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Radio Shack fire chief’s helmet: a passive aggressive gift

Dave Farquhar Toys February 7, 2022April 4, 2026

One of my friends asked me about a toy space pistol his son found at a comic book shop that originally came from Radio Shack. I told him what I was able to figure out, and he said it made a pretty annoying noise. And that reminded me of my favorite toy when I was five. It was a Radio Shack fire chief’s helmet with a real working light and real annoying siren.

The Radio Shack electronic fire chief’s helmet boasted of a real rotating light and loud siren. Unfortunately, they forgot to recommend playing with it outside rather than indoors, which is probably why so many of them fell victim to sabotage and are scarce in working condition today.

Bing: Masters of Nuremberg lithography

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 3, 2022March 28, 2022

Bing was a long running German manufacturer of inexpensive tin toys. Like many of its competitors, they were based in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded by two brothers, Adolf and Ignaz Bing, they remained a family owned company from 1863 until their demise in 1933. Originally a maker of kitchen utensils, Bing became a pioneer in what we today call model railroading, creating the standards we today call O gauge and OO scale.

What does Unix like mean?

Dave Farquhar Linux February 2, 2022January 28, 2025

I used the phrase Unix like operating system in a discussion the other day and quickly realized and not everyone knew what I meant. So what does Unix like mean?

Line count in Notepad

Dave Farquhar Windows February 1, 2022February 1, 2022

Sometimes you need to count the number of lines in a plain text file. And sometimes notepad is all you have. Here’s how to do a line count in notepad.

Dorfan: Bleeding edge electric trains

Dave Farquhar Toy trains January 27, 2022March 31, 2022

Dorfan Manufacturing Company was a pioneering toy company specializing in electric and clockwork-powered toy trains. Diecast trains at that, which was state of the art when the company started in 1924.

Dorfan was an offshoot of the German toy company Fandor, founded by German immigrants Milton and Julius Forcheimer. They named the company after their mother and their aunt and were headquartered on Jackson Street in Newark, New Jersey, and operated from 1924 to around 1938.

Cyber Kill Chain vs Mitre ATT&CK

Dave Farquhar security January 26, 2022January 26, 2022

The Cyber Kill Chain, developed by Lockheed Martin, and Mitre ATT&CK (pronounced “attack”), are frequently compared, for obvious reasons. Both of them describe how adversaries attack computer networks. So when it comes to Cyber Kill Chain vs Mitre ATT&CK, which is better? It depends who’s asking.

National Lead Co, St Louis

Dave Farquhar St. Louis January 25, 2022July 14, 2024

From 1924 to 1979, National Lead Co operated a titanium dioxide plant at the confluence of River Des Peres and the Mississippi River, on the site of what is now River City Casino.

The street address had been 8900 South Broadway. The site was approximately 88 acres, bounded by River Des Peres on the north, the Mississippi River on the east, the Union Pacific railroad tracks on the west, and extending more or less as far south as Hoffmeister Avenue.

How to disassemble a Tandy 1000EX

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 24, 2022February 3, 2022

A Tandy 1000EX is harder to disassemble than a typical 1980s PC clone. And for as popular as this machine is, I couldn’t find any thorough explanation of how to do it. Even the 1980s service manuals for the machine gloss over or omit disassembly. So here’s how to disassemble a Tandy 1000EX, such as to give the case a thorough cleaning.

American Flyer Trainorama backdrop

Dave Farquhar Toy trains January 20, 2022March 3, 2022

The question of backdrops, especially for a tinplate layout, is always a difficult question. Lots of commercial backdrops are available today, but modern backdrops often look more appropriate with scale models than with a traditional toy train layout. American Flyer’s Trainorama is a potential solution that works well with prewar and postwar style layouts.

The American Flyer Trainorama was a 3D backdrop, 9 feet long, lithographed on heavy cardstock by Niagra Litho Company. Its catalog number was 790 or 791, and it was only available in 1953. The packaging was a large paper envelope.

MS-DOS 3.31: The DOS you couldn’t have

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 19, 2022October 12, 2024

When it comes to the best operating system to use for a vintage PC, if it has a 286 or better processor, there is little reason to use anything older than MS-DOS 5 or PC-DOS 5. But with an XT, it’s a little different. The best MS-DOS version to use is one you may have never heard of. MS-DOS 3.31 was an upgrade you couldn’t buy.