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Farewell to a St. Louis Christmas tradition

Dave Farquhar Toy trains May 24, 2013February 22, 20221960s, 1980s, american flyer, christmas, lionel, New Year, shrewsbury, toy train, train layout, video game

I saw something sad in the papers this week: Macy’s is closing its downtown St. Louis store, the former flagship Famous-Barr (or Famous and Barr, if you’re old enough) store.

And that means this past Christmas was the last Christmas for the American Flyer storefront Christmas layout. Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Value Village and Affton could be very good for one another

Dave Farquhar St. Louis April 23, 2013April 21, 2013amiga, commodore, estate sales, garage sale, hardware store, shrewsbury, Value Village

There’s a Value Village thrift store in Shrewsbury that’s being displaced because the plaza it’s in–the same place I used to go to buy Commodore gear–is going to be demolished to make way for a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Whether Shrewsbury needs a Wal-Mart Supercenter when there’s one six miles away is another question for another day.

Value Village needs someplace to go, and Affton has an available retail space that’s been empty since the hardware store previously occupying it went out of business more than a year ago. County councilman Steve Stenger (D-Affton) wants to block the move, essentially saying that Affton is too good for a place like Value Village. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Busted at the Safeway for phone phreaking

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, security August 11, 2012July 4, 20181980s, 1990s, bbs, certifications, commodore, juvenile detention, phone phreaking, phone service, shrewsbury, watson, watson road

Software developer, author, and blogger Jeff Atwood wrote his confessions of the 1980s this week. As a teenager and not-quite-adult, he was a phone phreaker.

More of this went on than anyone wants to admit. Rob O’Hara has podcasted about it. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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