This is what I did for my customer who wanted to use only email with no attachments via dial-up.

1. I started with a Knoppix 3.3 Live CD and an old Dell Dimension PC. I installed an Intel 536EP PCI dial-up modem card.
2. In Knoppix, I ran the script to install Knoppix to the hard disk. I chose KDE as the desktop environment.
3. Running Knoppix from hard disk, I downloaded, compiled and installed the Intel536-4.68 kernel driver.
4. Set up KPPP to access the dial-up Internet Service Provider.
5. Set up KMail to access the ISP's POP3 mail server and SMTP outgoing mail server.
6. Checked that the Konqueror web browser/file manager was able to access basic websites.
7. Installed an Epson C62 printer in the CUPS printer manager, which is accessed with Konqueror, using the URL http://localhost:631/
8. In CUPS printer manager, for the Epson C62 I chose Set Printer Options and Color Model: Greyscale.

An alternative to the Intel 536EP PCI card is a standard 56k serial modem, nice to have lights to look at while it is working. This lasted for 7 years with no problems, until replaced because the customer decided to do something else.

From the article: "Chinese people can write the most vitriolic blog posts about even the top Chinese leaders without fear of censorship, but if they write in support of or opposition to an ongoing protest—or even about a rally in favor of a popular policy or leader—they will be censored."

That is interesting. I am glad someone has discovered this. So perhaps the way to organise a protest, is to use secret messages coded in the form of vitriolic comments. Eg, "Mao Tsedong is an idiot" = Meet at Tiannamen Square.

'Scuse me, I did read the article!

Perhaps Malcolm Gladwell had better update his book, "The Tipping Point". It's about how fads, crazes and fashions take off. In the book, he doesn't mention people who remain impervious to such things. They are indeed an interesting group.

Say any more?

Are one-third of Hyatt customers are men staying on their own? Could it be that after they check in, a woman arrives, on her own, in very high heeled shoes, and after an hour in his room, she then leaves again, and doesn't stay for breakfast?

I prefer the classic Microsoft Natural Keyboard in grey. How can you stand your oversized N key?? Wow, look at this: USD 208.99 on eBay!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-in-Box-Microsoft-Natural-Keyboard-Elite-PS2-USB-Adapter-Ergonomic-Ergo-White-/330814626090?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item4d0616992a

Here's one I made earlier:
http://www.pjc.me.uk/ceefax/

...readily alter one's piratey-boat profile.

In Greek mythology, a satyr is a horse/goat-like creature that f***s everything in sight.

There might be evidence that some inmates go on to commit crimes that are related to their spell in prison. So ban prison.

I speculate that when we look up at the sky at night, it is full of steaming jungles crammed with giant insects.

My theory is it takes a heck of a big whack from a comet or something like that to get a living watery planet from one stable ecosystem to a new more advanced one. The trouble is, it has to be a whack of the right size. Big enough to do the job, not so big as to wipe all the life out completely.

It's easy to think that evolution happens gradually, like drips in a cave building stalectites. Well, it does, but the real action is when there's a huge flood. All those dinosaurs didn't give over gracefully. Their time would've gone on forever if something big hadn't come along to end it.

Imagine building a pyramid, but you can only build the next level if you throw 10 dice and they all come up 6. How many dice throws is it going to take? A lot, but it's mathematically guaranteed to happen and even though it is pretty unlikely, in our case it has already happened and here we are!