Old and New Technology in the Land of None

ninthwave writes "The Guardian has this article on the adventures of piano tuners in the Amazon. I think it is a nice lesson in the age of technology to see the perceived hardships of using technology in areas where the natives are quite happy without. More impressive is the old wooden piano seems to survive better than the new synth but that is horse of a different colour."

Piano in the amazon?

[itallushrt]

Who in their right mind needs a piano in the amazon? I'd be concerned with bug repellant than hearing Mozarts 5th.

phew

[grub]

I almost didn't get to read this story on old technology, one of the tubes in my computer died.

What needs tuning...

[craenor]

The piano? Or the guy who delivers a baby grand piano into the Amazon...

Amazon's hiring piano tuners?

[LostCluster]

What, Amazon needs piano tuners? I know they've got a big line of products, but shipping on pianos has goto to be expensive!

Oh, we're not talking about Amazon.com?

Eww...

[Wampus Aurelius]

The case was full of insect eggs; she thought that perhaps cockroaches had done the damage and spent a few minutes chasing one adult through the innards.

Can you imagine when someone plays Beethoven's 5th?

DONG DONG DONG (squish)

Old News

[TheEnglishPatient]

BBC radio reported this in November. Read it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2477663. stm

Re:Eww...

[JJAnon]

I can see you do not have a classical education :P. The accepted transliteration of Beethoven's Fifth is

Da Da Da DUM

So that should read:
Da Da Da (SQUISH)

Note the careful use of CAPITALS to emphasize changes in volume.

New sport: Extreme Philanthropy

[Ooblek]

A set of hearty do-gooders get this warm, tingly feeling when a bunch of savages want a grand piano of their very own in the middle of the Amazon. These heros set out with visions of a next renaissance in music as these villagers are left with a musical instrument and a desire to learn. Documenting their great struggle in taking this behemoth from the civilzed world to the uncivilized world. Overcoming obstacles like raging rivers and dense tropical jungles, they finally deliver this prize. They leave, intending to come back a few years later. In this time, they expect the musical capabilities of these primitives to mature beyond belief - much like leaving a batch of wine to ferment to perfection in an old oak barrel.

So our intrepid travelers return and are greeted be the villagers that have apparently just been shopping at Target. Flip-flops, shorts, and even the occasional T-Shirt that has the phrase, "I'm a lion hunter. If you see me running, try to keep up," on the back.

The cheap-clothing aside, the veteran piano-tuning-commando-squad makes the exhausting 8-mile trek through the jungle to finally visit the prize instrument and to taste the sweetness of the evolved musical talent that should have developed over these past years.

What they found is that the piano that was donated has almost cracked in half due to the fact the generous donation turned out to be little more than someone deciding not to sell the thing for $5 at a garage sale. (They must have decided they didn't want to move the thing out the front door every Saturday for a month while trying to get rid of it.) The instrument itself was infested with insects and their eggs, probably due to the fact that they generally kept the piano in a storage shed until visitors with cameras decided to show up. This explains all the Target type clothes since it appears that they are really cannibals that would eat visitors without cameras and take their clothes.

In the end, the savages did learn how to belt out a few Bach and Beetles tunes, but then just wanted a fricking Korg keyboard, "Like we asked for in the first place." I don't see why they didn't just ask for a PC and a net connection so they could just use Kazaa and download all the Bach and Beetles MP3s they wanted!

Hi tech/Lo tech

[swm]

I find it funny when people complain about the rediculousness of low-tech firearms on a spaceship

OK, I'll bite.

I used to watch Lost In Space when I was a kid. I knew it was hokey, but as long as I accepted it on its own terms, it was good enought for TV.

Then one year I came home from college, and I was channel surfing, and I stumbled across an old episode. The Robinsons were trapped on some alien space craft, and they were shooting their way out, firing those laser pistols they always carried, and then one of them starts lobbing grenades...and I'm just sitting there thinking...

...yeah, that's the ticket. Whenever

I'm on board a strange spacecraft, I always lob a few fragmentation grenades around. If their containment vessel can't handle the shock, that's their problem.

Hissing noise? What hissing noise? Hey...does the air in here seem little thin?

God I loved the smell of the tubes warming up. . .

[kfg]

in the morning! And in the "old days" we didn't have to waste time and money *adding* lights to our computer cases.

You want "eerie glow?" I got yer eerie glow right here buddy.

Plus you could use them to keep your bagel warm and nicely soft.

Of course you couldn't use them to mill grain like you could with a Babbage machine. There are always downsides to new technology.

KFG

Re:In other news...

[tomhudson]

<quote>I find it funny when people complain about the rediculousness of low-tech firearms on a spaceship</quote>

Low-tech or not, it'll kill ya, and dead is dead.

Lets face it, we're still dependent upon the 7 "low-tech" discoveries/inventions of the Neanderthals:

1. Fire
2. Farming
3. Art
4. Weaponry
5. Animal Husbandry
6. Clothing
7. vi and unix (well, religion, and holy wars in general)