Cool stuf

[highlandcattle]

At work i found a huge stack of BC-01 cartididges for my style writer, I'm save until 2050! Still need to ask my boss If I can take them all.

I also when to the dump to get some old PC's to work on my soldering skilzz. And I found a Berliotz Interpreter card for the newton on the ground! I haven't had time to test it yet as my newtons are stuffed somewhere from the move. But this thing probably fell out of a crate meaning that there was a newton here thrown away

. I also found lots of other goodies that are handy small IDE drives,ram ed. I love the dump but my hart breaks at what goodies are all lost!

 

[olePigeon]

Oh, man. Those "what if" incidents like those Newtons are tough. When I bought my new IIe, the guy selling it was the brother of the owner. They were moving to a different office and were clearing out their storage room. The owner had thrown most of the "crap" out, but then asked his brother (who was unemployed at the time) if he wouldn't mind clearing out the rest for a few bucks, and he could keep any money if he wanted to sell them. So he put the ad up on Craigslist for an "old Apple computer, $100." After talking to him on the phone, found out it was a brand spankin' new Apple IIe platinum.

I asked him if he had any other computers, and he said his brother had already thrown them out a few weeks ago for metal scrap. He said they threw out about 15 old computers. He said if he'd known that people would buy them for $100, he would have held onto them. I then asked him if they were new like the one he just sold me, and he said yes. :O

Those poor Apple IIs. Brand new in their box. All thrown out for metal scrap. That woulda been one of the most epic conquests in history.

I also got the chance to help clear out a city-foreclosed computer repair building. They specialized in Apple II and PETs. I only got to spend about 20 minutes there because I had to get to a meeting. I could have spent HOURS sifting through all the stuff. There was so much in there, it was like a smash and grab. I got a few really cool items, then had to jet. Sigh. Another What If. I can't imagine what else was in there. It was that one day only, then the city was gonna throw everything out.

I still check Craigslist like a hawk.

 

[highlandcattle]

good stories you got there. The Wallstreet battery I found there a couple of months ago appears to be working appears

 

[highlandcattle]

Did another dump trip today. I saw an 7200/75. I decided to leave it ther since I already have 8200/120 but not before ripping open its guts: Two Quantum scsi drives a 500mb and a 1,2gb one (I need these because my hd's are failing fast!). And also took out the ram (16mb,32mb,and another unmarked stick).There were lots of pc's and even a ps3 but everything was so beat up I decided not to bother. Also got another old dial telephone. A rather ugly beast but I like dial phones :approve:

 

[TheIanMan85]

I love the dump, and I second the "what if" and "too late" dread. Where I live now we just have curbside pick-up, no place to go searching. Where I used to live they had a sweet pick pile, but then they did away with it when they started charging to dispose of CRTs. I got cool stuff there back in the day, even if I did have to let a few Macs dry out for a while...

 

[techknight]

Ya, that is all it is around here, is curbside pickup. Its been that way since ive been born, and ive lived here for all my life so far. hehe.

I would go trashpicking and find goodies here and there when I was a kid on my bike. Nowadays, forget it. scrappers are on top of it before its even set out. I gave up trashpicking years ago in favor of the poor economy and scrappers.

 

[BGoins12]

I don't garbage pick anymore. The scrappers are on it before you even see it. Oh, and many of them are armed. There's been stories of people being shot for picking in a scrapper's "territory".

 

[highlandcattle]

In my city the dump is always run by public servants. You have to sort there as well. Wood,electronics,stone. They are always very helpful, at one time I was making a soapbox racer and they helped me pick out the parts and design the vehicle. On the case of electronics they get first picks of course but lucky they don't have a retro appetite!

 

[TheIanMan85]

I lived in a town near a ski mountain I was working at two years ago, and the guy who ran the dump was a JERK. One time I saw a decent looking PC tower so I decided reuse is the best form of recycling, so I'd grab it. Boy, did I get chewed out. "Once it's here it's registered with the State blah, blah, BS" all sort of in-my-face reasons I couldn't have it. OK then.

Another time he wasn't there but his wife was. I spotted a 70s yellow touch-tone Princess phone with no handset on the pick table. It had been out in the rain, and water leaked out when I picked it up. I wanted it for the plastic case and anything else I could salvage. She stopped me about as fast as he did, saying I had to wait a few minutes for him to get back to ask if I could have it. Not wanting to rock the boat, I agreed. After sitting in my car about 15-20 minutes I gave up and drove off deciding it just wasn't worth the wait.

Not to mention you could only use clear trash bags, so they could stand next to you making sure you weren't throwing away any recyclables. If he saw what looked like metal or plastic he'd pull it out with his backhoe from the pit and check it out to see if he could yell at you further. (I sorted my recyclables, since I support that anyway...)

Needless to say, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that anymore. I'm thankful for my city employees that'll take any color trash bag with almost anything in it every Thursday morning. No CRTs, no dead bodies without a permit. They do have one day per year when you can turn in your dead CRTs at the Public Works building free of charge though. I've got a dead 25" RCA in the basement waiting for that.

The dump in the town where I grew up was much better. The employees were friendly and sound much more like what highlandcattle posted about.

 

[Brett B.]

You guys are lucky. The dump here is like Mordor... there is always someone watching to make sure you're not taking any of THEIR garbage. I used to get a lawnmower or something cool once in a while but I got tired of being told to put back something I paid to put in there.

 

[Strimkind]

Lucky. All our electronics recycliables are sold for the metal. Once someone drops them off they are the 'property' of the recycling centre. One guy was willing to look the other way once and a while, but I stopped doing it as I didn't want to get him fired.

Its too bad as I have picked up working laptops, working desktops, etc from that centre.