4 ms·

That installation won't even last a week before being destroyed by weather. Cool concept though, but I was expecting a bit more than just a few tiny speakers an

by sgt 8y ago

That installation won't even last a week before being destroyed by weather. Cool concept though, but I was expecting a bit more than just a few tiny speakers and a wire.

chrisco255 8y ago
Not if it's blessed by the rains...in Africaaaa...
throwaway2016a 8y ago
From the article... > "Most parts of the installation were chosen to be as durable as possible, but I'm sure the harsh environment of the desert will devour the installation eventually." Then you watch the video and... yeah. I can think of a lot better ways to do that. The wires aren't even protected at all. I'm with you. "Eventually" here is about a week.
- sametmax 8y ago
  Forget the wires, the speakers by themself seem to be positioned to collect as much sand as possible. Also the mp3 player is exposed to the sun, on a white surface. I lived in West Africa, I went to the desert, and a week seems very generous.
vertexFarm 8y ago
"Mr Siedentopf says he hopes the song will play for another 55 million years." I think I can hear the engineers over at the Long Now foundation pissing their pants with laughter: http://longnow.org/clock/ http://longnow.org/clock/ They are only aiming for 10,000 years. A walk in the park compared to this apparently godlike and immutable mp3 player atop a painted plywood box. Has this guy even heard of atomic diffusion? Not like it'll last long enough for that to even come close to becoming a relevant factor. Where do people get this idea that machines are eternal? It's outrageously rare to find a machine more complex than an adjustable wrench that lasts half a lifetime, let alone surpasses generations, but in nearly all of fiction machines are portrayed as ageless things that dwarf our puny lifespans as fragile meat-beings. It's simply not true. This is a weird tangent, sorry for derailing.
- jpindar 8y ago
  It's not rare to find a 50 year old car or motorcycle. Did you mean something that functions for that long without maintenance?
  - vertexFarm 8y ago
    It's pretty rare if you consider it percentage wise, as in proportion to all the vehicles on the road. Because there's so many hundreds of cars we encounter every single commute, even small percentages are reliably represented which makes rare things seem commonplace--after all, you see them every day. But the percentage of cars and motorcycles on the road that are older than fifty is still pretty dang low. Rare isn't the same as nonexistent, after all. I believe the average age of a vehicle on the road in the US is around eleven years, which is a record high. My BMW R50/5 just turned 47, getting real close to that over-the-hill party. I'm planning to buy it a cake in a few years, plus I've got the parts for a top-end reseal. Going to be real classy. Definitely looking forward to it.

by sgt 8y ago

That installation won't even last a week before being destroyed by weather. Cool concept though, but I was expecting a bit more than just a few tiny speakers and a wire.

chrisco255 8y ago

Not if it's blessed by the rains...in Africaaaa...

throwaway2016a 8y ago

From the article... > "Most parts of the installation were chosen to be as durable as possible, but I'm sure the harsh environment of the desert will devour the installation eventually." Then you watch the video and... yeah. I can think of a lot better ways to do that. The wires aren't even protected at all. I'm with you. "Eventually" here is about a week.

sametmax 8y ago
Forget the wires, the speakers by themself seem to be positioned to collect as much sand as possible. Also the mp3 player is exposed to the sun, on a white surface. I lived in West Africa, I went to the desert, and a week seems very generous.

vertexFarm 8y ago

"Mr Siedentopf says he hopes the song will play for another 55 million years." I think I can hear the engineers over at the Long Now foundation pissing their pants with laughter: http://longnow.org/clock/ http://longnow.org/clock/ They are only aiming for 10,000 years. A walk in the park compared to this apparently godlike and immutable mp3 player atop a painted plywood box. Has this guy even heard of atomic diffusion? Not like it'll last long enough for that to even come close to becoming a relevant factor. Where do people get this idea that machines are eternal? It's outrageously rare to find a machine more complex than an adjustable wrench that lasts half a lifetime, let alone surpasses generations, but in nearly all of fiction machines are portrayed as ageless things that dwarf our puny lifespans as fragile meat-beings. It's simply not true. This is a weird tangent, sorry for derailing.

jpindar 8y ago
It's not rare to find a 50 year old car or motorcycle. Did you mean something that functions for that long without maintenance?
- vertexFarm 8y ago
  It's pretty rare if you consider it percentage wise, as in proportion to all the vehicles on the road. Because there's so many hundreds of cars we encounter every single commute, even small percentages are reliably represented which makes rare things seem commonplace--after all, you see them every day. But the percentage of cars and motorcycles on the road that are older than fifty is still pretty dang low. Rare isn't the same as nonexistent, after all. I believe the average age of a vehicle on the road in the US is around eleven years, which is a record high. My BMW R50/5 just turned 47, getting real close to that over-the-hill party. I'm planning to buy it a cake in a few years, plus I've got the parts for a top-end reseal. Going to be real classy. Definitely looking forward to it.