AOL, COD

In these troubled times, when there seem to be so many things to protest and so many folks exhorting you to write your legislator for one thing or another, it's good to see someone using the postal service for some really important social work: the banning and total de-proliferation of AOL CDs. At No More AOL CDs.com, you can find out where to mail your unwanted AOL CDs -- you know, the ones that fill your mailbox and your magazines, whether you want them to or, most likely, not -- to contribute to the noble effort of collecting a million of the darn things and dumping them on AOL's doorstep. At the site, which I see has been visited by hundreds of thousands more people than Mothers with Attitude has ever come close to attracting, you can also find fascinating bits of trivia (did you know that a million AOL CDs stacked would be higher than three Empire State Buildings? and don't you think you've received about that many in the past month?), AOL CD-inspired haikus, and clever photographic renditions of possible uses for the round plastic thingamabobs. It may not be as important as the IDEA re-authorization, or cloning, or vaccinations, or the plight of the poor, or the future of Iraq, but at least getting involved with this particular movement will help you get rid of some clutter. And that's a good cause, right?

Speaking of clutter, Julie Donner Andersen addresses the endlessness of housework and of her family's efforts to make it so in her latest "Therapeutic Laughing" column. She doesn't specifically mention AOL CDs, but you just know Teen Girl has about 50 of them under her bed.