HUYGENS, OLD CLOCKS AND OLD BOOKS Art And Science

A couple of weeks ago, i took up a new hobby. Finding old clocks and repairing them and bringing them back to life. At Silicon Labs, i was the lead product and test engineer for the worlds first Any Rate programmable clock chip, so this is a satisfying extension. I have a clock that actually uses one of Huygens designs, which coinicidentely was our code name back then.

Here, this clock looked Asian to me in its overall shape so I used a Chinese theme. I put Chinese art on the center of the dial and Pairs of Imperial guardian lion statues on the top...

"Chinese Imperial Guardian Lion dogs are still common decorative and symbolic elements at the entrances to temples, gardens, entrances and homes and are considered protectors of buildings and guard against evil spirits. The lions are always depicted in pairs. The pair would consist of a male resting his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts, representing supremacy over the world) and a female restraining a playful cub that is on its back (representing nurture)."

The art on the dial are puppies (representing innocence and purity) protected by the huge Imperial lions above, the clock dial representing the passage of life of innocents under the protection of the Imperial Lions... This is the highest calling of humanity and we are all called to this responsibility represented by these two lions as parents and guardian of our children as well as the poor and the shattered who live among us and as well as our planet and all living things on it. You will not see capitalistic greed here, you see rather the use of power for protection rather than abuse.

Do you see how important Poetry and Science are now ? You may draw the same information from Scripture as you do from the world around and from other cultures as well as anthologies. It is important to be well read and diverse in you knowledge and understanding.

Old clocks fit so well with my other hobby, rebinding antique manuscripts and books. I love the erudition and academic excellence of authors from 100 to 2000 years ago. My collection is somewhat limited to 300 years due to obvious financial constraints. After i repair these old books, which i found i had to do if i wanted to read them, as the only ones i could afford arrived in pieces. So, then i enjoy reading the wonderful old books. I have far too many favorites to list. My wife liked the 'moldy book' , which was one of the books i would read to her when she was ill. It is the journal of Job Scott published before the constitution was written. It begins with... " i was born, according to the best account i could obtain, and according to the present or new style, on the 18th day of the 10th month, in the township of Providence, now New Providence in the colony (now state) of Rhode Island... " of course it has an extra letter in the alphabet, both the long s and the short s. but you get used to that. It is about the Job's quest for God.

The religious essays and expositions also represent the finest of writing from periods of great outpourings of the Holy Spirit.

The writings of the old authors in ancient books and anthologies are the same our founding fathers had in their library. Then there are the words of our founding fathers, so much richer than the 10 second sound bytes of today.