Category Archives: Important Society Issues

Trash

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Topeka is a nice place to live. It is very convenient for riding, close to an airport and has pretty great weather, most of the time. But compared to a lot of places, it is fairly poor. At least it has a big area of neighborhood blight and crime. I’m not exactly why. I think it might go all the way back to the civil war when Kansas was a free state and Missouri was a slave state. That’s my own theory, but whatever the reason, a fair number of poor people ended up settling in Topeka, the Capitol City.

When cities have blight issues, the regulations, charges, etc., need to reflect the mindset of the people that they most affect. Penalizing or charging people for trash disposal is an issue of mine. When cities/counties start making special charges or exceptions for certain items, tires, tv’s, etc. then it is going to create a problem of people dumping them where it is free. That is just about anywhere. Topeka charges $2 for tires. I’ve personally moved 1000’s of tires. And I see them everywhere. I’m sick of it. The city needs to come up with a way to track new tire sells because an average household doesn’t have 50 tires sitting around. Many of the tires are being dumped by small tire companies and service stations.

I can’t count how many times I’ve cleaned the land up.  Or how many times I’ve tried to keep the land sealed off from people that dump.  I’ve had so many  full 40 cubic yard dumpsters removed from this piece of property I should just buy my own.

I’m writing this now because I’m having a problem, once again, with some property I own in Central Topeka. It’s a fairly long story, but I have a 13 acre piece of land right in the center of town. It is a nice piece of property in a bad area. When I got the land, it wasn’t secure and many people used it to dump their “extra” stuff. Bill, Trudi and I spend a month moving close to 3000 tires out of a seasonal drainage stream. We just had to drag them up and stack them and some prisoners came and moved them. The prisoners got to keep the money from the metal from the steel, the rims, and the tires went to a facility to make playground cover. It worked out pretty well.

There were two semi trailer trucks on the property. I called around trying to get someone to move them, but the poor ecosystem took care of it. Last year, I went by the property and the chain/cable was gone, once again. I’ve replaced it dozens of times. I went into the property and the semi trailers were completely gone. Tires and all, which was nice. I’m sure the guys that cut them up got a fair amount of money for recycling the steel, $1000’s of dollars, which is fine by me.

Now my issue is dumping again. It is nearly impossible to keep people from getting in. They seem to have all the tools necessary to get through any thickness of chain or cable. I received a code services letter from the city about removing a desk from the property. I knew that was a bad sign. I went over there yesterday and saw few pickup truck loads of trash laying there. Empty paint cans, tv’s, clothing, and trash.

There are a lot of letters with addresses, but I”m not going there. There are so many ways people’s stuff could end up here. Someone evicted and the landlord dumps their stuff. A guy driving around cleaning houses and then illegally dumps. Lots of ways. Anyway, I’m sick of it.

I went down to a recycling place yesterday and got two long pieces of galvanized steel. My plan was to dig a 3-4 foot post hole, put one in, set in concrete, and then slide the other one over the top, secured with the beefiest lock I can find. I hit a snag with the ground being solid limestone. I’m working on “drilling” a hole now. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to use. Maybe a core drill, hammer drill, jack hammer, something. All I know, from past experience, that once the dumping starts, it accelerates at an unbelievable rate.

Back to point. Cities need to understand the consequences of their fee schedules. When you charge poor people to get rid of trash, the trash isn’t going to make it to the landfill. It is going to be dumped in ditches, along bike paths, and on unoccupied property. Then it becomes society’s problem. I can’t imagine that the city collects enough money from their fee schedule to make up for the amount of garbage they have to clean up themselves. Not even mentioning private land owners.

I hate people that pollute. There are lots of ways to pollute, dumping garbage isn’t the worst. But it stands out in your face. I really don’t like cleaning up other people’s trash. But, I’ve done more than my fair share of it. I would be a horrible garbage man. Seeing humanity through other people’s trash gives me a bad glimpse into an ugly side of mankind.

My pile of trash.

My pile of trash.  It took pickups trucks full.  And they bring it as fast as I can remove it.

I pulled this pile of laundry detergent containers out to recycle. Who uses this much laundry detergent?

I pulled this pile of laundry detergent containers out to recycle. Who uses this much laundry detergent?

Some family photo albums. It is so sad really.

Some family photo albums. It is so sad really.

I didn't get too far before hitting solid rock.

I didn’t get too far before hitting solid rock.

This is a road repair done a couple years ago across the street from my land. Pretty nice way to dispose of the extra rock and concrete, huh? Even the city pollutes in the poor areas.

This is a road repair done a couple years ago across the street from my land. Pretty nice way to dispose of the extra rock and concrete, huh? Even the city pollutes in the poor areas.

Cutting my steel posts.

Cutting my steel posts.

Took me four hours to dig this one hole manually.

Not sure this is going to stop the dumping, but it’s the best I’ve got right now.

Finished product.

This sign down the street doesn't seem to be scaring anyone off.

This sign down the street doesn’t seem to be scaring anyone off.

Apple Macintosh 30 years Old

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Today is the 30th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh computer. It was back in January of 1984 that it originated. Man, how time flies and things change.

I’d say the biggest change in my lifetime is how small the world seems now because of computers, the internet and smart phones. I couldn’t have imagined the direction of it all back during the Olympic games in LA, in 1984.

The information that we have at our finger tips, at all times, is unlimited pretty much. Anytime I need an answer to virtually any question (a question that has a definite answer), I have it. Much of this is because of Apple and its products.

I’ve been an Apple fan for a long time. I don’t come close to using their products as they should be used. I barely tap the fringe. Each one of my Apple products have the ability to do 10,000 X as much as I use them for. That is the beauty of their products, they are very user friendly for pions like me and also for researchers, designers and artists that are on the cutting edge.

I couldn’t even have imagined 10 years ago that any of us could be sitting at home, eating breakfast, watching World Cup Cyclocross from Europe, live on our laptops. Or virtually any other event in the world that has video coverage. It is truly amazing. We can even watch on our phones while on the move. Unbelievable.

I started buying Apple stock a long time ago. I made the decision by making observations during travelling to races. Years ago, when I went into a coffeeshop before a race, there would be maybe one Mac laptop to 10 windows computers. I noticed a very slow, but definite increase of little Apple symbols on the laptops, month by month. I realized that way more students were then using Apple computers than previously. So I bought some stock. This was way before the iPhone.

The iPhone was obviously a game changer for Apple, the company. Nearly all their profits are derived from this one product. It is what defines the company now, the Mac took a back seat to them.

Monday, Apple is going to announce its 4th quarter earnings. They are going to be record earnings most likely. Maybe not record enough to make the institutional investors happy. Apple is not a loved stock by many right at this moment. But, they are hoarding an enormous amount of cash. I saw an article last February that said Apple had enough cash in the bank they could acquire Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pandora, Research In Motion (Blackberry), Yahoo, Yelp, Zillow and Zynga —and have more than $2 billion left to spare. Of course the dynamics of all those companies have changed in a year, but they are still sitting on a huge stockpile of money.

Anyway, it has been an interesting journey for Apple. We’ve all benefited from their innovations and focus. Hopefully they will continue with these things into the future. I can’t come close to imagine what they’ll be doing 30 years from now.

The original Macintosh from 1984.

The original Macintosh from 1984.

A rendition of Apple's futuristic campus.

A rendition of Apple’s futuristic campus.