A few cool resources I need links too. Gpart is a partition recovery program for when your primary partition table goes fubar. Filesystem support include everthing from ext2 and fat12 to QNX and BeOS. Anyone every buys used harddrives comes away amazed at the number of drives that simply have the partition table deleted.
If you want your data permanently deleted (i.e. almost NSA certified) check out Autoclave. Its a Linux boot floppy that allows you to choose the level of your hd wipe. Level 5 is 25 passes, some random, some patterned. Very, very perminate.
And what is possible the most enlightened usage of the internet I have seen in a long time check out The Map of Springfield. Yes, you can actually see a detailed map of the town the Simpson’s live in; complete with stores, buildings, and popular tourist attractions.