David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
Spray foam cans are expensive, and if you’re like me, they almost always clog up or dry out before you get a chance to use the whole can. In this blog post, I’ll tell you how to fix a clogged, dried out can of spray foam so you can use more of it and save time and money.
A common objection I hear to scanning systems with credentials is the fear of that account getting compromised. In this blog post, I will talk about ways to mitigate that risk using defense in depth. I will also explain why scanning with credentials is itself a vital component of defense in depth.
Marx thrived for years selling low budget electric trains with an inexpensive locomotive pulling 4-wheel cars made of plastic. The Rambler train set, part of its Great American Railroads series, carried catalog number 4336 and was the last of that breed.
The Marx Rambler train, set number 4336, was part of the Great American Railroads series. It had two variants sold by discount retailers, but only in 1974.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there about how to fix 3.5-inch floppy drives, especially the 1.44 megabyte format that was a fixture in PCs for nearly 20 years. Maybe everyone knows how to do it, but that won’t be true forever. In this blog post, I’ll record the secrets of fixing this enduring storage format, before they get lost to time.
If you are tired of getting phone calls and postcards from randos who want to buy your house or sell you stuff you don’t want, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is they are probably getting your phone number and home address just by searching Google. The good news is, there is a process to get your personal contact information removed from Google. In this blog post, I will walk you through the process.
W.T. Grant was once one of the largest retailers in the United States, operating for 70 years, from 1906 to 1976. Its decline was rapid and catastrophic, and had lasting implications we still feel decades later. When your favorite company’s stock drops after announcing quarterly results in spite of turning a profit, just because its sales didn’t grow as much as the previous quarter, you’re feeling the after-effects of W.T. Grant.
The Marx 4351 was a 4-wheel plastic set fronted by a 490 locomotive that came with a figure 8 of track and a set of paper buildings. Marx billed it as a complete train set with nothing more to buy. Depending on how you used it, they may have been right.
Lego string is priced to seem cheap, but the markup on it is tremendous. 50 cm of Lego string costs a dollar. 2 cents per centimeter. Can’t you hear a loudmouth pitchman exclaiming, ” That’s only $0.02 per centimeter! ” But you can do better. Here is how to save money by using a Lego string substitute. Because if there’s one thing better than 2 cents per centimeter, it’s getting the same thing for 5 cents per meter.
The Insignia RCA to HDMI converter or analog to HDMI converter is a convenient way to connect old devices to a new HDMI TV. I’ve reviewed it before, and I like it. In this blog post, I’ll talk about things you can try if you have an Insignia RCA to HDMI converter not working.
The Marx diesel freight train set number 8612 was a late 1950s electric train set featuring twin diesel locomotives pulling 6-inch freight cars. It’s an attractive set and a very good example of post-war tin lithography, which was becoming something of a lost art at the time.