Hal, the Final Chapter, or 'How to destroy a hard drive'
Second in a two-part column on Dr. Fleet’s computer adventures
Hal had given way to Dell and languished alone in my workshop, awaiting his fate.  I had read articles about hackers breaking into discarded computers to retrieve sensitive data even when it had been deleted. I checked with my great-nephew computer guru, John.
“Oh yes,” he said.  “Anyone can restore files in the recycle bin.  There’s nothing to it.”
 “Then it would be a good idea to erase my hard drive.” 
He agreed.

The 'on' button's just the beginning
The only thing more unreasonably stubborn than a computer is an old superannuated mule on our farm. In retirement, I had to type my own correspondence and using a typewriter proved much more difficult than I had remembered.  It soon became clear that I needed a computer at least for word processing. My nephew had replaced his laptop that winter and gave me his old one as a Christmas gift (a hand-me-up).  After Christmas it sat for a day or two, sleeping in its case waiting for the touch of a human hand.

Mississippi summers and mosquito bait
We are having summer doldrums with a vengeance this year. It seems to have been uncomfortably hot for months or maybe years. I have trouble remembering when it wasn’t almost unbearable. But then my memory isn’t so great anymore.
But I do remember summers in my childhood. The Mississippi delta country is hot and humid from May to October. ... People had two choices in summertime: to stay indoors and swelter or to go outside and become mosquito bait and swelter.