This is an updated post of one of my early blog entries here at the Blog of the Long Now.  Over the last couple years I have found even more amazing underground and stonework spaces. Since we hope to build the space for the 10,000 Year Clock underground, for the last 10 years I. . .   Read More

Most permanent things begin as a temporary fix. A footpath becomes a road becomes a highway. A quick hut becomes a house becomes a hotel. A doodle becomes a logo becomes a brand. A patch becomes an operating keystone. A camp becomes a city.

Very few infrastructure details begin with the idea that they will. . .   Read More

 In my research of large pendulums for the 10,000 Year Clock I came across the beautifully designed tuned mass damper in the Taipei 101 tower.  Basically really tall buildings are themselves massive pendulums, as they are built to sway in the wind and earthquakes.  However very tall buildings in earthquake zones need something to. . .   Read More

There’s a very good article in this month’s IEEE Spectrum about the engineering challenges of replacement parts for devices intended to survive much longer than industrial cycles of obsolescence. The economics of making sure parts are available in a timely and cost effective fashion and task of designing management processes that survive long. . .   Read More

Amazingly only a few years after it begun the Seed Vault in Svalbard has opened. I cant wait to go and see how they built a multi-millennial structure so fast.
PhysOrg reports:

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened today on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, receiving inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds. . .   Read More

Since we are hoping to build a monument of cultural significance, it was great to come across this wonderful collection of blueprints and process photos from the building of the Eiffel Tower in the 01880s. What is particularly inspiring is that they built it before widespread use of electricity, the telephone, and the automobile, making. . .   Read More

The BBC reports that the work on the Svalbard doomsday seed vault is charging right along…
Engineers have begun the two-month process of cooling down a “doomsday vault”, which will house seeds from all known varieties of key food crops.

The temperature inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will drop to -18C (0F) in. . .   Read More

I have often wondered what the brick circles along many of the streets in San Francisco are. I had always thought they were some kind of historical marker. It turns out they represent a nice piece of long term civic planning and disaster preparedness. Each one marks a 75,000 gallon cistern that is an. . .   Read More

The best-selling book The World Without Us draws scenarios of what our home planet would look like if our civilization suddenly vanished. The book’s website has a small slide show with a graphic illustrations of some scenes from the future in this scenario. Click down to Visual TImeline Slideshow. It’s a coherent. . .   Read More

 
I was once again reminded of Dan Bricklin’s excellent piece on long term software and thought it was worth a mention here.  His basic point is that a governments software, should be as lasting and shared as its other civil infrastructure.  The article does a great job of showing the perils of entrusting all. . .   Read More