What is obsolete?

Eliminating what I don't need, despite the waste!

Way back in 1999 we bought our first computer. A Compaq Presario It was very exciting. I can't remember why we bought it, there was something about spreadsheets, word documents but mainly I think I thought it would be cool, and I could veg out and play video games. We wanted something that would retain it's usefulness for years to come. We were both working so could afford a decent machine and they weren't as cheep as they are now. It was a big investment and we fell for the hype that we just had to have one... I think back then we also bought a big TV too!

Looking back I can't believe how much we paid for our machine, but we were assured that this model would outlast most others in the market. Unlike the cheaper ones it had a DVD ROM (No burner... nobody had those!), and 2 USB ports which was also uncommon, but may prove to be handy in 'The Future' and a ZIP drive which was the mass storage hardware of the future. There was a whopping 15 Gig of space on the hard drive and it had 250 mb of RAM.

I have to say that the computer did actually change my life. At the time we got it I hadn't had any experience with typing. I used two fingers and looked at the keyboard, only staring at the screen to proof what I'd written! I was slow.

I was working as a Postie and had plenty of free time but I spent most of it playing games! Somewhere along the way I got up the nerve to leave my secure job and actually went back to school... At TAFE I learned to type and somehow found myself writing essays, reports and stuff like that. (Believe me it's not what I thought I'd be doing so long after having dropped out of school) The skills I learned using that computer enabled me to get office jobs. When I was a kid that was a big deal! I had dropped out of Tech, and never thought I'd work in an 'Office!'. I didn't really want to but that's not the point. (actually one teacher informed me that I would be unemployable)

(Now here I am dreaming about making earth bricks in a remote community...! anyway back to the computer story)

The old computer served us well for about 7 years, in that time we upgraded it with by installing more RAM, shoving in a new Hard Drive and installing a CD burner. After 7 years though it had become obsolete. It just couldn't be upgraded enough to run the programs we wanted to use, we were going to have to get a new one. This is when I realized just how wasteful we can be. PC's were designed to work like a kit. You play around with the components and build them up as you go. I thought many of the parts were meant to be interchangeable and so I expected that, I'd be able to pull out the motherboard and reinstall a new one into the box. After all it's just a box with ventilation, a power supply, and the necessary gaps and spaces for all the peripheral stuff you plug in. Well as you would guess that isn't how things work. There's a manufacturing principal called 'Planned Obsolescence' which pretty much guarantees that when they produce a new product the manufacturers make damn sure that it won't just fit into the space where your old one used to sit! A new product has to occupy it's very own space in the market and everything old must be thrown away! People must have the latest stuff! 

In the end we bought a whole new computer, even though most of the parts from the old one would have continued to work for at least a few more years! I have held onto the old machine for the past 4 years or so since we got the new one but now I've decided to get rid of it! It is such a shame. the box is still in perfect condition and it will likely end up in the land fill, not even used for scrap metal... 

I have been struggling to make sense of this sort of thing for a long time but have only now decided that it's OK that it makes no sense. Don't bother trying to understand why it's like that... it just is. Put it down to yet another crazy things people do, marvel at the colossal waste, but don't worry...  

It will all be obsolete some day. Rather than worry about it I think I'll sit under a tree and learn to tie knots in a rope. Its bound to come in handy some day, you never know when your ocky straps might snap... ;)

Bread and Bottles

On Sunday morning I heard news that the environment ministers from every State in the country would be gathered here in Darwin to discuss a container deposit system for recycling drink containers. OK maybe everybody already knew this... I don't have a telly!

There's a campaign promoting Cash for Containers and members of the Total Environment Centre had come especially to encourage the ministers to make a decision that would see the whole country committing to a recycling program. (You probably already knew this too I suppose!) The cash for containers idea works on the basis of 10 cents credit per container which would be refunded when the container is returned to a recycle depot... They have one in S.A. and I believe the NT will follow suit next year but this meeting has the potential for the program to be taken up Nationally.

