Punished for insolence

[paulq@no.spam (Paul Quinlan)]

When the High Handed Cyber-Entitities (of our own creation) learned of my
intention to get rid of my old Apple II equipment they resolved to punish
this insolence by visiting me with loads of more Apple II stuff.

Word has gotten around my user group that I will accept any surplus
computer equipment (or rather, I just can't say 'No') and people even
drive here to deliver their old systems -- now I am burdened with stacks
of II Plusses, //e's and even GS's. Dot matrix printers, Grappler cards,
Monitor //'s, Disk ][ drives, books, manuals, Hayes Micromodem II's, I
have heaps. As for plug in cards -- they're sitting around here by the
bushel: Microsoft Softcards, Videx video cards, extended 80-col cards.
There is a mountain of 5 1/4" disks I could ski down. (I need not mention
the Intel-based jetsam*, except that I've read somewhere that the world
will end with neither a bang nor a whimper but with a slithering plastic
sound as it's buried under mountains of PC-clone motherboards.)

One (rather lame) reason that I take on all this stuff is that I can
salvage some of it for projects I'm working on, such as the handy little
10k trim pots on Disk ][ analog cards. However, there's hardly any room to
turn around in this apartment any more. Visitors shake their heads and
ask, "How many computers have you _got_ anyway," not realizing what a
stupid question this is, and next time this happens I'm going to reply,
"How many do you want?"

Problem is I just can't seem to throw out anything with that rainbow
colored apple on it. Maybe this is some outmoded feeling of brand loyalty
(going back to the days when a II owner could actually phone up Steve
Wozniak and chat (not that _I_ ever did, but I do remember a time when
Apple actually listened to the user groups.) Or maybe I just think it will
all have antique value some day... in the Who-Knows-When.

I just don't want to see it all go to waste, which I suppose is why the 
people drop it off here in the first place. Perhaps someone somewhere
in the world could use it (or do all the Patagonians use Pentium II's with
8 gig hard drives?)

So if anyone on this forum knows of some beneficial use for all this stuff 
would they please post some suggestions.

Thanks, Paul Quinlan
 
* ps. jetsam n. 

1. Cargo or equipment thrown overboard to lighten a ship in distress.

2. Discarded cargo or equipment found washed ashore. See Usage Note at
flotsam.

3. Discarded odds and ends. [From earlier jetson, alteration of
Middle English jetteson, a throwing overboard. See JETTISON.]

--(_American Heritage Dictionary_)