A few of us were discussing minimal desktop environments the other day and I was reminded of the olden days when I used XFCE. I really liked the clean interface which did not display any desktop icons by default. Looking back on that I was reminded that it is an option available in Gnome as well, so here is how to do it.
Best Greasemonkey and Stylish scripts (both are Firefox extensions).
http://icehot.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/best-greasemonkey-and-stylish-scripts/
Remastersys is a tool that can be used to do 2 things with an existing Klikit or Ubuntu or derivative installation.It can make a full system backup including personal data to a live cd or dvd that you can use anywhere and install. It can make a distributable copy you can share with friends. This will not have any of your personal user data in it.
This a great how-to that gives you step by step instructions on how to create a custom Ubuntu live disc (of any flavour). The artical is a bit old (it refers to a flight cd for dapper) but the method is still the same for the latest release.