Pregled posta

I want to thank everyone for coming today.

Look in the upper-right corner of your screen.

There's the time there.

If you're running Windows, it's also in the lower-right.

So, the question is, why create clocks in a virtual world?

Let's look back a bit. Long ago, people kept track of time with the sun. Daytime. Nighttime. Dawn. Dusk.

Then, sundials. Candles. Water clocks.

Mechanical clocks came later, crude things at first. But over time, with engineering, mathematics - man improved them.

Then, they became public landmarks. The heartbeat of a city. Society lived by that clock. It's no mistake that in the case of cities like London, it became a symbol for that city.

For the wealthy, they became works of art. brass. Copper. Gold. Jewels. Pearl. Orante mechanisms, figurines, gears, bells, music, wheels... they were luxuries. Entertainment. If you look at some of them, and you can if you Google search for "clock" and just browse, you'll find amazing creations that you wouldn't even know are a clock if someone didn't point out the tiny clockface.

The figurines in motion... the painted panels... they tell the story of our lives.

Those that crafted such marvels were held in high regard. And not just because they were the only ones who knew how to fix such things.

We invite time to live in these majestic mechanical homes and accompany us on life's journey.

You didn't come here for a crackerjack history lesson, though.

It’s hard to remember where and when you meet people sometimes. And by the
time you remember, well, you’ve met ten more people to cloud your memory
up a bit more.

Freereed did the fundraiser for San Diego after the wildfires, Yrrek generously donated a set of clocks for auction.

We got to talking. The subject of the Edloe clocktower came up. I kept changing it, and it’s always been a silly parody of a clock. A clock made of matzoh. Yrrek found that funny, all the machines strewn around and yet, frustrating. Gotta have all the gears lined up, the works actually making
sense, this connecting to that, and so on.

I got tired of the windup key in the side of the tower and thought there
should be a massive engine featured as the power source for the fanbelts,
the pumps, the effects, the gears.

Only one person really for the job: Yrrek.

Yrrek worked on it for a few weeks, getting the textures and the gear
ratios and the pendulum going just right. The sounds, too.

All I did was add in a steam puffer effect, put it on the base. It was
perfect. And everybody who’s seen it thinks it fits the place just right.

Okay, so I tried to speed up the gears, speed up the pendulum, too. Yrrek
saw it, and I got a message right then and there… set it back set it back
set it back.

Yrrek had timed them all out, you see. Had to be just right.

Yrrek was working on a new clock… figurines, governors, pistons – French
Industrial gone wild, constant motion everywhere.

The one that’s there now is perfect, but perfect wasn’t enough for Yrrek. Always room for better. I was going to like this one better.

You see, Yrrek had respect for time, a love for it. Working here and out there, crafting and repairing time's many homes. Comfortable and beautiful and elegant and classy and, at times, whimsical.

That engine in the clocktower shows Strength, Relentlessness, Persistence,
Power.

But it needed something more. It is at the heart of the build, but the heart behind it has stopped.

The last time I talked to Yrrek, it was at Jade's Jazz Lounge.

"Come on over. Lend a little class to this place."

I went, and we enjoyed a night of dancing with Yrrek.

But class? No, I think it was Yrrek defined that.

Nowadays, there's clocks on coffeemakers. Cableboxes. Watches. MP3 players. Cell phones. And in those two spots on your screen I mentioned earlier.

But, deep down, we know that's not enough.

And thanks to Yrrek, we we look on the walls of the homes we build here... in the communities we have created here...

A love for Time, a love for all, for all our time remaining.