knockoffs Archives - The Silicon Underground

Happy birthday, Rubik’s Cube!

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 20 May 2014 11:00:57 +0000

Rubik’s Cube turned 40 this week. In a reflection of how much faster the world moves today than it used to, I remember Rubik’s Cube from the early 1980s, when it was a big, national craze. I had no idea

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How to lower your train accessories into your table

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:58:33 +0000

One of the first articles I remember reading in a train magazine (I don’t remember if it was Classic Toy Trains or a competing rag) was titled “Put your accessories in pockets.” Basically, it advocated cutting holes in your table,

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The rise and fall of Shack, and how to fix it

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:13:45 +0000

Wired has a nostalgic piece on the not-quite-late, not-quite-great Radio Shack. I think it's a good article, but it glosses over part of the reason for the store's decline.

It blames computers.

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What’s wrong with American manufacturing and industry

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:04:33 +0000

I read a disheartening story today. It's the story of an entrepreneur, making models out of his garage and selling them. A competitor took a liking to his models and started selling crude copies of them, made in China. The competitor is so much larger than him, he can't afford to sue.

There's something even more sad than this story, however. It was some people's reaction to it.

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Dvorak is at least partly right about the gaming industry

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 03:53:13 +0000

The big-time gamers are all up in arms over John C. Dvorak's assertion that the game industry is dying. But he's right an awful lot more than he's wrong.

The games aren't nearly as original as they used to be.

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Tin litho buildings for a traditional pre-war train layout

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 11:00:49 +0000

It's time to come out of the closet. I'm sick of hi-rail.

Hi-rail, for the uninitiated, is the practice of "serious" model railroading in 1:48 or 1:64 scale using Lionel or American Flyer trains, respectively.

I find two things annoying about it: the snobbery and the price. If I'm gonna pay $100 for a train car, it'd better be older than me and it'd better still be worth that next week. But I found my way out.

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What day is it again?

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 28 Aug 2004 03:57:10 +0000

Passing a few minutes before a movie started tonight, my girlfriend and I went into a nearby store to look around. And what did we find?

Christmas stuff.

Am I smoking crack, or is it still August?

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What needs to happen for Linux to make it on the desktop

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 08 Apr 2003 03:31:14 +0000

I saw an editorial at Freshmeat that argued that there's actually too much software for Linux. And you know what? It has a point.

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Beware the leaky capacitors

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 08 Feb 2003 00:12:16 +0000

In case you haven't heard about it elsewhere, there are some recent motherboards having problems with leaky capacitors.

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