h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's only a personal theory, but I am fairly sure that this extra matter consists of:
-single (ie unmatched) socks (at least 3 dozen which are mine)
-ditto for gloves, tennis shoes, and bikinis
-ball-point pens (tip o' the hat to D.A.)
-the body fat lost in a diet
-nuts and washers removed in the process of repairing some item, and they were just next to the bloody spanner a minute ago...
-b****r, the spanner's gone now!
-the loose change that falls down behind the sofa
-deleted emails
-missing issues from 'National Geographic' which means that no human being will ever have a complete set

Unforturnateley, my attempts to create a Grand Unified Theory of Lost Things are constantly interrupted by those pesky doctors and their damn prescription medicines.

All those suggestions would account for mearly a few thousandths of a percent of the total dark matter.

It is quite clear that the remainder is made up entirely of AOL Sign up CDs.

i believe i have them all... the AOL CD's. I initially started collecting the floppies; format it, slap a new label on it... blammo... you've just created a "Free Gift" from AOL. I never thought of it as stealing, just putting to use, something that would have been discarded.

Now i steal thier CD's

I've got a rare one bearing a copy of the dreadful version 2.0 (not to suggest in any way that there's a non dreadful version out there..). It has no printing, however it does contain a stylized "watermark" in the data surface of the cd. Because the 2.0 Installation file was only say, 4 MB, it took up very little of the data area.

Now... if you're still reading this, you obviously have much more time on your hands than most. You so far have learned a great deal of information about a collection of random ISP CD's. You are a better person... now, go away or i shall taunt you a second time.