Dave F
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siliconundergro.bsky.social
Dave F
@siliconundergro.bsky.social
He/him. INTJ. I blog 4-5 times a week about vintage and retro computers. Day job in information security, specifically vulnerability management. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. You can find my blog, The Silicon Underground, at https://dfarq.homeip.net
Yesterday Youtube glitched out of a playlist and played me this. This is not a complaint. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9On...
Nosferatu
YouTube video by Paul Roland - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 31, 2026 at 2:40 AM
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took at university.

International Relations
Irish History
Elementary Statistics
Magazine Design
Editorial Writing
Not to assume we all went to college but…

Fruit science
Greenhouse management
Sociology of sport
Creative writing as a freshman
Creative writing as a senior
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took at university.

Political philosophy
Women’s studies
Sociology of education
Psychoanalysis
Water polo
January 31, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Reposted by Dave F
Nasty thing. They’ve been on this bullshit since 1st term. You’ll never guess exactly when they started using it.
Understanding the LRAD, the “Sound Cannon” Police Are Using at Protests, and How to Protect Yourself From It
Usage of LRADs, which can be loud enough to induce vomiting and cause ear damage, has been documented at protests across the country.
pitchfork.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:08 AM
JTS was a notorious maker of hard drives in the mid 1990s. It was also where Atari went to die, before being reborn. This blog post explores their story. #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing dfarq.homeip.net/jts-short-li...
JTS: short-lived maker of 90s hard drives
Low-cost hard drives would have had appeal if they had been reliable enough
dfarq.homeip.net
January 29, 2026 at 12:13 AM
16 years ago this week, legendary Unix workstation maker Sun Microsystems met its end, becoming part of Oracle. The dotcom boom sent Sun soaring, but it never recovered after the dotcoms went bust. #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing dfarq.homeip.net/what-happene...
What happened to Sun Microsystems
Its share price fell from a high of $250 per share to a low of $10 within 3 years
dfarq.homeip.net
January 27, 2026 at 2:43 AM
An anthem for our troubled times.
January 26, 2026 at 11:40 PM
Google is not your friend. Use Duckduckgo. Duckduckgo is better anyway.
Let's also bring in the connection with tech giants: Google hosted a CBP app that used facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable group.
Google Has Chosen a Side in Trump's Mass Deportation Effort
Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable gr...
www.404media.co
January 26, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Reposted by Dave F
One thing that irks me: people keep calling the folks on the streets in Minneapolis protestors. They are not generally there to protest, they are there to observe and document. This is the product of organizing and mutual aid. It is telling that these acts of citizenship are seen as protest!
January 24, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Dave F
If you're living somewhere outside the USA, one thing you can do is pressure your leaders to boycott World Cup and Olympic events here.
January 24, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Dave F
Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.

"Please get the truth out about our son."
January 25, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Dave F
Please Share for Minnesota ✊🏼
January 24, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Dave F
To delete your TikTok account without agreeing to the new TOS:

1) put your phone in airplane mode
2) open TikTok and go to your profile
3) go to settings and scroll down to delete account
4) turn airplane mode off
5) delete your account

Credit to @ kimsaira on instagram for this
January 24, 2026 at 5:59 AM
27 years ago this week, a little company called Nvidia held its IPO. Who knew they'd end up being one of the biggest dotcom-era debuts? #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing dfarq.homeip.net/nvidias-ipo-...
Nvidia's IPO on January 22, 1999
It wasn't as valuable when people thought of it as a video game company
dfarq.homeip.net
January 23, 2026 at 10:09 PM
13 years ago this week, Intel stopped making motherboards after years as an industry leader. This blog post explores why. #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing. dfarq.homeip.net/why-intel-st...
Why Intel stopped making motherboards
Intel motherboards solved a problem that had largely gone away by 2013
dfarq.homeip.net
January 22, 2026 at 2:10 PM
26 years ago this week, Transmeta tried out a new approach to CPUs. Its new CPU wasn't successful, but some of its ideas live on in the CPUs you're using today. #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing dfarq.homeip.net/transmeta-cr...
Transmeta Crusoe CPU
Transmeta lost $600 million bringing this highly anticipated chip to market
dfarq.homeip.net
January 21, 2026 at 11:12 PM
What's the year 2038 problem? This security professional who lived and worked through the Y2K problem explains why THIS is the real Y2K problem and why lessons not learned could bite us. #retrocomputing #infosec dfarq.homeip.net/year-2038-pr...
Year 2038 problem
On January 19, 2038, Unix is going to suddenly think it's December 13, 1901.
dfarq.homeip.net
January 19, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Dave F
The Establishment Media declared discussion of Project 2025 out of bounds because Trump self-servingly (and utterly unconvincingly) denied he would follow it as president.

The Establishment Media also decreed Trump a “moderate” on abortion because he said he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban…
January 12, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Dave F
From a good friend in Minneapolis: "Target is allowing ICE to stage in their parking lots, use their restrooms, and abduct people from inside their stores - so if you weren’t boycotting already, now is the time." They were staging in Chicago as well.
January 12, 2026 at 3:42 PM
This was not what I thought I'd be using my journalism degree for 30 years ago, but here we are. Using old pasteup skills to make oversized signs from 8.5x11 prints. I say "skills" loosely, I'm very much out of practice.
January 11, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Dave F
“The murdering will continue until you stop calling us murderers.”
Homan: "We gotta stop the hateful rhetoric. Saying this officer is a murderer is dangerous. It's just ridiculous. It's gonna infuriate people more which means there's gonna be more incidents like this."
January 11, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Dave F
I broke the story yesterday that masked ICE agents (not DOJ) were removing items including a personal computer from the home of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot Renee Good. I have yet to see a single news outlet cover this or an elected official even acknowledge it.
NEW: These are ICE agents removing evidence from the shooter's home. They are not DOJ, they are Jonathan Ross's friends and coworkers, not DOJ.

This agent removing Ross's personal computer was reported yesterday Jan 9 for boxing in a volunteer and telling them "I'll dedicate my next arrest to you"
January 10, 2026 at 7:32 PM
I was in Minneapolis in May. Never once did I feel unsafe. It's a peaceful city with nice bookstores, nice restaurants, a good tech scene, a place I'd absolutely consider living, and a place I will visit again. There is zero need for the ICE Gestapo to be occupying it.
January 10, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Dave F
A Black man was killed by ICE (off duty) in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. And like Renée Good, he was an American citizen. But most people have not heard about Keith Porter.

I need y’all to realize this. Black people experience this lack of visibility all the time when it comes to being victims.
January 10, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Dave F
One word we have to watch for is “civilian.” We’ve let it drift to allow cops to use it to describe non-cops. But cops aren’t (supposed to be) military. Cops are themselves “civilians.”
January 10, 2026 at 4:58 PM