A free shell account provider operating out of Belgium. They provide 2Mb of storage, usable for files, webspace, and email. Much like yahoo, or the ilk, but much better. You can't access IRC, apparently due to the number of DDoSes against them. Speaking of DDoSes, their system isn't über-reliable, but it is free. If you like it, give them money.

How do you get an account? Go to their website, and sign up. Your request will be processed by a human who will decide if your stated reason for wanting the account is good enough. If you hang around long enough, and they like the look of you, you may apply for "trusted" status, allowing you to do things like access IRC.