Slashdot Mirror
Recycling Gone Wrong: The AOL Throne
igrp writes "Ever get annoyed with the seemingly endless stream of AOL CDs that make their way to your mailbox? Instead of just tossing them, you could collect about four thousand of them and build yourself an illuminated throne."
And I've been trying to figure out for years what they are for...
Service Unavailable
Service Not Available.. kinda like AOL..
Pointless, but cool! http://www.aolcdroms.com/
[sig] 10 + 10 = 100 [/sig]
Niiice...
PepperHacks - Hacking the Pepper Pad
The requested URL (articles/04/11/24/1935240.shtml?tid=120&tid=133&t id=1) was not found.
/.ed
If you feel like it, mail the url, and where ya came from to pater@slashdot.org.
and the site is already
that was quick slashdotting
But you shouldn't.
sulli
RTFJ.
you can so kindly donate those unwanted AOL cd's to this cause...No More AOL CD's
It's /.'ed
How can a site be /.ed before there are any comments
I'm a cucumber
I would just put the cds in the microwave. Its LOTS of fun!
KARMA POLICE ARREST THIS MAN HE TALKS IN MATHS- radiohead
No comments and already page cannot be found.... dang
Apparently the web server is made from recycled AOL discs as well....
Nice work Slashdot.
Not a single comment and the page is already down. Slashdotters, I salute you!
First post?
First ps0t?
Frosty piss?
First comment and the site is ./ed already??
I used to go to Circuit city and raid the AOL CD stand because back then (~2 years ago) the CDs came in standard DVD style cases. Now whenever I need to give someone a CD, I just toss it in one of the DVD cases...
And already slashdotted...
I actually like getting them - there free DVD cases are great.
he should of built a better web server out of them
love is just extroverted narcissism
Slaready slashdotted
Well, he'll have something to do with his server now. I see only one comment posted to this, and I already get server unavailable messages.
To bad it doesn't look comfortable. Mabey if they put those foam cd seporatores between them then you could get some cousion action going on.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The AOL CD throne is shaped just like an http 503 error. Such skill. Such craftsmanship.
First?
Broken Link.
Another website with creative AOL cd usage
These kinds of things are posted on Collegehumor.com all the time. As a recent college graduate myself, I have seen a good number of AOL CD sculptures.
Since we're so interested in slow news, it started snowing today. And I went to the dentist for the first time in four years.
Not a single comment, and alredy /.'ed!
Have CmdrTaco and the other Slashdot admins considered selling gratuitous story links to companies wanting to stress-test their servers?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It's amazing what coffee, weed, a lot of free time, and the irrepressible drive of youth and insanity can accomplish.
Just wait... these guys will probably have their own show on Comedy Central in a year or so.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
early slashdoted i think it the WR in slashdoting time
\n.\n
"Service Unavailable"
Wait, you still want me to reply to "How Much Harm Can One Website Do"?
I get service unavailable from the link.
Has it been slashdoted already ?
This should work for the text at least...
o .html
http://stupidco.com.nyud.net:8090/aol_throne_intr
Painful double-entendre there, Mr. Editor!
So um...anybody mirror this thing before it crashed? That didn't take long.
http://actionPlant.com
Nothing beats a slashdotting like a brutal slashdotting, but I kept hitting refresh and got in only like 10 tries. I think the whole idea of a chair of AOL CDs is amusing.
God spoke to me.
I've not seen someone getting slashdotted even BEFORE anyone opens the website. But obviously, this is the case :-)
Hey, the guy is poor and couldn't get decent hosting - otherwise he wouldn't be recycling, right?
Already slashdotted? Holy shit. I swear it's like Slashdot is developing some kind of clairvoyancey to pre-dot a site before it's even posted.
did someone warn the site operators that they'd been submitted to slashdot? Looks like they've recoiled in fear.
of course, it's not in google's cache yet.
I used to think printing on on Unix sucked. Then I figured it out. Printing on Unix *does* suck. Like a Kirby.
Let's just say that the hole is too small to be useful for when you are "on the throne."
There's a reason the slogan was Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. They're listed in order of decreasing positve impact.
If not now, when?
Keep hitting "Refresh." It'll load.
(Yes, I'm serious.)
I have an entire small wall in humble abode that's made of entirely AOL cds (on small tacks, of course) ooooo shiny...
Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
Everyone has AOL cds, but i have an AOL version 2.0 Floppy
It would be great for AOL to continue the tradition and mail out their installations on CD-RWs or open session CD-R's. It would certainly cut down on the waste as we'd be able to do something useful with the cd's when they arrived.
www.lonseidman.com
I'd like to shoot the twit who thought of sending those damn things through.
