by Matt Bird

Created on: July 18, 2010

Though they've backed off in recent years, AOL was well known for a long time as the ultimate in uselessness through their mass creation of promotional CDs. Distributed by the millions and used maybe three or four times by an increasingly annoyed population, these CDs nevertheless managed to provide entertainment to some budding artists and creative souls. When you're given a bunch of free CDs you don't want to use for installation purposes, you may as well go nuts with them, no?

Here are some neat ideas for those who want to put AOL CDs to good use. Some are practical, others... well, you'll see.

- First up, you can use AOL CDs to decorate your walls. Simply flip the CDs over and place them in patterns on the wall of choice, attaching them with a thumbtack or a small nail. You can create all sorts of funky designs by doing this, and the room will look rather stunning when it's filled with light or sunshine.

- Affix them to the wheels of your car. Be careful not to puncture your tires, mind, but using an adhesive to fix them in place will give off a really cool effect when your tires are in motion. This same goes for bikes, though be careful not to get them clogged in the gears.

- Use them as coasters. Simple and rather effective, really, and they'll cost less than actual coasters. Keep them on a CD spindle when not in use.

- Use them as frisbees. This isn't recommended for animals, who may injure themselves by biting the things, but humans should be perfectly safe whipping a CD or two around. They get some decent air.

- For that matter, use them as throwing stars. Use a precision cutting machine to carve notches into the perimeter of the CDs.

- Affix them to the bottom of your shoes and use them as a form of skates, sliding across icy surfaces. Should work. They can also make reasonable snowshoes or, if attached to long, thin strips of wood, cross-country skies.

- Ever seen those toy guns which fire foam discs? Supersize that and make it for firing off CDs. Just... be sure to keep the rate of fire down, or you might seriously injure someone. (Although, seriously, combining this with the ninja stars idea would be AWESOME.)

- And, last, use them to create a suit of armor. Overlap the CDs and link them together with plastic or metal rings, then wander about town with your full suit of AOL mail and blind all who see you. Extra points if you create a sword and shield to go along with your snazzy new getup.

The possibilities are endless, really. So long as you can apply a creative mind and hand to your useless AOL CDs you'll discover that they can do just about anything - that is, aside from helping your computer.

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