Author: Dave Farquhar

Why I’m not allowed to buy detergent

Dave Farquhar Humor/Satire
Why I’m not allowed to buy detergent

Sunday morning, we ran out of detergent, so I ran to Family Dollar to get some. Good miser that I am, I bought the cheapest bottle I could find. It came in a purple bottle, and it was a brand I’d never heard of.

That night, my wife informed me that I’d bought fabric softener rather than detergent. It’s at least the second time I’ve done that. You’d think I’d learn. Well, maybe someday. Not that day. Read more

Visit your layout with a cheap camera

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains

I’ve seen a number of videos lately made by people putting dashboard cameras on their trains, which gives a view of a layout that we don’t usually get to see–the view from the trains themselves. I’ve found a cheaper option. Hit up Ebay for an SJ4000 camera, which, if you sort the buy-it-now listings, you should be able to get for less than $20.

If that’s too rich for your blood, look for the Mini DVR 808, which is keychain sized and costs more like $5.

Don’t expect the world for that kind of money, but you can get a surprisingly good view of your layout from a perspective you’ll never see in person with one.

It’s not quite like getting to ride in your trains, but it’s not bad, either.

A weak VPN isn’t necessarily better than no VPN

Dave Farquhar security , ,

A Slashdot story last week discussed how 90% of all SSL VPNs use weak, obsolete encryption. And one comment said, “So? A weak VPN is better than no VPN.”

Not necessarily.

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The indestructible Marx motor

Dave Farquhar Toy trains

Want to hear a Marx story? Of course you do. Early this month I bought an early basket-case Marx 999 and some scale cars that obviously were stored for decades in a garage or attic exposed to humidity and temperature extremes. There was rust all over the place, to the point where the rust had bound some parts together. Paint was flaking off.

The locomotive itself had all of those problems too. Plus two driver wheels, their bearings and axle, and a gear were missing. What was left of the motor felt seized up. I spun the armature with some pliers to free it, and then I put a bit of oil on the parched, dried-out felt wick around the armature. You know what I was thinking.

Of course this poor, neglected motor wasn’t going to run. Motors this neglected and abused never do. But still, I had to see if it had any life left in it. I got out my spare transformer and clipped two test leads to it. I clipped the black terminal to the frame of the motor and the red terminal to the pickup shoe. I applied power, and that motor proved me wrong. It ran really well.

It doesn’t happen this way every time, but it does more often than not.

So what did I do with this motor? I had another 999 motor that was missing some parts, so I was able to combine the two to get one working motor.

Why Bowman sold out to Topps, or how Topps bought Bowman

Dave Farquhar Baseball , , , , , ,
Why Bowman sold out to Topps, or how Topps bought Bowman

Virtually every schoolboy who is interested in baseball cards knows the story of how Topps bought Bowman. After World War II, Bowman was the leading brand of baseball card, or, at least from 1948 until 1951. Then, in 1952, Topps released its landmark 1952 set. Bowman and Topps battled for baseball fans’ nickels and pennies until 1955. Then, in early 1956, Topps bought Bowman, and that was the end of Bowman until the late 1980s, when Topps dusted off the brand name and started issuing Bowman cards again. And Topps faced precious little competition in the baseball card field until 1981, when Fleer and Donruss won the right to produce cards.

That’s the story as I knew it. But there’s a lot more to the story, starting with the details of the purchase. In January 1956, Topps bought its once mighty rival for a mere $200,000. Normally a company sells for 10 times its annual revenue, and Bowman had sold $600,000 worth of baseball cards alone just two years before. The purchase price makes no sense, until you dig a bit deeper.

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Estimating the value of a Marx train

Dave Farquhar Toy trains , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

One of the most frequent questions I see or receive directly about Marx trains is what a Marx train is worth, or the value of a Marx train. Of course without seeing the train, it’s nearly impossible to give a good estimate, but there are some general rules that you can follow, either to protect yourself as a buyer, or to keep your expectations realistic as a seller.

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Fix a Marx 999 that derails a lot

Dave Farquhar Toy trains , , , ,
Fix a Marx 999 that derails a lot

Marx’s most popular locomotive might be the 999, because it can pull anything Marx made–6-inch tin, 7-inch tin, 3/16-scale tin, 4-wheel plastic, and 8-wheel plastic–without looking out of place. It really only has one problem: The front trucks on many 999s are prone to derailments.

Counterintuitively, the fix for a 999 is the opposite of how you fix the same problem on many other O gauge electric trains.

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The Marx 21 Santa Fe diesels

Dave Farquhar Toy trains , , , ,
The Marx 21 Santa Fe diesels

In 1950, Marx introduced the largest locomotive it ever made, the Marx 21 Santa Fe diesel. Marx made both powered and unpowered versions, and they were dressed up in the same warbonnet scheme as Lionel’s iconic F3 diesels, but unlike Lionel’s effort, they were nearly 1:48 scale (proper for O gauge) and made of metal.

Marx only made them for two years.

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Why to change forum passwords right now

Dave Farquhar security

If you regularly visit forums online, particularly forums powered by the forum software Vbulletin, you ought to change your forum passwords right now. The longer and more random you make them, the better.

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407 error in Java with Forcepoint

Dave Farquhar security

I had a Java app pointing at a Forcepoint (formerly known as Websense) proxy server. The proxy server wasn’t working, at least not consistently, and the app was giving me a 407 error. Here’s a workaround for this weird intermittent error. Intermittent problems are always the toughest ones to solve.

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