Mebbe a bit off-topic, but I found a great use for an AOL cd the other day. Throw the CD away, and use the DVD case for my caseless discs.
Only in a thread this bad could an empty request get modded "Informative"...
I guess the guy was running the web server off an AOL CD! :p
My other dog is a Wienerschnitzel.
Seems to me that you all like to make mountains out of this molehill.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Old Version, doesn't look like the cd chair was posted here yet.
The "artist" seems to have misinterpreted thier Mom when she said "those discs need to be thrown"
You don't need foam cushions to enjoy a little cousin action..
At least for me :-)
d 1.jpg
Looks so cool:
http://www.stupidco.com/images/aol_finishe
http://stupidco.com.nyud.net:8090/aol_throne_intro .html
I have to admit that looks cool.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
You could also use those CDs to create a neutron modulator...1 8/1447258&tid=126&tid=14
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/
Dude, pull that hook out of your cheek...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Building a throne out of AOL CDs is one thing.
Building a throne out of AOL CDs would be far more apropos.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Just keep refreshing/reloading the page. Took about 5 refreshes/reloads before it worked for me.
'Tis you, poor deadlinegrunt, who doesn't get the joke :-)
I am artificially intelligent.
"Just like sandblasting a soup cracker."
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Does ridicule of AOL CDs really still deserve a headline story submission? Personally, I don't know of anyone who has received an AOL disk in the mail for a couple of years now. Come on now... don't the "free coaster" and "free floppy" jokes belong in the "All your base," "In Soviet Union..." and "I for one Welcome..." category after all these years?
First it was a lamp now it's a throne. I guess the next logical step is an AOL CD house.
Did you ride the short bus? http://sh.ortb.us
Apparently the cause of the fire was a massively overheating webserver.
http://stupidco.com.nyud.net:8090/aol_throne_intro .html
I threw up a quick mirror here: http://braincylinder.net.nyud.net:8090/stupidco/ao l_throne_intro.html
Guess not then.
Maybe you're talking about the AOL browser?
Another victim falls dead from what is now the 2nd largest killer of web sites. /.death
John Anthony Hartman
While his ideas are cool - I think he needs to spend more time learning how to design a web page. His page has more broken links then a n0ubs geocities account.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
So your butt will rot off, maybe. Depends on whether the dye layer is exposed.
- -- Truth addict for life.
deadlinegrunt
:)
+5 funny - thank you for extending my scope of language
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
I've got a printout of the Internet here I ran off last month in case of just this kind of emergency. If anyone wants to see this page, just send me a SASE and I'll enclose a photocopy from my "Internet Master Copy."
Might take me a little while to leaf through it all and find the right page, of course.
It went down the porcelain throne...
The difference between spam and poop is that you don't have to dig through septic tanks looking for real food. -- Me
from my experience with cds they tend to crack when bend too much... So what happens when an average 300 Lbs american sit in that chair?
How do you flush this thing?
lameness
Comment removed based on user account deletion
http://stupidco.com.nyud.net:8090/aol_throne_intro .html
Be a PATRIOT--because the only thing we have to fear is the lack thereof.
The best thing that I've found to do with them is to use them as targets for archery practice, (or i suppose, firearms practice). They break into so many shining pieces if you hit them just right.
Common sense might indicate to you that this was the case, and common sense would be completely wrong. While the connotations of the word recycle are generally what you suggest, the denotation may clearly be a synonym for reuse.
& va=recycle&x=0&y=0 * &Query=recycle
consult:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycle
http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=recycle
http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=
-michael
Really gives new meaning to the term "Porcelain Throne."
They'll need one for whatever legit reason and won't be able to find one.
As King George II, I, too, am looking for an elegant throne.
Very presidentially yours,
"President" George W. Bush
I think we just set a record most comments without *anyone* RTFAing.
I for one welcome our AOL CD throne-seated overlords.
*Runs for cover*
BTW, Here's a working mirror.
that one can never have too many AOL discs.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
The Cosmic Ray Deflection Society of North America, Inc. krudzna ink
I could use some help on my webpage, it's an old one at the original geocities and I cannot figure out how to get anyone at YaHoo to let me back into fix the many broken links. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to reach someone there. I have tried everything I could and never get an answer. I miss 92/3 when you could email them new pages you had found and they would email you back thanks,
"Where did this apple come from?"
--Alan Turing
British?
No, forget that, four years is too soon....
Think about it! Since CD's diffract laser light, any one of the Axis of Evil could gather up all the surplus AOL CD's and install them on the outside their missles so as to defeat all of our laser based missle defences. WOW! It just dawned on me! AOL = Axis Of eviL Just the thought sends shivers down my spine.
Why do we have to keep experiencing all the fun and joy of the slashdot effect when Coral exists?
