been cast, time is of the essence for those wishing to get their hands around this embodiment of the next 10,000 years. Levenger is offering the bronze for $500.
A portion of the proceeds supports the Long Now Foundation.
"Part of our mission is to create products that support working with ideas," says Leveen, who met Brand and Hillis in 02004 through a mutual friend who sits on the foundation's board.
"The time cam gives customers the luxury of reflection, time to think and not merely do."
For more information on the clock and The Long Now Foundation, visit longnow.org. To read more about the offer from Levenger, which is a national catalog and Internet retailer, request a catalog at 1.800.544.0880 or click here.
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