nbc Archives - The Silicon Underground

Spectrum bought by AT&T? Not quite.

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 12:00:25 +0000

Was Time Warner Cable or Charter Spectrum bought by AT&T? No it wasn’t, but I understand why some people are thinking that right now. It now turns out that both Charter Communications and AT&T have a history with Time Warner,

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How the Amiga could have lived to age 30 and beyond

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 14:25:46 +0000

It was 30 years ago this week that Commodore released its landmark, long-time-coming Amiga 1000 computer–the first 1990s computer in a field full of 1970s retreads. Yes, it was a 1990s computer in 1985. It had color and sound built

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Phil Kerpen, net neutrality, and socialism: A post-mortem

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 11:00:45 +0000

I learned the hard way a few weeks ago how net neutrality can be equated with socialism, an argument that puzzles people who work on computer networks for a living and see networking as a big flow of electrons. I

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Facebook’s IPO doesn’t have to be the end of Silicon Valley

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:11:55 +0000

I saw a story on Slashdot this weekend writing Silicon Valley’s obituary at the hands of the Facebook IPO. The logic is that since social networking is an easier path to riches than traditional science, people will choose social networking.

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What you really need to know about net neutrality

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:36:17 +0000

I ran across a former classmate’s name in Google News recently, and when I flipped through his back catalog, I found the very best definition of net neutrality that I’ve seen. “Net neutrality is an arcane term that basically means

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So what now?

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:43:51 +0000

The Republican Revolution is over. What went wrong?

Before I try to answer that question, a few words by Dr. Donald Prahlow, my high school history instructor, seem pertinent. In 1992 when Bill Clinton took the White House, Dr. Prahlow stood in front of a classroom full of young, mostly right-leaning students and tried to make sense of what happened. "As a historian, I have to say the best thing that can happen, when one political party has been in power for a long time, is to hand power over to the other one." He went on to give some examples. The most important thing I took from his brief aside before getting onto the day's regularly scheduled lecture was that no president in history has ever been able to wreck the country irreparably in four or even eight years.

Not Richard Nixon. Not Warren G. Harding. Not Lyndon B. Johnson. Despite my strong feelings on that day in 1992, not William Jefferson Clinton. And regardless of your feelings on the two men, neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama will be the first.

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Fathers: Give your family a gift this Father’s Day weekend

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:23:06 +0000

I'm sitting here watching NBC's tribute to Tim Russert tonight. Although he was famous for being the biggest political guru of his generation, he was also the author of two books, both about fatherhood.

He died today of a heart attack. He was only 58.

I would have liked to have asked my dad what to do to minimize the risk of heart attack. Being a doctor, he should know. But I can't. He died of a heart attack in 1994, age 51.

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Dateline\’s getting sued

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:24:16 +0000

I see that Dateline's being sued because someone who found himself on the "To Catch a Predator" segment and killed himself. His sister is suing for $105 million.

Good.

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What the press doesn’t want to tell you about Kaycee

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 04 Jun 2001 17:19:47 +0000

Dan Bowman forwarded me a string of e-mail yesterday that raised a number of questions about the press. Apparently there is at least one reporter trying to find out how many people gave gifts to "Kaycee," and that's raising some concerns. Why? And why does the reporter want names and phone numbers? And how do you know if the guy's legit or if he's making some kind of sucker list?

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Integrity and fiction on the Web

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 25 May 2001 17:28:48 +0000

I had thoughts that I thought best not shared, but then I read Frank McPherson's excellent take on the hoax, so maybe I have something more to share after all. I'd really rather let the topic die, but since it appears there are still things for us to learn, let's learn. Take consolation in that we can learn without me ever saying that name that begins with "K." OK?

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