Don't you hate it when some company sends you something you didn't ask for, out of the blue, and tells you that if you don't package it up and send it back, you'll have to pay for it? And if you don't send it back, they'll keep on sending you things you didn't ask for, and making you pay for them? If this isn't extortion, it's at least a shabby relative with ring-around-the-white-collar.

Yesterday's extortionist was Discover Magazine, which sent me the first disc in its new "Discover Magazine Ultimate DVD Library" (featuring a couple of repurposed science programs from public television). The DVD came in a big plastic case that I was instructed to discard if I decided to return the DVD in the enclosed Netflix-like paper envelope.

So it's blackmail and environmental irresponsibility—from a science magazine that should know better. Boo! Hiss! A big middle finger!