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A penny-book author’s take on secondhand sales, physical and digital

Dave Farquhar Copyright March 9, 2013January 23, 2022margin of safety, supply and demand, Wayne Wesolowski

There was talk on Slashdot on Friday about reselling digital media, and typical sky-is-falling predictions saying that secondhand sales will drive down prices and drive artists out of business. “Look!” some say. “There are used books on Amazon that sell for a penny!”

Yes there are. My book was one of those, until Windows 95 became old enough that retro computing enthusiasts became interested in it. Now when I want to buy a copy, I have to compete with those hipsters. But you know what? Copies of my book selling for a penny never bothered me. I’ll tell you why.

A not-quite-heir to the Model M

Dave Farquhar Hardware March 8, 2013March 7, 20131980s, 1990s, DEC, IBM, model m, XT

So today I came across the story of a new Cooler Master keyboard, which claims to be very IBM Model M-like, but with modern styling and conveniences.

The verdict is that this keyboard is even stiffer than the Model M, which raises a question that not many are asking. Maybe I’m showing my age and everyone else is too young. But to me, the obvious question is how the Cooler Master CM Storm and its Cherry MX green key switches compare to the Model M’s predecessor, the IBM Model F? Read more

Remember: Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized March 7, 2013Daylight Savings Time

Remember, in most parts of the United States this weekend marks spring-forward time, which means Monday will be the worst Monday of the year since you’ll still be adjusting to a new sleep schedule.

Due to my oddball work schedule, I have Friday off, so I’m actually going to start trying to adjust a couple of days early.

Personally, I wish we would just pick one clock or the other and observe it year-round, but since nobody asked me, I’m going to see what I can do to make the adjustment easier on myself, besides drinking twice as much coffee until I’m used to it.

My Zinio adventures

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized March 7, 2013March 6, 2013android, apple, Classic Toy Trains, Debit card, Discover Card, Fraud, psi, Steve Jobs

My Classic Toy Trains subscription lapsed. I decided I wanted to subscribe to the digital edition and see if I liked the paper reduction enough to live with the DRM restrictions. I can always switch back to paper next year, right?

So I went to Zinio.com and tried to subscribe, and had nothing but problems getting them to take my money.

How to pick a decent password

Dave Farquhar security March 6, 2013March 5, 20131990s, decent password, mainframe, password strength, passwords

Although I write about passwords about 8 times a week, it seems, it occurs to me that I haven’t–at least not recently, that I can find–written about how to make up a halfway decent password.

So, here’s how to make a decent–I won’t say great–password.

My youngest son learns the word “blankie”

Dave Farquhar Parenting March 5, 2013January 22, 2015

I have two sons. My youngest has been talking for a few months now, and learns a few new words every day. One day this past week, he learned the word “blankie.” It’s probably the most innocent word in the whole English language, but it’s the end of an era to me.

Let me explain.

Java’s been updated again. For the fifth time this year.

Dave Farquhar security March 4, 2013PST

Seriously, Java and Flash and Acrobat have been updated so many times this year, you could almost make a drinking game out of it. Java is on update number five for the year, and it’s only the first week of March.

Of course, if you uninstalled Java, you don’t have to worry about 0-day vulnerabilities or the patches that come afterward to prevent them. If you installed Secunia PST, you don’t have to worry about the updates; they come down automatically. The ideal thing is to do both.

Avoiding Craigslist rental scams

Dave Farquhar Landlording, scams March 4, 2013April 23, 2017interest rates, landlords, mortgage

The Consumerist posted five warning signs that a Craigslist rental listing is probably a scam. As a landlord looking on from that side of it, I generally agree with it. Here’s a landlord’s take on avoiding Craigslist rental scams.
Read more

Mimic Systems Spartan: Apple II emulator for the C-64

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 3, 2013June 24, 20241980s, apple, apple ii, atari, atari 2600, colecovision, collectibles, commodore, sears, spartan

The Mimic Systems Spartan was an elusive bit of C-64 hardware that made it Apple II+ compatible. It’s one of the more interesting Apple II clones of the 1980s. People thought of it as an Apple II+ emulator for the Commodore 64, though it wasn’t emulation in a modern sense.

Mimic Systems took out full-page ads in all of the Commodore magazines, starting in late 1984, promoting the product heavily.

The problem with it was that you couldn’t buy one, at least not in 1984 or 85. The Spartan finally appeared in 1986, and at that point, not many people wanted one anymore. So Spartans are exceedingly rare today.

But it actually seemed like a decent idea. In 1984, that is.

An SSD data loss issue–and how to prevent it

Dave Farquhar Hardware, security March 3, 2013August 3, 2017APC, capacitor, capacitors, data recovery, datacenter, infoworld, intel, MBR, ocz

Longtime reader Dan Bowman–probably my very first reader, come to think of it–sent in this article from Infoworld regarding SSDs and data loss in power failure.

It’s not theoretical. I’ve seen it. I also know how to prevent it.