Calling All Old Palm Pilots

****  NOTE - I am no longer taking old Palm Pilots.  Thank you to all who donated.  We have been making great use of them!  If you want to find out what item I am in need of now, click here: What to do with an old tablet? *****

During spring cleaning around the Hackman household yesterday, I came across an old Sony Clie of mine which runs the Palm OS. I charged it up, and it still works... but what do I do with this ancient thing?

As with many items around the house I am about to get rid of, I ask myself "Can I use this in my classroom?"  The answer? "Darn-Tootin I can!" It is the perfect classroom electronic. There are still a myriad of Palm apps that I can use in the classroom, and this thing CAN'T get on the internet. The only programs available to students are what I put on it. :)

The more I thought about it, I realized I could use Palm Pilots as part of my centers rotations. Students could use the Palm Pilots to practice math, spelling, and reading. They can use them to track data. This is starting to have a lot of possibilities.

Here is where you come in dear reader. If you are like me, there is a decent chance that you, a friend, a family member, a co-worker, etc... have an old Palm Pilot, Sony Clie, Handspring (anything running PalmOS) stuffed in a junk drawer at home gathering dust. Look around, ask around, then ship any found here to Utah. Rather than having that Palm Pilot spend even more years gathering dust, re-purpose it!

Would you, could you put them in box?
Send them, send them with their docks?
Happy, happy, will my students be!
Send them, send them 1-2-3!

In addition to Palm Pilots, I can make use of outdated e-readers, digital cameras, tablets... Most school districts won't take them because they don't want to support them... but I am my own IT guy. :)

UPDATE***  Also, if anyone archived their Palm apps, I would love a copy of your freeware.  Finding Palm apps has proven to be more difficult than I anticipated.... the web is littered with broken Palm app links.
Drop me an email at mrhackman@hotmail.com, and I will get you the info to send it to my school.  Thank You!

A little Palm trivia. I have owned about 7 different Palm devices (prior to that I had used 3 different Windows CE clamshells - anyone remember Philips Velo?) I attended monthly Palm user group meetings and my first smartphone was the Palm Centro. I was so proficient with a Palm that occasionally while writing on the chalkboard in my classroom, I would accidentally slip into Graffiti... and my students would laugh.

Religious Tantrums

So what to do about Kim Davis?  By now, dozens of excellent articles have been written about her hypocrisy and inconsistency when trying to apply biblical injunctions.  These things are easily discerned by everyone outside the knuckle dragging end of jingoistic Christianity.

However, what accommodations, if any, should society make for religious conviction?  For the most part - I say none.  I agree with the direction of the meme.  This man has a personal conviction concerning pork and HE navigates its burdens.

When Ultra-Orthodox Jews refuse to sit next to women on planes, and hold up flights with their tantrums, they are expecting everyone else to shoulder the burden of their conviction.  When Kim Davis refuses to issue marriage licences, she is insisting that others carry her load.

If the Ultra-Orthodox Jew is so convicted, let him buy a 2nd seat.  If Kim Davis cannot execute the full scale of her duties, she should move to employment where she can.

Instead, these religious folks throw a tantrum.  Rather than doing the heavy lifting themselves, they lay the weight of their issues on to the backs of others.

We control our disdain when toddlers act this way... after all, they are only toddlers.  Adults should get no such considerations.