Remove any X files

rm -fvr .Xauthority .xscreensaver .thumbnails/ .qt/ .nx/ .local/ .g* .fontconfig/ .dbus/ .config/ \
.nautilus/ .icewm/ .libranet/ .kde .viminfo .xfce/ .Xresources .xsession .fluxbox/ .emacs.d/ \
.kderc .lesshst .*~ .*.real* .*.dpkg-new .elinks/ Desktop/ .Trash/ .tsclient/ .update-notifier/ \
.joe_state .macromedia/ .mozilla/ .pulse* .recently-used.xbel .selected_editor sent .cache/ \
.compiz/ .adobe/ .icons/ .ICEauthority .esd_auth .themes/ .xsession-errors .dmrc

Optional rtorrent Client

aptitude install rtorrent screen mc wget lighttpd gawk php5-cgi php5-common \
php5-sqlite php5-xmlrpc sqlite unzip php5-curl

The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gamin{a} libgamin0{a} libsqlite0{a} libterm-readkey-perl{a}
  libterm-readline-perl-perl{a} libtorrent11{a} libxmlrpc-c3{a} lighttpd mc
  php5-cgi php5-common php5-curl php5-sqlite php5-xmlrpc rtorrent sqlite

Package Administration

# Do a dist-upgrade with no input (all defaults)
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -q -y dist-upgrade

# Show installed packages by size.
# From: http://www.pixelbeat.org/docs/packaging.html
dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Installed-Size;10}\t${Package}\n' | sort -k1,1n

Clear denyhosts Settings

/etc/init.d/denyhosts stop
rm -f /var/lib/denyhosts/* /var/log/auth.log.*
echo -n > /etc/hosts.deny
echo -n > /var/log/auth.log
/etc/init.d/denyhosts start

Tar pipe over Netcat

On the receiving end do:
# nc -l 7000 | tar -xpf -

And on the sending end do:
# tar -cf - * | nc otherhost 7000

Install Unknown Apt Keys

# Permanently add sources.list key files:
for i in `sudo aptitude update 2>&1 | grep NO_PUBKEY | awk '{print $NF;}'`; \
do sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys $i; done
# Install any untrusted applications:
aptitude --allow-untrusted dist-upgrade

Fix emacs Backspace

Add following to /etc/emacs/site-start.el:
(normal-erase-is-backspace-mode 1) 

Synaptics Startup Script

cat <<EOF > ~/.config/autostart/set-synaptics.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.9.4
Type=Application
Name=set-synaptics
Comment=Tune touchpad
Exec=/usr/local/bin/set-synaptics
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Hidden=false
EOF
cat <<EOF /usr/local/bin/set-synaptics
#!/bin/sh
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" \
    "Synaptics Edges" 32 1752 5972 1620 5192
#    Default 1752 5192 1620 4236
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" \
    "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 8 0 0
xinput set-float-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" \
    "Synaptics Move Speed" 0.20 0.80 0.010 40
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" \
    "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 8 1 0 0
xinput list-props "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
EOF
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/set-synaptics

Flatten directory structure with hard links

find /mnt/bulk/videos -type f -print0 | xargs -0 -i'{}' ln '{}'

Disable Ubuntu Screen Locks

gconftool-2 --type boolean -s /apps/gnome-power-manager/lock_on_blank_screen false
gconftool-2 --type boolean -s /apps/gnome-power-manager/lock_use_screensaver_settings false