What would you do if you lived in a place where time doesn't matter, and you received a clock that only computer nerds could read? Why, you'd create the world's first bamboo binary clock, of course!
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Yes, that's right, it's a sleek Discovery Channel crystal blue LED binary clock. Leave it to the Discovery Channel (or Sharper Image) to come up with a clock that only computer nerds can read:
I especially like the way the marketing geniuses at Discovery Channel have made the product's greatest weaknesses into features:
While pondering the absurdity of it all, I noticed that my friend Paul was hanging out with a Pai local who had just shown him how to use a machete to slice a fresh stick of bamboo into tiny stalks that can be woven together to produce a bamboo mat.
Thus was born the revolutionary idea to adapt the little Discovery Channel clock to life in Pai.
Like a baby finally unfettered from his wet, chafing diapers, already we could see the unit shine with joy:
Step 2 was to create the bamboo mat. First Paul started with a stick of bamboo from the jungle, at first splitting it coarsely using a few judicious whacks of the machete followed by a blade-twisting motion to open up the full crack:
Then Paul further sliced each stick into a narrow, flexible ribbon by pushing the bamboo into the machete blade using a surprisingly difficult motion that looks very easy when the locals do it:
Next Paul and I wove the strips into a criss-cross 3+3 pattern, punched holes in approximately the pattern of the LEDs, and filled the holes with translucent candle wax, along with 4 "mounting" blobs of candle wax on each corner:
Finally we mounted the binary clock onto the face:
It hung on the wall in a local restaurant for several months, confusing endless streams of guests and helping us all ponder the age-old question of why we would ever want a binary clock (let alone a bamboo one) in the first place.
Support This Site | More than 1000 hours of work have gone into making this site. Please support my work and ongoing site improvements in one of these ways: |
Use your credit card or PayPal to donate in support of the site. | |
Learn Thai with my Talking Thai-English-Thai Dictionary app: iOS, Android, Windows. | |
Experience Thailand richly with my Talking Thai-English-Thai Phrasebook app. | |
Visit China easily with my Talking Chinese-English-Chinese Phrasebook app. | |
I co-authored this bilingual cultural guide to Thai-Western romantic relationships. | |
Pick a Thai learning book from my list or buy anything at all from Amazon. | |
See Also | You'll probably also like these sites... |
A site about Pai, my peaceful home in the mountains of Northern Thailand. | |
Buzzword bingo, bill the borg, MEZ, lurker's guide to video, and Thai, oh my! | |
Party? Meeting? Request a map, label it yourself, and easily fling it to your friends! | |
Travel with my friend Nang, who is a great nature, birding, and cultural guide. | |
My English-fluent Thai friend Jeed is a freelance illustrator who is available for hire. | |
See, sponsor and purchase the amazing paintings of Sa-ard Nilkong. | |
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