I can't find the link, but I remember reading an article a while back about utilizing the opening/closing of the CD drive to manually push the reset button on a server.
It was a sysadmin's story of how one of the servers needed a manual reboot every so often and it could only be done with someone physically being there to push the reset button. He set an old computer up with the CD drive directly facing the server's reset button. From there, he set up a cron job to send the "eject/close" command remotely whenever something went wrong with the other server.
Story ends saying that they no longer use that server, however that other computer just sits in the corner, faithfully ejecting/closing its CD drive to this day. Hopefully someone here can provide the link :)
Nonsense. Anyone who's ever experienced a cranky child and a wind-up rocker would gladly sacrifice a few kwh's for some peace and quiet! The fans in that old beast probably provide some nice soothing white noise as well.
I myself collect usb cdroms that no longer read correctly for use as impromptu servos. You just never know when you're gonna need your linux box to pull a latch or give something a nudge.