Kansas City Archives

Why do European trains look so much better than U.S. trains?

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized January 24, 2012January 26, 20121950s, Kansas City, KCS, New York, New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, Spare Parts, Union Pacific

I guess there’s something floating around Facebook right now comparing sleek, elegant European trains against clunker, junky trains that roam the rails in the United States. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve already had some questions about it.

There was a time when U.S. trains were pretty bleak to look at, but that time isn’t now.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Albert Pujols, mercenary

Dave Farquhar Baseball, St. Louis December 9, 2011Babe Ruth, Bruce Sutter, Cal Ripken, california angels, cardinals, Carlos Beltran, Kansas City, mercenary, New York, PIP, Stan Musial, Ted Williams

I’m a Royals fan living in St. Louis, so my perspective on Albert Pujols has always been that he’s the one who got away. He went to high school and college in Kansas City, but somehow Royals scouts overlooked him. The Cardinals signed him, and he became a once-in-a-generation player. Even if he never plays another game in the majors, he’s a lock for the Hall of Fame.

Fans loved him, because, well, who doesn’t like a guy who hits .299 with 37 home runs and 99 RBIs in the worst year of his career? He’s always been detached and distant, but St. Louisans will forgive that for wins and numbers. He talked about being a Cardinal for life, but then St. Louis woke up on Thursday morning, drove to work, and found out on the rush-hour radio that he was gone, signed to the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim, the Tikki Tikki Tembo Nosa Rembo Chari Bari Ruchi Pip Pen Pembo of baseball.

Dave Farquhar

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What do you have against Frank White, Mr. Glass?

Dave Farquhar Baseball December 4, 2011April 15, 2017Kansas City, kansas city royals, Major League, Major League Baseball, PR

The Kansas City Royals didn’t exactly fire Frank White this week. They just dumped him like last week’s garbage.

And that’s a completely classless act, given Frank White’s history with the franchise. Frank White literally helped build Royals Stadium–now Kauffman Stadium. He worked on the stadium construction crew as a teenager. He went to the Royals baseball academy, worked through the Royals’ minor league system in three years, then played 17 years for the Royals at second base, winning 8 gold gloves, appearing in five All-Star games, and hitting cleanup in the 1985 World Series. He did everything the team ever asked of him, and he did it well. After his playing days were done, he came back to the Royals in 1997, where he’s done various jobs but has rarely been appreciated.

Dave Farquhar

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Mazzarro: A never-give-up story

Dave Farquhar Baseball June 13, 2011June 13, 2011california angels, cleveland indians, Kansas City, kansas city royals, Major League

Last night, Vin Mazzarro pitched 7 shutout innings for the Kansas City Royals.

Normally, that’s not exactly news. Seven shutout innings is commendable, but it’s 9 innings (a complete game) that makes it newsworthy. And maybe that’s why not a lot of people noticed it.

Dave Farquhar

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If you’ve been delaying upgrading your network, keep delaying

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking May 31, 2011cat5, cat5e, d-link, intel, Kansas City, netflix, netgear, VHS, wi-fi

If you’ve been procrastinating about deploying 450-megabit (802.11n) wi-fi to your house, I have a reason for you to procrastinate a while longer: Gigabit wireless (802.11ac).

It’s only about twice as fast as its predecessor, which pales next to the 8x improvement 802.11n provided over 802.11g, but if you’re wanting to stream HD media through your house, you’ll notice the difference.
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Dave Farquhar

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Traditional baseball uniform numbers

Dave Farquhar Baseball May 15, 2011Babe Ruth, Kansas City, kansas city royals, Philadelphia Phillies

We were watching How Do You Know? on DVD this weekend, and I had to point out something that wasn’t realistic. The main characters were pitchers for the Washington Nationals, and a pitcher warming up was wearing number 8. Pitchers don’t wear number 8, I said.

Why?

Dave Farquhar

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Random thoughts from the day after bin Laden died

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized May 2, 2011IRS, Kansas City, Kansas City Star, mortgage, New Orleans, New York, trolls

It was 9:15. I was tired. I’d been reading, then I went to my computer to check baseball scores. I saw that the president had called a press conference for 9:30 CST, with no indication what it was about. 9:30 PM on a Sunday night isn’t when you usually call press conferences, and there’s usually some indication what the subject will be. I was curious enough to click around to see what was going on, but when I didn’t find anything right away, I went to bed.

This morning I woke up, went straight to the Kansas City Star’s baseball page to get an account of last night’s Royals-Twins game, and out of the corner of my eye, spotted the last headline I ever expected to read: “The Raid that Killed bin Laden.” What? Beneath it was a similar headline. I clicked, read the first two sentences to make sure I was reading the right thing, then raced into the bedroom, where my wife was getting our two sons dressed.

“They got bin Laden,” I said. And she did the same double-take that I did, and made me say it again.

Dave Farquhar

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My connection to the new center of the U.S. population

Dave Farquhar Genealogy March 25, 2011March 27, 2011ancestor, brothers and sisters, Kansas City, Missouri

The new population center of the United States is a town I’m sure you’ve never heard of before, though I have. It’s Plato, Mo., a town 22 winding miles southwest of Fort Leonard Wood. The population is 109, up from 74 in 2000.

As you approach Plato from the east on Missouri 32, you pass a road on the right called Groves Drive. My great grandmother was a Groves. The next street on the right is called Kimrey Drive. My great grandfather was a Kimrey. They both lived and died in Plato. I’m probably exaggerating if I say I’m related to all 109 residents of Plato, but I’m related to a sizable percentage of the people who live there, and perhaps an even more sizable percentage of the people buried in the cemetery there.
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Dave Farquhar

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A Syrian-American’s view of current events in the Middle East

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized February 11, 2011February 11, 2011Kansas City, kansas city royals

Rany Jazayerli is a Syrian-American dermatologist, baseball fan, writer, and blogger. Not necessarily in that order. I’m familiar with him because he writes about the Kansas City Royals a lot. But every once in a while, he writes about something else.

His perspective on Egypt is interesting. It’s not what we’re used to hearing here in the States, and for that reason alone, it’s worth reading. You’ll probably find yourself agreeing with parts of it and disagreeing with parts of it, but there’s a very good chance a lot of what you’ll read will be things you’ve never heard before.

Dave Farquhar

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Redemption in Kansas City

Dave Farquhar Baseball February 2, 20111980s, Billy Butler, Kansas City, kansas city royals, prison, willie wilson

When I was a young kid, my dad’s favorite baseball player was George Brett. Anyone who saw Brett play knows why. Dad’s second-favorite player was debatable, but it was probably Willie Aikens.

Well, until the scandal.

Dave Farquhar

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