get rid of your plastic pumpkins

[emordnilap]

A neighbour of mine said, "Keep it for seven years. If you haven't used it by then, keep it for another seven years."

[the_lyniezian]

In Russia they say "is it asking for any Bread?". If it costs nowt to keep it and isn't preventing you from doing something else, it needn't be a problem (though that's certainly not my style).

Taking up space I frankly think is probably the biggest problem. I realy don't have much space to store a lot of stuff without it becoming a mess.

Plus there is the Christian's moral responsibility not to hoard too much material wealth and keep it to oneself...

We get rid of all the clothes/toys/bikes the sprogs have outgrown, and I recently flogged a sideboard that we weren't using at all, but...

Unlike my mother who refuses to- I think she's waiting for the (potential) grandkids...

Depends what you'd call genuinely useless. What would anyone classify as a genuine Plastic Pumpkin?

Well there are quite a few things I can consider... (please don't fall asleep!)

The absolutely useless ones:

-1 Betamax video recorder purchased off eBay for the purposes of geeking out on old TV presentation (terrible I know). Got cheap as previous owner was unsure if it worked or not- it didn't. May get Freecycled to anyone who wants it for spares.

-One 486 PC which stopped after I gave it a video file it couldn't handle and tried to turn it off in the middle. (Again was only purchased to furnish another sad obsession of mine... in this case DOS.) Not sure what to do with it, may be useful for spares (well, floppy drive maybe, unsure about case or PSU) if I ever get round to turning my hand to PC building, or using the hard drive as external storage (with an adapter). Even if it was working, it's too old to be much use and the hardware of the time was hardly "plug and play" if I wanted to expand/buy working motherboard &c.

-Another non-working computer, this time a Pentium laptop. Was going to try and do it up to flog on but again too old to be profitable and too expensive to obtain working parts for. And now it's knackered. Maybe the HD will be useful.

-My "modern" laptop (actualy four years old) which has had problems with the batery and the bit where you plug it in at the back. Last tie I tried to replace the latter it cost £100- not much good for a skint unemployed person like me (having bought the junk described above hasn't helped!)

-Old non-working word processor machine.

The working but pretty pointless stuff:

-Old ZX Spectrum plus joystick, modern tape recorder and software. I hardly use it much as basically it's rubbish (even for the time- only 8 colours and that silly keyword system for programming!) but the tape recorder has had use in recording sermons and listening to music, less needed now the church has a digital voice recorder and will soon have a website to download the recordings. And I have other tape machines. Will sell.

-Old Acorn A4000, still used to play games (yes they exist!) but otherwise surplus to requirements as it doesn't do the stuff most modern machines do. Will sell.

-Old Playstation which I rarely play games on anymore. Probably give to charity shop.

-All the records I buy or otherwise acquire and never listen to.

-All the books I buy and never read.

-Stupid wind-up lamp that goes dim after a couple of minutes no mater how much I wind it.

-Mini-FM radio, given to me by my Dad, and really don't need as I have so many radios it's ridiculous.

-2 clock radios, one with a CD player which is dodgy after I knocked it over in my sleep. Wastes too much electricity for my liking and a mechanical (and loud!) alrm clock and a wind-up radio does the trick.

-Several personal stereos, two from aunts who don't want them back, one has tape not working (radio does), another only just works. I only need the one, but what to do with the rest?

-Typewriter which I am keeping around to practise on- may be eventually useful when I know how to line type up ans so on when TSHTF.

-Old non-used Christmas presents like the electronic Countdown game (bought from charity shop) my mother gave me the other year.

-Half a zillion old magazines. The National Geographics might be worth saving, as with the old computer magazines, for collectors. Much of the rest may end up in the paper bag.

[Aurora]

Plus there is the Christian's moral responsibility not to hoard too much material wealth and keep it to oneself...

Treat yourself. Let some doubt into your life and become an atheist.

[JohnB]

Treat yourself. Let some doubt into your life and become an atheist.

Or a permie
http://www.permacultureprinciples.com/ethics_share.php

[nnnnnn]

...

Well there are quite a few things I can consider... (please don't fall asleep!)

...list of bleh....

I wouldn't consider ANY of those thing useless, I'd just add them to ever growing pile of scrap electronics that I keep for repairing stuff, and in case electronics components ever become hard to get hold of.... (possibility ?)

