_ _ _ __ _ __| |_ ____ _ _ __ ___ ___ __| | _ _ _ __| |__ __ _ _ __ / _` |/ _` \ \ / / _` | '_ \ / __/ _ \/ _` | | | | | '__| '_ \ / _` | '_ \ | (_| | (_| |\ V / (_| | | | | (_| __/ (_| | | |_| | | | |_) | (_| | | | | \__,_|\__,_| \_/ \__,_|_| |_|\___\___|\__,_| \__,_|_| |_.__/ \__,_|_| |_| _ ____) ___ ___ __ ___ _____ __ _(_)_ __ __ _ ___) / __|/ __/ _` \ \ / / _ \/ _` | | '_ \ / _` | ___) o \__ \ (_| (_| |\ V / __/ (_| | | | | | (_| | ___) |___/\___\__,_| \_/ \___|\__, |_|_| |_|\__, | ___) o |___/ |___/ ___) __________________) o o o ______) _______________________) o o o o o | o o o o |____ |_____ |_____ | o o o o | |_____ |_____ |_____ | o o o | o o o o |____ |_____ |_____ | ______ | / \ o o |_____ |_____ |________ | o ____/_______| | || / |. . \ | o o |______ |____ | | | / \_| o |________ | o ---- |_______| o _________ |_____ | | | |______/ \ o / _ _ \ | | |_| |\ \ o |_/ -___/ \ | |_____ | | | o || | |___ | |---| | | o \__ | | | | o | | ||---_\| | | o | \ | | |---_| |______ | | | |\\ o |___ | | ||---_| | o o | o |__| | |---_| |______ | | |||| o o | | ||---_| | |_______| \ /| |---_| \/ |______ | o | | | o # ---__|---_||\ /\ | | | | o / \ --- |---_|| \ \ | ,---|----, ___/ \ \\\--------_\ \_____------------_______---______-----_____----_ / __---___ / \ _____ ]_____ -----______ Advanced urban scavenging, Brendanos guide to becoming a gutter god... Although living in a wasteful society has severe environmental and health effects, the silver lining is that there are many discarded resources to be found. In this guide i'm going to teach you some essential skills so that you to can enjoy the fruits of the the city. 1. Research: Get to know your area, this includes constant walking/scanning etc. pay attention to businesses that are closing down/not doing very well, as these can be a good resource when they have to move. Institutions are also a gold mine if you keep your eyes peeled.Also choose to walk the laneways rather than the street, most hard waste is discarded in the lane. Best areas i find are mixed industrial residential areas. This also includes knowing what you are looking at when you find something.. And the chances of it being useful. 1. Be Brave: Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty! If you come across a stash of discarded hard waste that looks interesting, get stuck in and sort through it to see if there is any gold: I have found Synths, Drum machines, mics, stereos, powertools, records, clothing plants etc. over the years. Once you get your eye in you can tell the shit from the shovel at a glance… This also goes for industrial waste, you would be surprised at some of the things businesses will discard. Old tools, materials and office machinery. If you are lucky some places will leave their bin unlocked and you can go to town, otherwise a skip bin is a good place to start. If you have electrical experience you can usually repair most items also. 1. Take only what you need. This point is more for yourself than sharing and caring. You can easily end up with a shed full of stuff that you never get around to fixing/sorting etc. plus, if you have taken it off the street and it's now just sitting, nobody is using it anyway.. So try to keep your finds to stuff you know you need.. I have set out looking for steel posts for a project in the garden, only to find exactly what i needed out the front of a warehouse 15 mins later. It helps if you keep a mental picture of where certain things are in your neighbourhood. 2. Use your local facebook/gumtree/craigslist free section: This is a very strong advance in urban scavenging. As long as you have transport, speed tools and patience, an incredible amount of stuff can be obtained for free. Join your local pay it forward groups, and always be scanning the free section. When something you like pops up you need to be very swift, flxible and polite to get the prize.. Unfortunately some groups have been so popular a draw is conducted on high value items. However a polite message expressing interest, ability to collect promptly and bringing your own tools/labour for materials/plants will generally increase your chances over someone who replies “i'm coming to get it at 7am can you help me load it into my barina” I hope this helps you on your way to becoming a gutter god. Please email any comments queries to: l e k t r o l u x @ g m a i l . c o m By Brendanos Shadowwolf’s addendum: Me and my dad would do this when I was a kid in the early 90s…there was always one day in the week the city would pick up the big ‘garbage’ and if you went to the more upscale neighbourhoods there would be all kinds of crazy stuff out on the streets that people just threw away. Furniture, hifi-stuff, books, Organs, 70s and early 80s Computers, LPs (a lot of Italo and Disco records in The Hague…thats were I found my copy of Peter Slaghuis Disco Breaks II!) Also the areas with a lot of upscale expats that have to move suddenly (The Hague has a lot of those with all the international companies and institutions that are based here). In particular I remember one day we found a Radioshack Tandy TRS80 computer manual - I didn’t have a computer back then and was so fascinated by the manual and the concept of programming in BASIC…I read it inside and out for weeks even sort of learned English from it and a few months later we actually found a mint working TRS80 model 4 computer by itself! I still have that one. Also all the tape recorders and the hifi amp I recorded my first tracks on were from the street, as well as the speakers… they were these really good sounding Phillips ones…all that early Dark Days stuff was mixed on those. SW.