leaks Archives - The Silicon Underground

Water seepage in basement: Five fixes

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 16 May 2017 11:00:02 +0000

It’s not uncommon for water seepage to happen at random places in basements, sometimes even in the middle of the floor. And the first thought that comes into most people’s heads is a sump pump, which is an expensive proposition. Here

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How easily can someone hack my home computer and steal personal information?

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 00:57:09 +0000

On Monday, March 13 at approximately 10:30 AM CST, I will be appearing on KFUO Radio’s Faith and Family program to discuss home computer security with host Andy Bates. Here’s the scariest question he’s planning to ask: How easily can someone

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Fix a Roland XP 50 with no sound

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 12:00:03 +0000

One of my sons wants to learn to play piano. It just so happens I own a Roland XP 50 keyboard that I kept in storage for a number of years. It didn’t work when we hooked it up, but we

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How to fix a garbage disposal

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 11:00:20 +0000

If your garbage disposal quit suddenly, don’t fret. We’ve all been there. There are three common ways to fix a garbage disposal and none of them require any special tools. Reset it You should always try the simplest fix first.

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Why to avoid a flexible p-trap

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 11:00:42 +0000

I guess it was inevitable that someone would make a flexible p-trap out of expandable, accordion-style pipe. I’ve written about that stuff before, and you definitely don’t want your p trap to be made of it. The argument for them usually

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High side vs low side

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 12:00:50 +0000

The other day I heard a reference to the “high side vs low side” of a computer system in a podcast, and the speaker didn’t stop to clarify. Worse yet is when you hear “on the low side” or “on

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What the NSA can crack, and how to protect against it

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 11:00:51 +0000

Ever since the Snowden leaks, there’s been considerable speculation about what cryptography the NSA could break, and why. Finally, there’s a study that goes into deep detail about what it is the NSA probably can break, and why, plus how

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My garbage disposal adventure

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 13:02:57 +0000

Changing a worn-out garbage disposal can be a 10-minute job–assuming you anticipate everything, use the same brand as the old one, you know what you’re doing, and the person who installed the old one was at least as competent as

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Hillary, hackers, threats, and national security

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:00:18 +0000

I got a point-blank question in the comments earlier this week: Did Hillary Clinton’s home-made mail server put national secrets at risk of being hacked by our enemies? Depending on the enemies, maybe marginally. But not enough that any security

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9 things your landlord won’t tell you: A rebuttal

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 11:00:40 +0000

My wife found an unflattering piece about landlords in the Huffington Post titled 9 things your landlord won’t tell you. This sorry excuse for an expose just makes accusations, without backing any of it up. I’m a landlord. Here’s what

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