But there you go, one mans trash......

[the_lyniezian]

...

Well there are quite a few things I can consider... (please don't fall asleep!)

...list of bleh....

I wouldn't consider ANY of those thing useless, I'd just add them to ever growing pile of scrap electronics that I keep for repairing stuff, and in case electronics components ever become hard to get hold of.... (possibility ?)

But there you go, one mans trash......

Well as I say, not all so much useless as surplus to requirements. I think I could do to get rid of somethings to those who are more experinced than I. Or use the bits. The trouble is, whether the case (old fashioned desktop style, not tower) is going to be useful for fitting modern motherboards and cards.

Anyway, now I know who to send them all to...

(Seriously if anyone does want any of my old stuff, PM me and I'll be happy to send it to you if feasible!)

[the_lyniezian]

Plus there is the Christian's moral responsibility not to hoard too much material wealth and keep it to oneself...

Treat yourself. Let some doubt into your life and become an atheist.

Not an option. I see the undeniable reality of God and the beneficial nature of the teachings of Christ (many of which, such as what I mentioned, do apply very well to the situations we discuss here) as non-negotiable and non-mitigatable- I cannot go back on them, and indeed encourage others to take them up, if they are prepared to.

[the_lyniezian]

Treat yourself. Let some doubt into your life and become an atheist.

Or a permie
http://www.permacultureprinciples.com/ethics_share.php

In a way I would prefer this- I like the concept of permaculture, and really I see some of it in the ideal of creation and Biblical principles (Eden was a garden, not a farm, for example, and the principles of good stwaardship and sharing (and maintainance) of resources seems to be taught.) Of course the website linked does seem to have hints of things which conflict with Christian doctrine such as this: http://www.permacultureprinciples.com/flower_health.php (well things like yoga, tai chi &c. based on eastern spirituality is dodgy, and I am not so sure about this "dignity in dying" thing which is often applied to euthanasia) and one must not try to do anything which seems like worsiping creation, not the Creator. With that taken out of the equation (at least for those of us who cannot accept them) I cannot see how it is entirely a bad idea.[/u][/url]

[Aurora]

Come down off your cross Lyniezian - we've all got wood burning stoves and could do with the timber.

[biffvernon]

Eden was a garden, not a farm,

Farming didn't get going till the Neolithic and I guess Adam and Eve came a while before that. They just mooched about gathering not quite all of the fruit. I dare say the word that got translated to 'garden' is more representative of the concept of a nice place where there's no work to do, quite unlike a farm or a permaculture enterprise.

[JohnB]

I dare say the word that got translated to 'garden' is more representative of the concept of a nice place where there's no work to do, quite unlike a farm or a permaculture enterprise.

A forest garden should be pretty much like that, once established. It just takes rather more than 7 days to get there!

Permaculture takes ideas from many different cultures, and uses the ones that are most appropriate for a particular situation. So there are features that come from practices used by Christians, but it goes beyond sticking to a doctrine, and is a set of guidelines that encourage people to think for themselves, rather than blindly following a set of rules.

Two things I was taught are "never become a permaculture bore" and "don't go where you're not welcome". Permaculture is about setting an example that people can choose to follow if they wish, rather than trying to convert people by force, as has happened in many religions. It's up to us permies to create lives and places that are so inspiring that people want to join us. That can get frustrating, when we have an answer (but not necessarily the only one), to the big problems we're facing, and we could be progressing much faster.

I'd better warn you that after a week or so of silence I may become a permaculture bore, as I'm starting a teaching course on Thursday .

[kenneal - lagger]

Eden was a garden, not a farm,

Farming didn't get going till the Neolithic and I guess Adam and Eve came a while before that.

Silly Biff, Adam and Eve came about half way through the Neolithic (9500BC) because the world is only 4000 and a bit years old.

[RenewableCandy]

Come down off your cross Lyniezian - we've all got wood burning stoves and could do with the timber.

[Kentucky Fried Panda]

list of stuff

Freecycle or landfill...

[the_lyniezian]

list of stuff

Freecycle or landfill...

Might well happen with the dud electrical items- which I can't really sell or donate to the charity shop. (The rest I can.)

Of course they could end up being recycled as per the WEEE directive- and the fact taht Stockton has no landfill, only one of these "waste-to-energy" plants and the rest gets sorted for recycling. About one of the few good things about this town.