Erase? Of Course!

commenting on the Malaysian pilot's computer files:

"If the the computer has been intentionally wiped, then you know there is something that the owner of the computer wants to conceal from someone"

- Christopher Voss
former FBI Special Agent
one of the lead agents in the TWA 800 crash investigation 

You bet.  I use the open-source program Eraser to erase every file I intentionally erase.  You mean you don't?

I even erase innocuous files.  If I only erased files with private data, then someone hacking in would have an easier time figuring out what to try to unerase.  By erasing everything, I hope to add to a hacker's confusion.

And yes, I guess I'd have to confess that I erase my files because I own the computer and I want to conceal the files from pretty much everyone.  If I could figure out how to do it while still accessing the files for myself, I'd erase my current files.   Frankly it's none of their (whoever they are) business.

I also shred pretty much every piece of paper with my name on it or any information about me on it.

                                                                 

All Fools Day at the White House

Came early this year when the President declared April as National Financial Capability Month on March 29.

I call upon all Americans to observe this month with programs and activities to improve their understanding of financial principles and practices

Obama is lecturing me on financial responsibility?  Perhaps he'll teach me how to make and adhere to a budget?

So what's next?

Is John Boehner going to teach me how to use sun block?

Is Debbie Wasserman Schultz going to teach me how to comb my hair?

This is the second year of National Financial Capability Month.  We also had  National Financial Literacy Month in 2010 & 2011.

If you do not have a life, you can read all four:

April 2, 2010	-	2010 National Financial Literacy Month
March 31, 2011	-	2011 National Financial Literacy Month
April 2, 2012	-	2012 National Financial Capability Month
March 29, 2013	-	2013 National Financial Capability Month

So here is what I learned:

The debt at the end of March when each of these proclamations were made:

Year	Total Debt
2010	12,773,123,000,000
2011	14,270,115,000,000
2012	15,582,079,000,000
2013	16,687,289,000,000

So given we had a debt of 11,126,941 000,000 on  March 31 2009, the president called on us to become financially literate while the federal government was racking this sort of debt each year:

Year	Debt Increase	Debt Incr per Person *
2010	1,646,182,000,000	5487.27
2011	1,496,992,000,000	4989.97
2012	1,311,964,000,000	4373.21
2013	1,105,210,000,000	3684.03

* using a rough number of 300,000,000 people

So the federal government has increased the debt for each person in the U.S. by 18534.49.  Yep.  That's almost $20,000 even for your child sleeping in her cradle.

Here it is only 2-April.  I think my financial acumen has really grown.

Voodoo Rituals in Toyota Land

Consider the following.  A Voodoo ritual?  The secret code to find an Easter Egg in some new video game?  Nope.  Read and try to figure this out.  Then scroll down for the surprise answer.

1. Start with the driver door open and unlocked. Key out of the ignition
2. Insert the key and remove 2 times in 5 sec. Just insert and remove, do not turn the key
3. Close and open driver door 2 times in 40 sec.
4. Insert the key and remove it again from ignition. Just insert and remove, do not turn the key.
5. Close and open driver door 2 times in 40 sec.
6. Insert the key in ignition,
7. Close the door,
8. Turn to on and back to lock in 1 second intervals. 1 time for add, 2 times for rewrite, 3 for confirmation 5 for prohibition. (yes, there is no “4”)
9. Remove the key
10. Power lock will cycle to confirm
11. For add or rewrite mode within 40 sec of the confirmation,

Mouse over me for the answer

Here is the rest of the ritual. I hid this so it wasn't too obvious.

A. press “lock” and “unlock” buttons of the FOB at the same time between 1 and 1.5 seconds.

B. within 3 sec press “Lock” button for more than 1 sec and release.

C. If it’s correct, the power door lock will cycle once. If it’s wrong the door lock will cycle twice.

Ok, so here it is. Remember the Captain's Camry? Off to the great car wash in the sky. Well he found the key fob that locks/unlocks/opens the trunk etc. So he gave it to me. Mine is older but is the same platform so it seemed likely I could use it.

After a bit of internet searching, I came up with the above. Of course I was skeptical, but I gave it a try anyway. Voila! Now I have an extra remote that works with my car. Of course it is a remote I don't really need.

So my question is "Does Toyota really need to make it this complicated?" Perhaps so. But it seems to me that 1/2 the steps would be random enough to prevent accidentally entering this add a key fob modes.