pieces of metal and plastic

Why do I play with old computers? I love collecting oddball stuff, just to consider what people could do...in what directions the industry could have gone. I play with old software (Visicalc, Concurrent DOS, and others) and trace their influences on today's WINtel products...and you know? as clunky as those old programs are, today's software is a direct descendant of many classic programs. I'm a trivia freak, and computer trivia's fun. Old computers are great trivia. (here's a good one for everyone...does anyone remember "synthetic programming"? Explanation on request.) I recondition old PC's, because -- then -- it puts an *affordable* PC into someone's hands. Unused machinery distresses me. Good machinery trashed makes me really ill. Why do we (USA) throw so much away? I loved computers from my first programmable calculator (1978...a TI-58). I lusted after many higher-priced units of the day. I can satisfy my ex-lusts now for -- sometimes -- a few bucks. I see the earlier stuff I have on the shelf increasing in value. Hey I'm not in business for my health! And...so you watch TV in the evening. Well, I hate TV and don't watch it. Does that make it bad? I read old issues of Punch Magazine, sci-fi and play with old machines. We all should have *something* different to do, or else we'd be alike, and who would I talk to, to keep me interested?