Why don't the enlightened editors of Slashdot simply link to a coral version of the article (or host a mirror themselves) and end this delightful yet technologically destructive effect.
How much longer must this nonsense go on before some one sensible solves it with a simple already available off the shelf solution?
(and if you agree with me on this, why not fix www.airamericaplace.com who is currently handing out air america mp3s directly, not links to torrents and constantly complains about bandwidth costs.)
read more rants: thunt.net
I haven't seen any updates from them in ages.
Ross Winn "not just another ugly face..."
What would you expect from a site named stupidco.com
You can actually get AOL to stop sending you CDs. When I was at Interop a few years ago. I stopped by the AOL booth, gave them my address, and asked that it be taken off of their mailing list. I haven't seen an AOL CD mailed to me since.
My grandmother used to hang aluminum pie pans on string over her vegetable garden to scare the birds. Now we use AOL CDs for the same thing. They're not as big, but a lot shinier.
I figure by 2030 or so my 6-digit UID will be something to brag about.
I don't usually accept these when they show up. Just write "REFUSED - RETURN TO SENDER" on them, leave them in the mailslot, and they return whence they emanated.
this is like when we used to play AOL sponsored frisbee in the basement of my house. The rules were simple, you stand in different ends of the basement and try to hit the other person. Needless to say it was a result of drinking. The game was short lived when he got hurt (only in the arm though).
classic story I know...
It's interesting. For a while now coral has been rather poor about being able to recover slashdotted content. I've even coralized links in the mysterious future and coral wasn't able to load them, even though I could fine directly.
On the same token, Mirrordot.com sure doesn't do a very good job of "solving the slashdot effect" most of the time.
If you look right now " Presently sustaining 14 parallel Slashdottings. Far out!
Click on the ? link to do a Google search of the linked text." but most of those slashdottings are NOT mirrored but retain the origional links. How is this useful?
And those of us behind restrictive firewalls are still left in the dark.
Anybody got a mirror that's on port 80?
You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. The impossible just takes a little longer.
IMHO the throne is more aesthetically pleasing than a great deal of what gets funded by the NEA.
Late to reply, I know but...
The slogan was "Reduce, Recycle, Reuse... close the loop!"
This was an ad campain encouraging the public to buy items that had been made from recycled parts in order to complete the recycling 'loop'.
ex: Buy sandals made from old tires. Or milk cartons made from old plastic shopping bags.
The idea was (is) that if you don't purchase items made from recycled material, the act of recycling was a waste.
Sony ha
In case of karma whoring, mirror the site here!
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
The used car salesman of the internet.
Now that'd would be news.
My fondest memories of AOL were all the 'me too' posts when AOL first got access to the usenet.
I actually used to like it when they sent floppies. Back when they were still useful, I had a whole box of 'em. Just reformat and label with a sharpie.
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
I bet after sitting on this chair for a few hours, you would find that the chair is much like AOL it's self.
A pain in the...lower back.
One year I used up nearly my entire inventory of AOL floppies (yes, it was that long ago) and CDs in making a halloween costume. I simply taped them all to a normal set of clothes, used a floppy disk as an eyepatch, and presto --- I was a software pirate.
AOL has given out CD-RW's in the UK. So handy...
Powered by caffeine and sugar; BSD
I think you'll find that a large proportion of the worlds electical trash ends up in China anyway where it is recycled or burnt by people suffering from various pollution related illnesses. I don't think mailing them any amount of CD's is going to make a blind bit of difference.
Build yourself a Linux throne from all those Linux CDs your geek friends keep sending you.
Wow, that is way cooler than it has any right to be. I think the "throne" part is what puts it over the top.
It's like, AOL is a kingdom, and the King N00b sits on high and dispenses wisdom, the Internet, and CDs to all the people of the land.
Plus, CDs look really awesome. He should have put some shiny-side out, though.
Anyway, it's still cool.
i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
Never thought of that. It would be in everyones benefit for AOL to put their stuff on half of a CD and leave the other half as an empty session. People would actually use them and from AOL's point of view - everyone would have a copy of AOL intentionally not thrown out because they would have good data on it. How can this idea be pitched at AOL?
Stay tuned for new sig...
Some people don't have the money to pay for hosts that can handle this kind of traffic. Thanks to the people that have tried to mirror it. Now everyone take turns and we'll all get through this. The line starts to the right. Keep the shoving and name calling to a minimum.
http://www.scalpod.com/purge/IT_Samurai.jpg
If "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and "it was beauty that killed the beast" then "please stop staring at me".
I've wondered that too. What's the point if you're just going to point to dead links?
i am a soviet space shuttle
I think the guy(s) who created this should have one of this things where you can take a picture of yourself sitting in the AOL throne....maybe best to place it near some small town so it can be a real attraction? Anyway, I definately want my picture taken!
