Smashing computers

I have always fancied connecting and sledgehammer and a computer, they seem like much less work than a wall and that the ensuing sound effects would be both satisfying and loud. This week I have been reading articles about what happens with old computers when you dispose of it and especially what happens to the hard disk. One of the options was, yes you guessed it, smashing it up with a hammer- which perhaps does not have the dramatic element of smashing it up with a sledgehammer but I am sure satisfaction would be great but is it really the best way to destroy the data?
One of the best tools available for wiping the data off hard drives is called "Darik's Boot and Nuke" or DBAN for short. You can download DBAN for free from http://dban.sourceforge.net/. Run this tool properly and give it the time it needs to go through the hard drive and the data is gone forever. We use a similar tool in our workshops called EBAN- according to our expert it “overwrites the entire hard drive with a pseudo-random pattern of numbers that makes it impossible for data to be recovered”. I’m not entirely sure what this means but for those who do understand these kinds of things I’m sure it makes sense.
So my plans for a sledgehammer will have to be shelved, instead Ida suggests I take up line dancing, Lydia suggests crochet, Faith suggests to wait for another opportunity to smash things. You will have to wait and see what happens....

Walruses

The topic for this afternoon in the office has been what would you do if you found a walrus on your bed? Your answer would clearly depend on personal sensibilities and level of silliness. I initially thought of selling it on Gumtree which would be both amusing and earn a little cash, another clear option is tickling it or even getting some kind of animal rescue to come and collect it. This question brought many thoughts to my head including; how would one get a walrus up stairs, what would be the point and the inevitability of someone purchasing said walrus on gumtree/eBay and it then being put onto the 6'o clock news. It is somewhat disgruntling to think that this kind of silliness raises more awareness about issues than all of our work. The BBC magazine recently commented on the prevalence of people giving up/taking up a year of something (credit cards, sex, saying no, ethical living) to make a point. I did briefly consider giving up computers but then realised 90% of my job is based on using my computer. After having my mobile mown over (by a lawn mower -seriously) I realised how much of my life is reliant on technology. I'm not sure I would be willing to live without it. One of our colleagues has returned from Tanzania with some amazing tales of the impact we are having but everywhere he visited there was a request for more computers. Very excitingly Llyods Pharmacys have donated 700 PC's which will no doubt go some way to fufilling the requests however there is such a hunger for learning in Africa that there will always be more schools to send to.