Author: Dave Farquhar

Who is Honus Wagner?

Dave Farquhar Baseball
Who is Honus Wagner?

Let’s play Jeopardy. The answer: This Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop is the subject of the most valuable baseball card ever made, and one of the rarest. The question, of course, is: Who is Honus Wagner?

But there was more to Wagner than just that baseball card, though that baseball card is a story that captivated generations.

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Living mortgage free for a better life

Dave Farquhar Saving money
Living mortgage free for a better life

Living mortgage free isn’t a pipe dream, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to live in a hovel to achieve it. Ordinary people on ordinary incomes in ordinary homes can generally achieve it in less than seven years. I know, because my wife and I did it. Twice.

My wife and I live in a middle-class suburb in a good school district. By some standards our 1,600-sqft house is small, but we can live there comfortably as a family of four. It took sacrifices to pay off, but I wouldn’t call it extraordinary sacrifice.

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Scale of Marx trains and accessories

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Scale of Marx trains and accessories

What scale are Marx trains and accessories? Why, your favorite answer, of course: It depends. The scale of Marx trains and accessories varied, pretty widely. The reasons varied too. Here’s how they ranged, why, and what you can do about it, if indeed you choose to do anything about it at all.

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How to quit a fast food job

Dave Farquhar Careers
How to quit a fast food job

People frequently ask me for advice on how to quit a job, maybe because I’m a writer. But it’s only as hard as you make it. It’s possible to quit a job graciously and not destroy references you might need someday. In this blog post, I’ll explain how to quit a fast food job.

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Can Best Buy survive?

Dave Farquhar Retail
Can Best Buy survive?

Retail is taking a beating right now, thanks to online sales and an overall economy that’s just acting a bit weird. Best Buy had its struggles in the past, so that leads to a fair question. Can Best Buy survive?

I can see both sides of the argument.

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Apple II vs Macintosh

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Apple II vs Macintosh

The Apple II was one of the first mass-market computers, one of three announced and released in 1977. It proved successful, and Apple had a hard time following up on it. The Macintosh was the third attempt, and it eventually proved successful. Apple II vs Macintosh ended up not being much of a comparison. But it took a while for the Mac to catch on. Here’s what set the Mac apart from its widely successful predecessor.

The Mac, like most of the computers that followed it in 1985, ushered in a lot of changes from its predecessor. Technologically the Apple II was much closer to its main competitor, the Commodore 64.

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American Flyer 594 animated track gang with O gauge track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
American Flyer 594 animated track gang with O gauge track

The American Flyer 594 animated track gang is an interesting accessory. A.C. Gilbert released it in 1946 and 1947. Lionel reissued it in 2006. Although Gilbert marketed it for its S gauge trains, you can easily use it with 3-rail O gauge track. I’m actually disappointed that Lionel didn’t say how when it reissued this accessory.

What about scale, you ask? The figures are about 1½ inches tall, so they are much closer to O scale than S scale. So there’s no need to worry about that. It looks fine with O gauge trains. For that matter, it looks equally good with prewar or postwar O gauge trains. And it doesn’t look bad with S gauge trains either.

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How big are baseball cards? It varies.

Dave Farquhar Baseball
How big are baseball cards? It varies.

Baseball card sizes varied over the years, but if you’re asking how big are baseball cards, you’re probably thinking of the most common size. The most common size for baseball cards is 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches, the same size as a wallet-size photograph.

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Computers in 1980

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Computers in 1980

Computers in 1980 were rather different from computers of today. They could do the fundamental things a computer of today can do, but by modern standards, they were much smaller and less powerful. In the mid 1980s, Commodore Grace Hopper said we had the Model T, computing-wise. In 1980, we weren’t quite at the Model T yet.

Still, computers in 1980 were interesting. We’d never seen anything like them.

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Commodore 64 vs IBM PC

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing

The IBM PC and Commodore 64 were introduced about a year apart. The PC came out in 1981. The 64 followed in 1982.  They were two of the most important machines of the 1980s, and both have long legacies. Here’s the story of the Commodore 64 vs IBM PC.

Although the two machines share a legacy, for the most part they existed in different worlds.

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