Why?

Why when I buy a CFL does it come in a dangerous to open plastic container that does not appear to even be recyclable? The cardboard insert tells me that it is "better for the environment" but I just don't know when you throw in all the packaging. Is there a class action I can join somewhere for people who have been disfigured by the stupidly sharp plastic packaging that seems to be wrapped around everything these days. It seems like CFL packaging is a step back from the old-school incandescent light bulb packaging of yesteryear.

Compact discs ditched the excessive packaging years ago. Why can't others follow suit? At least if a manufacturer is going to wrap their packages in layers of plastic crap they could try to make it look pretty (like Apple).

IM client with different statuses based on group?

This might not be possible with the protocols in question, but is there an IM client that would allow me to have different statuses for different groups?

For example:

1) friends: available and willing to talk
2) brother-in-law: busy
3) client #1: not logged in
4) client #2: busy

I made the mistake of giving a client my personal IM information and now I can't use IM because every time I log in, they start chatting with me...There's some stuff in gmail chat where I can block certain people, but I'd like to be able to toggle it. Preferably for AIM.