      I had about 350 5.25-inch disks alphabetized in a giant
plastic case. They were mostly games, a few productivity
applications of the time that I never used and a nice little
collection of insidious apps that helped me do things way beyond
simple file transfers.  First there were the war dialers. These,
on the surface, were harmless applications simply designed to
scan the local telephone exchange for other computers. You'd
enter some parameters -- dial in this or that prefix only -- and
leave it running overnight. You'd wake in the morning to a
decent list of computers, hopefully BBSes. Then you'd dial each
one of them until you found a BBS that looked interesting,and by
"interesting" I mean filled with delicious warez.  Once you had
a couple prospects, you'd prove yourself to the SYSOP (system
operator) by uploading a choice piece of warez gratis. It would
have to be something he -- or she -- was specifically looking
for, so this would sometimes turn into a little side quest on
its own. Usually you cou