Dumpster diving

[Jasper Janssen]

On 22 Jan 2007 15:20:42 -0800, "ddog" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Ozark Bicycle wrote:
>> ddog wrote:
>>
>> - on homeless people and bicycles -
>>
>> > faking getting hit
>> > by cars at intersections for cash settlements.
>>
>> Geez..... :-(
>
>It happened to me.

A taxi minivan I was in hit a junkie on a bike, once (this was heerenveen,
and from the reaction of the cabbie, this was *the* homeless junkie of the
town), when he erratically dived in front of it. Nothing else happened. We
both went on our ways, the junkie swearing at us and the cab having lost
its front license plate.


Jasper

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:51:06 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>There is a *huge* difference between donating and throwing away. I donate
>valuable stuff all the time. I hardly ever throw anything away. My place
>is full of stuff that's too good to throw away, and not good enough to
>donate.

My local charity thingy throws most of the computers (anything older than
4 or 5 years for sure), let alone dead monitors/TVs, straight into the
trash. Those (when I can't fix them) I don't donate any more.

Jasper

 

[Leo Lichtman]

"Jasper Janssen" wrote: My local charity thingy throws most of the
computers (anything older than 4 or 5 years for sure), let alone dead
monitors/TVs, straight into the trash. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Where I live, we're not allowed to throw that stuff in the trash. We have a
tax-supported recycling center for electronic waste.

 

[Bellsouth Ijit 2.0]

"Leo Lichtman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "* * Chas" wrote: (clip) They get some
>> amazing stuff that people donate to them.
>>
>> The throw away culture.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> There is a *huge* difference between donating and throwing away. I donate
> valuable stuff all the time. I hardly ever throw anything away. My place
> is full of stuff that's too good to throw away, and not good enough to
> donate.
>


Same here, I never throw away useable things, especially bike-related. I
donate them through various means, freecycle.org (great resource),
craigslist, emails to friends. Contributing needlessly to landfills and
global warming doesn't sit too well with my already guilt-ridden conscience.

 

[Luke]

In article
<[email protected]>, Leo
Lichtman <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Jasper Janssen" wrote: My local charity thingy throws most of the
> computers (anything older than 4 or 5 years for sure), let alone dead
> monitors/TVs, straight into the trash. (clip)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Where I live, we're not allowed to throw that stuff in the trash. We have a
> tax-supported recycling center for electronic waste.
>
>

Hmm. Just listening to an NPR feed here in Canada; the host is
detailing the succession of scandals that have flourished under the
dome of the Capitol. Seems to me that in Congress you also have a
tax-supported recycling center for a species of rubbish much more toxic
than obsolete circuitry!

Luke

 

[ddog]

Luke, its the toxic solder in electronics.

On Jan 24, 2:08 pm, Luke <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article
> <[email protected]>, Leo
>
> Lichtman <[email protected]> wrote:
> > "Jasper Janssen" wrote: My local charity thingy throws most of the
> > computers (anything older than 4 or 5 years for sure), let alone dead
> > monitors/TVs, straight into the trash. (clip)
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > Where I live, we're not allowed to throw that stuff in the trash. We have a
> > tax-supported recycling center for electronic waste.Hmm. Just listening to an NPR feed here in Canada; the host is
> detailing the succession of scandals that have flourished under the
> dome of the Capitol. Seems to me that in Congress you also have a
> tax-supported recycling center for a species of rubbish much more toxic
> than obsolete circuitry!
>
> Luke

 

[Michael Press]

In article
<[email protected]>,
Werehatrack <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 22 Jan 2007 18:15:10 -0800, "Ozark Bicycle"
> <[email protected]> may have said:
>
> >I can't think of anything stranger than some newb coming on the group,
> >asking a series of strange, off-the-wall questions regarding long
> >defunct manufacturers, cheap outdated RDs and five speed freewheels and
> >then beginning to expose his sad stereotypes and prejudices. YMMV.
>
> Not even much verisimilitude in the tales, either. When I lived in
> Florida, the typical asshat who would pull a stunt like the one
> described was a pro. There was contact (of a nature calculated to
> leave plenty of room for claiming greater injury than was present),
> there was careful selection of the target (expensive car driven by
> over-50 white female was the usual pattern), and the perp had a
> domicile and claimed multiple dependents...and had an attorney on
> retainer. Insurance scams were a way of life for a small but
> expensive (for the rest of us) fraction of the population.
>
> By comparison, when a loon tried to pull a bump-and-scream on a friend
> of mine in a parking lot near here (and yes, she fit the target
> profile I mentioned), she just whipped out a pen and paper, wrote down
> the guy's tag number, the time, and a basic description of the perp
> while she called 911 on her cell phone. What she didn't tell the
> moaning perp was that she told 911 dispatch that she was at the scene
> of an attempted fraud and assault with a motor vehicle. She knew
> there was a security cam pointed directly at her on top of a light
> pole 30 feet away. The cops showed up, they looked things over, one
> of them went inside and reviewed the tape (which was collected as
> evidence) while the paramedics examined the "victim", and the cops
> decided that the gal was right. The perp, instead of getting a free
> ride to the hospital, would up with a much less satisfying ride to the
> county lockup. Last I heard, he was trying to plea bargain, and the
> DA wasn't having any.
>
> There are a lot of things I don't like about living in Houston, but
> sometimes it rises above the muck...and by comparison to Miami, it's
> damn close to perfect.