Or you can harness the power of the Sun for a nice prism effect...
..note that the pattern should look something like this.
Hmm, I got the joke just fine. Why don't you and TopShelf check the original post and grandparent post moderation totals and see who missed what ;)
I see everything was eventually modded +funny which was my point. I merely burned some Karma to get it noticed: Mods should try to focus on modding up rather than down - because they almost always fsck it up otherwise.
BSD is designed. Linux is grown. C++ libs
Dammit! I just posted in this thread a second ago, now my mod points are useless! That deserves a +5 Funsightful. Why do the gods mock me so?
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
Oh come on, you were asking for it!
... Profit!
Oh My Goddess, this is awsome, I think I am going to start collecting those sh*** cds and build something like this just to kill time and save the world from this idiotic little AOL man. Regards Mike
"Its dead Jim"
Service Unavailable
Not sure whether it'd be a compliment or otherwise if it were to be shipped off and given to Steven Case... I'm worried whether he'll actually use it as a throne room chair or (hell may freeze over on this) actually realize the number of CDs being wasted.
it seems to come up every now and then, just pray
veni, vidi, vernacular! I came, I saw, I said a few choice words
that things looks pretty damn cool.. i usually just use the AOL cds I get as projectiles.. Walmart had tons before they started offering their own internet service.. bah... they don't fly as well
\:-=( --- sad hitler
- Hi I'm Linus Torvalds and I pronounce Linux, Lih-nix..
The parent to this post WAS NOT submitted by King George II. It had no spelling or grammar errors.
Infuriate left and right
I've always said that the best way to hide something is to leave it out in the open. When I burn a CD with sensitive info on it, I just create an AOL label for it, and ta da, a CD people automatically ignore!
It works so good that I've had a few critical CDs thrown out!:)
dude the subject said the aol throne and i was thinking it would be like a toilet made of aol cds. then i came up with an ingenious idea. why not make up a bunch of bathroom aol stuff. an aol toilet. aol toilet paper. an aol plunger. shit like that. that would be good. it would provide aol with much needed advertising. because nobody knows what the fuck aol is. except that aol sends cds in the mail that you throw in the garbage. and that when you have a po box and you get a notice for mail and you have to wait fifteen minutes in line and what you get is an aol cd rom and that is really really really annoying. because you just wasted fifteen minutes of your valuable time. thinking you were gonna get mail. but instead you got an aol cd rom. which you put in the garbage. and it would send the correct message. that you put shit and piss into aol. and that is what you get out of it too. because aol sucks. it stands for always off line. or it stands for fuck you asshole. except then it would be called fya. but its called aol. oh well.
not recycle, which is all very well for dudes who collect AOL CDs. For myself I collect Windows (TM) OEM CDs. Our site licence doesn't require the CD in every hardware carton, and the dealers don't want them back. The house is now fully fitted with reflective fly curtains, and I don't need a throne, yet...
AOL is not sending their CDs fast enough for this trick, it would take years to collect enough.
There was this CD factory that we ran across once, and there was a large box of defective CDs on the sidewalk next to the garbage. We saved the CDs, and eventually got tired of the smell of microwaved polycarbonate, when it hit us - hey, don't we have a glue gun somewhere?
The best CDs are the ones with no paint around the hole. If you layer those up, two or three layers, make sure that what you see through the holes of the top layer is the shiny parts of the bottom layer - that way the whole wall is shiny, with no visible paint or anything.
Next time I'll do my ceiling:-).
I've got a lot of free stuff from AOL over the years.
I got a big box of floppies from them, 5.25 and 3.5 inch.
I got a whole bunch of CD's that I found useful as a substitute for diffraction gratings, as coasters, trivets, clay pigeons, table levellers, bird toys, et cetera.
I got lots and lots of DVD cases, CD cases and fancy tins. I also got some cool pseudowood fliptop boxes from them recently.
It's so nice to receive such cool and useful stuff for free, without a subscription and all. And just when I think they've stopped I get more cool stuff in the mail!
Thanks, AOL!
I built an AOL cd launcher out of a slot load cd drive. Its very nifty. I had access to many aol cds back at a previous job and gathered some 5000, needless to say, they went quick. Kept shattering. But thats the aol quality.
Just a thought...
You can make an isodecahedron with just 50 AOL CDs. They make good lamp shade: http://vonmoo.com/gallery/aollamp.html
If I were to do this again, I would use adhesive spray to glue two CD's back to back for each side. This shade turned out a little too flimsy. I melted their edges together with a soldering iron. Don't use a soldering iron that you dearly love on this project.