It's quite amazing how much stuff gets thrown out these days for rubbish collections. And a lot of it is stuff that's not so old either. We are a throw-away society.

But it's not just the most recent generations that have been the throwers. My generation (you've heard of the Ice Age Man) was just as bad, only we threw away more important stuff than wardrobes & sofas.

I'm old enough to remember when Sydney had a great tramway service and we threw it away. Some German cities have tramways (or light rail if you like) installed in the late 19th century and they still run them. All they had to do was put on modern carriages.
Not us. We just junked them to make way for the car. Threw away the carriage stock, ripped up the lines, all at enormous cost. Now they are going to rebuild them, or some of them, at humongous cost.
When I was going to school, I remember trams all over Sydney's north shore and into the city. In fact I caught them to school. They were also in the eastern suburbs but I didn't know much about them.
How stupid are we?

And then there's the rail system. Don't get me started. Too late.
I know mostly about NSW, but I guess Vic & Qld was much the same.
Up to about 1960 I guess you could get a train to just about any small town in NSW.
What would we give for those permanent ways now? All we would have to do is put modern light carriages on and the whole of rural NSW would be open for business again.
But of course, yet again, most of the regional lines were torn up and in many cases the land sold.
But the age of oil would never end would it?
Christ we're stupid stupid stupid!

I flushed denizen Unsubrocky. But he slithered back up the pipes.

Unfortunately, everything is designed to be thrown away ... and deliberately so. When repairs cost more than buying a new one, something is wrong.

John Smith wrote on May 5^th, 2016 at 1:35pm:

Unfortunately, everything is designed to be thrown away ... and deliberately so. When repairs cost more than buying a new one, something is wrong.

No its not. Repairs are not a mass production process governed by economies of scale. Furthermore, guarantees on repairs are limited compared to guarantees on new goods.

There is usually no choice. Just accept that buying a new one is more economic and beneficial.

Alternatively, if one is so inclined, one can choose the repair and bear the cost premium.

My point though is about the serious mistakes we made in the past.
Still no point in crying over spilt milk, except that we should be careful in the future about completely disbanding old technologies when they might be made to work for us in the future.

Being a raciest greenie, I'm right into recycling and repurposing and living in a flash postcode means you can scab some awesome stuff off the side of the road.

Just this year I scabbed an unmarked rinnai gas heater worth about $800 and last year a neighbor found a Weber Q that needed a clean :)

A few years ago I found a genuine Harry Bertoia chair that  needed about 4 hours of elbow grease.

GordyL wrote on May 5^th, 2016 at 1:46pm:

Being a raciest greenie, I'm right into recycling and repurposing and living in a flash postcode means you can scab some awesome stuff off the side of the road. Just this year I scabbed an unmarked rinnai gas heater worth about $800 and last year a neighbor found a Weber Q that needed a clean :) A few years ago I found a genuine Harry Bertoia chair that  needed about 4 hours of elbow grease.

When I was at uni I pretty much furnished the house from bulk rubbish pick ups, and picked up exercise equipment that I sold to make some money.  There's an absolute heap of that stuff in every collection that they buy, use for a few weeks then tuck away until the next bulk pick up.

One man's trash is another man's treasure, Bogie. Remember, back in the good old days, we used the hair of sub-human Jewish prisoners in mattresses and pillows.

Waste not want not, no?

GordyL wrote on May 5^th, 2016 at 1:46pm:

Being a raciest greenie, I'm right into recycling and repurposing and living in a flash postcode means you can scab some awesome stuff off the side of the road.

Yes, Gordy, I must say you people have the best rubbish on council cleanup night. As for your corpses, there's rich pickings in your teeth too.

As Bogie says, we're stupid stupid stupid.

Karnal wrote on May 5^th, 2016 at 3:28pm:

GordyL wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 1:46pm: Being a raciest greenie, I'm right into recycling and repurposing and living in a flash postcode means you can scab some awesome stuff off the side of the road. Yes, Gordy, I must say you people have the best rubbish on council cleanup night. As for your corpses, there's rich pickings in your teeth too. As Bogie says, we're stupid stupid stupid.

And don't forget about their skin which makes good lampshades.

GordyL wrote on May 5^th, 2016 at 3:40pm:

Karnal wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 3:28pm: GordyL wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 1:46pm: Being a raciest greenie, I'm right into recycling and repurposing and living in a flash postcode means you can scab some awesome stuff off the side of the road. Yes, Gordy, I must say you people have the best rubbish on council cleanup night. As for your corpses, there's rich pickings in your teeth too. As Bogie says, we're stupid stupid stupid. And don't forget about their skin which makes good lampshades.

True. And if we get them while they're fresh, we could use the healthy ones for organ harvesting.

That's the problem with things these days - no one's prepared to act on the good ideas.

Karnal wrote on May 5^th, 2016 at 3:48pm:

GordyL wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 3:40pm: Karnal wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 3:28pm: GordyL wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 1:46pm: Being a raciest greenie, I'm right into recycling and repurposing and living in a flash postcode means you can scab some awesome stuff off the side of the road. Yes, Gordy, I must say you people have the best rubbish on council cleanup night. As for your corpses, there's rich pickings in your teeth too. As Bogie says, we're stupid stupid stupid. And don't forget about their skin which makes good lampshades. True. And if we get them while they're fresh, we could use the healthy ones for organ harvesting. That's the problem with things these days - no one's prepared to act on the good ideas.

I bet out at G'ville it must be fun walking around the streets picking up the spent shell casings. Do you take them to the scrap merchant?

Some things were meant to be thrown away.


http://i0.wp.com/theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ozpolitic.jpg

GordyL wrote on May 5^th, 2016 at 5:08pm:

Karnal wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 3:48pm: GordyL wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 3:40pm: Karnal wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 3:28pm: GordyL wrote on May 5th, 2016 at 1:46pm: Being a raciest greenie, I'm right into recycling and repurposing and living in a flash postcode means you can scab some awesome stuff off the side of the road. Yes, Gordy, I must say you people have the best rubbish on council cleanup night. As for your corpses, there's rich pickings in your teeth too. As Bogie says, we're stupid stupid stupid. And don't forget about their skin which makes good lampshades. True. And if we get them while they're fresh, we could use the healthy ones for organ harvesting. That's the problem with things these days - no one's prepared to act on the good ideas. I bet out at G'ville it must be fun walking around the streets picking up the spent shell casings. Do you take them to the scrap merchant?

Believe it or not, Gordy, we have some rich pickings ourselves on council cleanup. Classy Brescia furniture features prominently in your Wog homes, but it's becoming a bit worn out these days, so out it goes.

The lower down the postcode list you go, the more stuff you see out on the street. It's a bit like Jeannie Little's comment: if the poor are so poor, why are they always so fat?

Still, as I'm sure Bogie will agree, they do make good lampshades.