Awesome idea I reckon. Besides keeping the streets a little cleaner I think a program like this will go a long way toward improving peoples awareness of the value of resources and need to recycle. Not to mention the business opportunities for enterprising youngsters... I remember collecting thousands of cans as a kid! Every football match, every public event me and my mates would be out scrounging cans... Of course this lead us to hang around in the less savory parts of the grandstands at the footie and cop the occasional abusive comment from punters who hadn't quite finished their beer before we stole the cans from between their feet but what a thrill it was to be out there earning our own cash! The kids have got some fun times in the great outdoors ahead of them! It'll be a great earner for a lot of people who could probably use a few extra dollars too. I wonder if Trev will bother cashing them in? He might find some competition out on the street when the program commences in Darwin!

The meeting was held yesterday; apparently the discussions were quite productive and there's a chance that the idea will get off the ground.
Unfortunately I got there a bit late and missed out on cheering, stirring, heckling, or encouraging the Environment Ministers, (whatever it was we were there to do... I wasn't sure actually) but I did arrive in time to see Bev the Bottle and some of her crew in action! They were great! Too bad I missed the main event!

(Bev Bottle with some of the crew, me too)

Bev (I think that's short for beverage) and her supporters sang this great song that went something like this:

"Ten green bottles in the recycle crate,
Ten green bottles in the recycle crate
When you return those bottles
You'll get a dollar mate...

When we get cash for containers
In each and every State..."

I don't think the songs complete yet but it sounded great and Bev was an absolute blast, I wish I'd caught it on video!


(Awesome bread... Lets see her try a sourdough)

When I got home from work last night I was told to check the oven, where I found another loaf of bread! This is my wife's second ever loaf of bread and it turned out perfectly! In fact it's better than every loaf I've ever baked! It rose enormously, had a firm crust, sounded hollow when I tapped it and cut like a dream, dropping very few crumbs. When I pressed down on a cut slice it sprung back up again! I can't believe how well this bread has turned out it's amazing... Sam's Grandmother taught her to bake when she was a kid! I think she must have been the Drysdale master baker or something!

Of Gleaners and Wombles


Scrounging through other people’s junk is one of my favourite pastimes. I believe I am at heart a Gleaner in the classic sense. I once saw a great documentary called ‘The Gleaners and I’ which allowed me to find a new sense of honour in a lifestyle that to the observer is disgusting and low.

For some reason the thought of things being discarded before they have truly worn out their usefulness makes me feel a sense of sadness and loss. Have you ever seen the Australian TV series Bush Mechanics? Those guys realy know how to improvise and prolong the usefulness of stuff that would never occur to most people. Of course If the item no longer suits the needs of it’s original owner it should be given up for something that does; but why should it go into land fill when others may find another use for it?
(I may have watched too much of the Wombles as a kid!)

One of my favourite places to visit is the Tip (Dump) shop. It’s a place where people are employed to scrounge through the junk that turns up for landfill and extract anything that may still be of value. There is an area set aside at the tip where these things are sold reasonably cheaply. As far as I can see it’s a pretty good operation. People are employed and I can get stuff at a very reasonable price (sometimes) so I don’t mind paying for stuff like that. (Councils don’t like people getting in amongst the heavy machinery scrounging for them selves!)

This weekend I managed to finally get a tricycle for my daughter and a few other bike bits for myself. As I was scrounging I found something I’ve wanted for a long long time. A tandem bike; well what was left of one anyway! I had a dilemma. Sam has been giving me a hard time about all the junk I have in our shed (smaller than a walk-in robe), I’d already promised her I'd bring home nothing big until I’d repaired that chair I brought home about four months ago. I couldn’t imgagine that I could fix the tandem in anything like the time I would like, all that was salvageable was the frame, so I left it there!



I wandered around for a short time before taking my newly found trike parts (I had to cannibalise a couple of identical trikes that didn't pass muster but it was complete by the time I’d finished) to the money guy to haggle a price. I told him I’d really like the tandem and he laughed. “It’s gone” he said! Wow that was quick! It was quite a treasure but what could I do? I wished the buyer luck for his project and headed home with my stuff. I am not really regretting missing out on it though. I have learned and believe whole-heartedly that when the time is right the thing I want/desire (need?) will appear. You might think that tandem bikes don’t grow on trees and I was mad to let it go. Well so did I for a short while but realistically I don’t have the room or the time to play with it. One day I will; and maybe something will turn up then. I like that idea and guess what it works! So shut up already about the great deal I missed…! Ha… ha... ha...