Apartment rental (Rev: 1.0)

A man met a beautiful lady, and she agreed to spend the night with him for $500. So, they spent the night together. In the morning before he left, he told the lady that he did not have any cash with him, but that he would have his secretary write a check and mail it to her, calling the payment "Apartment Rental".

On the way to the office, he regretted what he had done, realizing that the whole event was not worth the price. So, he sent a check of $250 and enclosed a note:

Dear Madam,

Enclosed you will find a check in the amount of $250 for the rental of your apartment. I am not sending the amount agreed upon because when I rented the apartment, I was under the below impression:

1. It had never been occupied
2. There was plenty of heat
3. It was small enough to make me cozy and feel at home

Last night, however, I found out that it had been previously occupied. There wasn't any heat, and that it was entirely too large.


Upon receipt of the check and note, the lady immediately sent back the following reply:

Dear Sir,

First of all, I cannot understand how you expect such a beautiful apartment to remain unoccupied indefinitely. As for the heat, there is plenty of it if you know how to turn it on. Regarding the space, the apartment is indeed of regular size. However, if you don't have enough furniture to fill it, please don't blame the landlord.

Kid courting story (Rev: 1.0)

Little Jack was 7 years old, and like other boys in his age, was rather curious. He had been hearing quite a bit about courting from other boys and he wondered what it was and how it was done.

One day, he took his questions to his mother, and she became flustered. Instead of explaining things to Jack, she told him to hide behind the curtains one night and watch his elder sister and her boyfriend. Jack did, and the following morning, Jack explained everything to his mother.

Sister and her boyfriend sat and talked for a while. Then, he turned off most of the lights and started to kiss and hug her. I figured sister must be getting sick because her face started to look funny. He must also have the same thought because he put his hand in her blouse to feel her heart beat, just like the doctor would. However, he is not as good as the doctor because he seemed to have trouble finding her heart. He was getting sick too because pretty soon, both of them started panting and getting out of breath. His other hand must have been getting cold because he put it under her skirt. About this time, sister got towards the end of the couch. This was when the fever started. I know it was a fever because sister told him she was really hot.

Finally, I found out what was making them so sick....a big eel had gotten inside his pants somehow. It just jumped out of his pants and stood there about 9 inches long. Anyway, he grabbed it in one hand to keep it from getting away. When sister saw it, she got really scared. Her eyes was big and her mouth fell open, and she started calling out to God and stuff like that. I should tell her about the ones I saw at the lake !

Anyway, sister became brave and tried to kill the eel by biting its head off. All of a sudden, she made a noise and let the eel go...I guess it bit her back. Then, she grabbed it with both hands and held it while he took a muzzle out of his pocket and slipped it over the eels head to keep it from biting again. Sister lay back and spread her legs so that she could get a scissor lock on it. He helped her by laying on top of the eel. The eel put up a hell of a fight. Sister started groaning and squealing, and her boyfriend almost upset the couch. I guess they wanted to kill the eel by squishing it between them. After a while, they both quit moving and gave a great sigh. Her boyfriend sat up and sure enough they had killed the eel...I knew it was dead because it just hung there limp and some of its insides were hanging out.

Sister and her boyfriend were a little tired from the battle, but they went on courting anyway. He started hugging and kissing her again. And by golly, the eel wasn't dead after all. It jumped straight up and started to fight again. I guess eels are like cats... they have nine lives or something. This time, sister jumped up and tried to kill the eel by sitting on it. After about 35 minutes of struggling, they finally killed the eel. I know it was dead this time because I saw sister's boyfriend peel off the skin and flush it down the toilet.

Mother fainted.

Secure delete data (Rev: 1.0)

When you delete your files or empty the Recycle Bin from a computer, the computer merely removes the references of the file from the file system table. Your files are still reside on the hard disk until another file is created over it. Your deleted files can still be retrieved using data recovery software or by studying the magnetic fields on the disk platter surface.

To prevent your hard disk data from falling into those malicious hands before you thrown it away, you can either physically destroy the hard disk by smashing it with a hammer, or use software to write over your data several times so that it cannot be easily retrieved. The more you overwrite your data, the harder it is to recover it. The United States Department of Defense recommends overwriting a hard disk at least 7 times.


MAC Operating System

1) Boot up your respective MAC machine using the Cheetah (10.0) or Puma (10.1) or Jaguar (10.2) or Panther (10.3) or Tiger (10.4) or Leopard (10.5) or Snow Leopard (10.6) or higher version CD/DVD by pressing c during startup to boot from the CD/DVD.

2) Launch Disk Utility.

3) Select the correct hard disk. Then, click on Erase tab and click on the Security Options. You will be provided with a list of options to erase your data securely. You can try the 7-Pass Erase option which meets the United States Department of Defense standards for erasing magnetic media.


If you just want to securely erase external media or memory cards, you don't have to boot up from the MAC CD/DVD. Just go to your Utilities folder and launch Disk Utility. Select the desired external media and click the Erase tab. Click on the Security Options. You will be provided with a list of options to erase your data securely.


Windows Operating System

The recommend free software to use are

a) Darik's Boot And Nuke (DBAN) 1.0.7 or higher version. It can boot up from floppy disk, CD, DVD or USB flash drive.


b) Eraser 6.0.1 or higher version for Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003/2008. After installing it, you can securely empty your Recycle Bin by right-click on it and choose from its comprehensive list. The 7-Pass DoD option is recommended.

Eraser can also be used to securely erases files, folders and drives (including those external hard disk or memory cards). After you have deleted the files from your hard disk, right-click on the drive in the Windows Explorer and select "Erase Unused Space".


Mobile Phones

ReCellular has a comprehensive resource on secure data deletion from phones made by Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and other major brands.


Windows Mobile Smartphones

If you lose your Windows Mobile-based phone and it is synced to Microsoft Exchange, you can do a remote wipe out of your phone. As a precautionary measure, you can enter incorrect PIN a few times to erase the smartphone memory.

Smartphones like HTC Touch Diamond are preloaded with an application that can do a "full reset" of the device, restoring it to its default settings and deleting all data and applications that you have installed.


iPhone 3G

If the iPhone is configured for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, you can perform a remote wipe out on the device. If you have enabled the Passcode lock feature, 10 failed attempts to access your iPhone will trigger it to erase your data.


References:

[1] Today (21 November 2008, B11, Tech, Remove data that just won't go away)

[2] Darik's Boot And Nuke (DBAN)

[3] Eraser

[4] Apple

Think creatively and innovatively (Rev: 1.0)

A blind boy was sitting on the steps of a building with a hat besides his feet. He held up a sign that said: 'I am blind. Please help'. There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by will see the new words. Soon, the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were going. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked: ”Were you the one who changed my sign this morning ? May I know what did you write on it ?”

The man said: “I only wrote the truth. I wrote what you said but in a different way. What I had wrote was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'"

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

There are at least 2 lessons that we can learn from this simple story:

1. Be thankful for what you have. Someone else has less or does not has it at all. Help whenever you can.
   
   
2. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently. There is always a better way to do things.