Tech Eye: A salute to time iffily spent

The simple fact of the matter is, we're not the sort to enjoy wasting time unless said time is being wasted with panache (and in a well-decorated space).

Sadly though, the art of truly sophisticated time-squanderage is dying. Growing up in the age of the internet, today's moppets scarcely give mind to the form and function of their time wasting and are as likely as not to be found sitting, slack-jawed, in front of some TV program edited to suit the attention span of a chihuahua.

So what ever happened to the fops and gadabouts of yore? Where have the halcyon days gone when children would spend whole afternoons meticulously hatching Machiavellian plans to steal a sleeping man's dentures and, in turn, adults would craft elaborate stories masterfully designed to instill powerful insecurities and psychoses in the young? And why, oh why has Rube-Goldberg-machine construction (think Wallace-and-Gromit style inventions) never become a national sport?

These are the kinds of insightful, hard-hitting questions which society needs to address. As bad as things seem, however, Techeye does see hope when we explore the wonderful world of gadgets and we recently stumbled across an item which makes us feel optimistic indeed - Chris Dimino's Shining Cuckoo Clock. Not only does Chris' use of the tragically neglected cuckoo-clock artform appeal to us, but his choice of iconography is maddeningly inspired.

The Shining Cuckoo Clock is still in the prototype phase, but the project practically oozes panache so we had to give Chris a little publicity. It and other of his projects can be seen at http://designhead.net/cdimino and, with any luck, it will enter into production soon, traumatizing children the world over. Who knows, maybe someday one will invigorate the legislators in Brussels... or perhaps the crew of a rainbow-flagged galleon.