mizzou Archives - The Silicon Underground

Read this before you buy a car

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 11:00:01 +0000

My former classmate Judd Slivka, now a journalism professor at Mizzou, pointed me to Long-Term Quality Index, a long-term study of the reliability of used cars co-created by our fellow Mizzou alumnus Steven Lang. Judd called it an outstanding example

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Things I said at the Royals-Cardinals game last night

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 11:00:00 +0000

So last night I went to the Royals-Cardinals game in St. Louis with one of my best friends. Being a Cardinals fan, he doesn’t follow the Royals much, so I filled him in a bit. I told him I like

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KSDK-TV was wrong to test Kirkwood High School’s security

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 11:00:29 +0000

Last week on Jan. 16, KSDK-TV caused Kirkwood High School to go on lockdown as part of a news story. As a security professional, a journalist, a St. Louisan, and a parent, I have more than one stake in this.

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What on Earth is a Mainframe?: A review

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 11:00:54 +0000

I’ve been reading David Stephens’ self-published What on Earth is a Mainframe, (also available on Amazon) which is as close to z/OS For Dummies as we’ll ever see. I deal with mainframes at work from time to time. I interacted

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The 11 Neff Hall chop shop

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 11:00:46 +0000

I saw an IBM PS/2 Model 55SX at an estate sale this past weekend. It took me back to my first non-food service, non-retail job, doing desktop support at Mizzou. Well, as a precursor to doing desktop support, they tried

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Go to college, but don’t go broke doing it

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 11:00:17 +0000

I saw in this morning’s Post-Dispatch that 25% of student borrowers can’t repay their debts. I understand why, but it’s preventable. Jim Gallagher’s column has some good advice. I’ll add some more, having recently spent a little time on my

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Rest in peace, PC World

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 11:00:08 +0000

The print edition of PC World is no more, and its demise marks the end of the general-interest computer magazine. Former editor Harry McCracken wrote this tribute. Had you asked me 15-20 years ago what my dream job was, editing

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Where I was when I first heard about the end of the world

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 03:34:10 +0000

Since all the cool kids (or at least some of them) are writing about the end of the world, I thought I’d write about where I first heard about this. I’m such a notorious cheapskate, the Mayans had a folk

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Don’t hide your abilities to avoid bullies

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:55:09 +0000

There’s a disturbing story on Slashdot today: Kids are playing dumb to avoid being bullied. I have two things to say. I was bullied when I was a kid. In seventh grade, it was me against the world (or at

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Advice on avoiding college debt–at least for Missouri residents

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 10:26:51 +0000

The business section of the Post-Dispatch had a good article on avoiding college debt. It’s tricky, as even Mizzou costs $22,000 a year now. I’m pretty sure when I was a Tiger, it was more like $10,000 a year, though

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