We put with some stuff because the only alternative is
poor use of our time. Sometimes the clouds part, the
sun shines, and the almighty smites the godless
malefactor.

One fine day I was taking a freeway ramp from one
freeway to another, a right 90 degree ramp that had a
badly designed two lanes in, one lane out
configuration. In the middle where there was less than
1 1/2 lanes a candidate for compost roars in front of
me, forcing me to swerve and brake. On my way again a
highway patrol officer rides up next to me and waves me
over. I comply, wait, and a couple minutes later he
comes back to me. He says good day, apologizes at
length for the candidate's act, again wishes me a good
day, and sends me on my way. Up the road the malefactor
is getting a citation.

--
Michael Press

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 23:47:34 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>"Jasper Janssen" wrote: My local charity thingy throws most of the
>computers (anything older than 4 or 5 years for sure), let alone dead
>monitors/TVs, straight into the trash. (clip)
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Where I live, we're not allowed to throw that stuff in the trash. We have a
>tax-supported recycling center for electronic waste.

Well.. the TV container at the local 'recycling station', I mean. A small
yard with a bunch of containers, one each for things like metal, wood,
plaster, asbestos, white goods, brown goods, other. Also there is a
trailer owned by said local recycling center, where you can put anything
you think might be salvageable. Then at the end of the day their guys come
along, do a rough sort and throw half the stuff away to start with
(although sorting it into the proper containers).

The brown and white goods do go to 'recycling', but that's as far as i can
gather recycling in the sense that they put it through a crusher and then
'recycle' the bits that look like there might be valuable metal in them,
as opposed to recycling of the nature of 'here, that's a perfectly good TV
if we jigger the thingummy there and replace the thang from the junkbox,
and now somebody'll pay us 200 bucks for it'.


Jasper

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On 24 Jan 2007 11:14:06 -0800, "ddog" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Luke, its the toxic solder in electronics.

Solder ain't all that toxic, it's just lead/tin in a 60/40 (usually)
alloy. Heavy metal posioning at worst. There's lots of stuff much more
toxic in a circuitboard.

Jasper

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:50:44 -0800, Michael Press <[email protected]>
wrote:

>One fine day I was taking a freeway ramp from one
>freeway to another, a right 90 degree ramp that had a
>badly designed two lanes in, one lane out
>configuration. In the middle where there was less than
>1 1/2 lanes a candidate for compost roars in front of
>me, forcing me to swerve and brake. On my way again a
>highway patrol officer rides up next to me and waves me
>over. I comply, wait, and a couple minutes later he
>comes back to me. He says good day, apologizes at
>length for the candidate's act, again wishes me a good
>day, and sends me on my way. Up the road the malefactor
>is getting a citation.

Uh.. why is the police apologising to you for something some other guy
did? Unless they were in hot pursuit of him already?

Jasper

 

[Michael Press]

In article
<[email protected]>,
Jasper Janssen <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:50:44 -0800, Michael Press <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >One fine day I was taking a freeway ramp from one
> >freeway to another, a right 90 degree ramp that had a
> >badly designed two lanes in, one lane out
> >configuration. In the middle where there was less than
> >1 1/2 lanes a candidate for compost roars in front of
> >me, forcing me to swerve and brake. On my way again a
> >highway patrol officer rides up next to me and waves me
> >over. I comply, wait, and a couple minutes later he
> >comes back to me. He says good day, apologizes at
> >length for the candidate's act, again wishes me a good
> >day, and sends me on my way. Up the road the malefactor
> >is getting a citation.
>
> Uh.. why is the police apologising to you for something some other guy
> did? Unless they were in hot pursuit of him already?

I do not know how to explain this.

The officer saw the dangerous driving of the guy, and
went to detain him. He took time and trouble to erase
the bad effect on me of the perpetrator's dangerous and
impolite act. I went on my way a happier man; and one
less likely to do something dangerous myself (not that
I in fact drive that way). He gave me time to cool off
and let me know that this time the malefactor would
immediately reap what he sowed.

--
Michael Press

 

[John Thompson]

On 2007-01-26, Jasper Janssen <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 24 Jan 2007 11:14:06 -0800, "ddog" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Luke, its the toxic solder in electronics.
>
> Solder ain't all that toxic, it's just lead/tin in a 60/40 (usually)
> alloy. Heavy metal posioning at worst. There's lots of stuff much more
> toxic in a circuitboard.

There's several pounds of lead in a typical monitor, though.

--

John ([email protected])

 

[Mark Hickey]

Michael Press <[email protected]> wrote:

> Jasper Janssen <[email protected]> wrote:

>> Uh.. why is the police apologising to you for something some other guy
>> did? Unless they were in hot pursuit of him already?
>
>I do not know how to explain this.
>
>The officer saw the dangerous driving of the guy, and
>went to detain him. He took time and trouble to erase
>the bad effect on me of the perpetrator's dangerous and
>impolite act. I went on my way a happier man; and one
>less likely to do something dangerous myself (not that
>I in fact drive that way). He gave me time to cool off
>and let me know that this time the malefactor would
>immediately reap what he sowed.

Makes sense - the initial tendency would be to pull over when the cops
stopped the idiot, and give him a piece of your adrenaline-charged
opinion, at which point the cops might have to decide which of you to
taser. ;-) They might also have considered needing you as a witness
if they thought they might need one (for example if they found the guy
was drunk or running drugs or ????, and needed to make sure they had
an airtight reason for having pulled him over).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame