Here's a listing of all the scripts loaded by Magento by default:

../js/prototype/prototype.js    //prototype library
../js/prototype/validation.js   //don't know what this does
../js/scriptaculous/builder.js  //don't know what this does
../js/scriptaculous/effects.js  //base scriptaculous effects library?
../js/scriptaculous/dragdrop.js //component of scriptaculous effects
../js/scriptaculous/controls.js //not sure?
../js/scriptaculous/slider.js   //more scriptaculous effects
../js/varien/js.js          //don't know what this is
../js/varien/form.js        //form validation scripts?
../js/varien/menu.js        //menu/drop down menu scripts
../js/mage/translate.js     //don't know what this does
../js/mage/cookies.js       //don't know what this does

these scripts total 316.8K of javascript... all in various states of being minified (for example, prototype.js isn't minified).

So my first question:

1) Aside from prototype.js, are all of the others really that needed?

and

2) What is the "correct" way to remove these scripts? Layout updates? Or hardcoded in templates?

I want to make the loading of my magento site as light weight as possible.

thanks!