Author: Dave Farquhar

Will baseball cards ever be valuable again?

Dave Farquhar Baseball, Investing
Will baseball cards ever be valuable again?

“Will baseball cards ever be valuable again?” someone asked me recently. The answer is that it depends. Not all cards were valuable in the first place.

Part of the problem is there was a time when 90% of boys collected cards. Now they don’t. Prices dropped due to simple supply and demand.

Read more

Is CISSP worth it?

Dave Farquhar security , ,

Once people finish asking me how hard CISSP is, they often follow up with another question: Is CISSP worth it? As long as you have something to back it up with, I think the answer is a resounding yes.

Read more

How DDoS attacks work

Dave Farquhar security , , , ,

Yesterday, half the Internet was broken. I knew something was wrong when I couldn’t get into Salesforce to check on a support ticket for my biggest customer. Another member of my team sent us a warning that a big DDoS attack was happening, and not to count on being able to issue very many quotes today. So what, exactly, is a DDoS attack and how do DDoS attacks work?

I suppose there’s another question to ask too: What can you do to avoid being part of the problem? We’ll save that for the end.

Read more

Remove paint from metal

Dave Farquhar DIY

A lot of people know you can remove paint from metal with oven cleaner. What you may not know is that there’s a cheaper way that works just as well.

Read more

An LCD monitor for retro computing

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing , , , , , ,
An LCD monitor for retro computing

Purists prefer CRT monitors for a more authentic experience, but if you don’t mind an LCD, here’s a good LCD monitor for retro computing. Look for a Dell 2001fp manufactured in June 2005 or before. For bonus points, try to find one with a soundbar.

Read more

How hard is CISSP?

Dave Farquhar security , ,

CISSP difficulty is one of the most frequent questions I get once someone finds out I have it. “How hard is CISSP?” or “Could you pass CISSP again?” are two questions I get a lot.

They’re fair questions, and the answer is, it depends. But I can help you figure out the answer for yourself.

Read more

Cordless phone frequencies

Dave Farquhar security
Cordless phone frequencies

If you are wondering about cordless phone frequencies, there are seven bands that have been in use since the 1980s. You can still buy phones for four of those frequencies.

There are two reasons to be concerned about a cordless phone’s frequency. The first is interference. Some phones interfere with other devices, such as wi-fi. The other reason is security.

Read more

Wire a ceiling fan with light to one switch

Dave Farquhar DIY, Landlording , , ,
Wire a ceiling fan with light to one switch

People frequently wire a ceiling fan with a light to two light switches. That way they can control the fan with one switch and the light with the other. But what if the room has only one switch and you have to wire a ceiling fan with light to one switch? You can still do it. You just have to know what to do with the fan’s red or blue wire.

Read more

When a ceiling light fixture doesn’t work

Dave Farquhar DIY, Landlording ,
When a ceiling light fixture doesn’t work

If your ceiling light fixture doesn’t work, let’s talk about one I worked on last weekend. It wasn’t my first time doing that. I ended up replacing the fixture, but then I fixed the broken fixture afterward.

Read more

CISSP continuing education

Dave Farquhar security , , ,

Besides work experience, I probably get more questions about CISSP continuing education than anything else CISSP-related. Fortunately, keeping your CISSP can be a lot cheaper and easier than getting it in the first place was.

CISSP continuing education is measured in CPEs. You get one CPE per hour of “study.” Study is a pretty loose term. If you’re learning about security, you can probably find a way to make it count. You need to get 40 CPEs per year.

Read more