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Lessons from my son’s first Pinewood Derby

Dave Farquhar Parenting January 20, 2015January 17, 2015clearcoat, lionel, lionel train

One of my coworkers, a guy with an infectious laugh named Jamaal, organized a get-together on Friday. My boss asked me if I was going.

“Sorry, it’s my son’s first Pinewood Derby,” I said. I had to explain to my boss what that was–I don’t think he was ever a Cub Scout or Boy Scout–but he was intrigued.

For whatever reason, when I was a kid my dad didn’t take the opportunity to teach me as much as he could have when we built Pinewood Derby cars, but I told my boss the only good physics lesson I ever got in my life was when Dad explained to me how a Lionel train worked. Here’s something cool you can do with math and science, and I never had a teacher show me anything cool you can do with those two things. Read more

How to open an Asus Memo Pad 7 HD and fix the battery

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware January 19, 2015September 10, 2017asus, Asus Memo Pad, Asus Memopad, capacitor, capacitors, Memo Pad, power button

My son’s Asus Memopad 7 HD would not power up or charge, and my earlier non-invasive solution wouldn’t fix it. Here’s how I opened it up to disconnect and reconnect the battery.

Always try holding the power button and volume down button first because that’s easier (see the link above for details), but if that doesn’t work, proceed to open the case.

While you’re in there, you can also fix an issue that may be causing the power or volume buttons to be hard to press or malfunction entirely. Dropping the tablet a lot makes this happen. If you have young children, you probably understand.

Another malady these tablets can develop is a battery with a question mark when charging. This will sometimes fix that issue as well.

My fifth 1935 Goudey: Dazzy Vance

Dave Farquhar Baseball January 18, 2015January 10, 20151940s, cardinals, Goudey, Jimmie Foxx, Louis Browns, Major League, Major League Baseball, National League, Philadelphia Athletics, Washington Senators

As I mentioned before, four of my cards came in a single visit to a local baseball card shop. The nicest card in terms of condition that I bought in that four-card batch featured Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance, so overall it was probably the best card out of the batch as well.

Vance is the only Hall of Famer on this card, but the other three players certainly had interesting careers, even though 1935 wasn’t necessarily a highlight year for any of them.

My fourth 1935 Goudey: Ethan Allen

Dave Farquhar Baseball January 17, 2015January 10, 2015Babe Ruth, Goudey, Philadelphia Phillies, pittsburgh pirates

I picked up four 1935 Goudey cards in one swoop–something I don’t expect to repeat many more times while still buying locally–but I’ll write about the cards one at a time, starting with the cheapest card, which had an unexpected personal meaning, especially given that it contained no Hall of Famers and portrayed four Philadelphia Phillies players. Dad was from Pennsylvania, but he rooted for Philadelphia’s other team, the Athletics.

That card portrayed Ethan Allen, Jimmie Wilson, Fred Brickell and Bubber Jannard.

How to build a simple, inexpensive train table

Dave Farquhar Toy trains January 16, 2015January 10, 2019home improvement, train table

Building a train table doesn’t have to be a difficult or expensive proposition, but I realized this week I’ve never talked about how to go about doing it. Here’s how to build a simple, inexpensive train table.

I built my tables in an evening with a knowledgeable friend helping me, at a time when I knew little or nothing about tools and hardware. With the plans I’ll outline, someone with little or no knowledge could replicate those efforts in a couple of hours with no more tools than a saw, a drill, and a vehicle large enough to haul the materials.

Costs will vary, but this 4×8 table I’m describing would cost about $32 to build, using materials from your nearest home improvement center. If you’re lucky enough to live near a locally owned lumberyard, you could source materials from there as well, and probably get better quality. Read more

What to do with insanely fast routers

Dave Farquhar Hardware January 15, 2015January 16, 2015firewall, IDS, malware

I read a story last week about an insanely fast router that can run at up to 5.3 gigabits, far faster than even the crazy-fast gigabit Internet service that only a lucky few people are able to get. The article questioned what anyone would do with it.

Think beyond network speeds, though, and there’s a lot you can do with that power.

Non-competes and me

Dave Farquhar Careers January 14, 2015January 18, 2018information security

I’ve read the stories this week about how fast-food chains like Jimmy John’s are forcing employees to sign non-compete agreements.

I’ve been asked to sign a non-compete exactly twice in my career, and signed one once, but neither of them was back in my teenage fast-food days.

HP’s Stream Minis aren’t a new innovation but bring legitimacy

Dave Farquhar Hardware January 13, 2015January 10, 2015DisplayPort, hp, power savings, Stream Mini

Last week, HP introduced two new PCs, the HP Stream Mini and HP Pavillion Mini. They’re small, silent in the case of the Stream Mini, and cheap, starting at $180 for a Stream Mini with a 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU, 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage.

Motley Fool is asking if HP just invented a new category of PC. No, they didn’t–mini PCs have been around a long time, but previously they’ve been limited to the enthusiast market. Now there’s a big-name company with big-name retail distribution entering the market.

The Fujitsu Scansnap iX500 deserves its reputation

Dave Farquhar Hardware January 12, 2015January 10, 2015Microsoft Office, OCR, usb port

I don’t buy a lot of hardware anymore, but we purchased a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 document scanner this month. It has a fantastic reputation, and it only took an hour to live up to it for me.

The case of the fake 1935 Babe Ruth

Dave Farquhar Baseball January 11, 2015January 11, 20151980s, Babe Ruth, Fleer, Goudey, New Year, Topps

Quick: Why is it easier to find a 1935 Goudey Babe Ruth on Ebay than the 1935 Goudey card featuring four of his former Yankee teammates, the less-than-immortal Red Rolfe, Johnny Allen, Jimmie DeShong, and Dixie Walker?

Because Red Rolfe was more likely to end up clothespinned onto bicycle spokes, right? Right?

That’s likely, but definitely not the only reason. Read more