The 32" Samsung I got about two years ago has no HDMI-CEC support at all (and it was ~300 at the time). You'd think this is something that would be available on all models, but they probably strip it from the cheaper units to push people to upgrade (which I'm about to do soon...).

There are a couple of remote options-

-there are remote apps for phones and tablets
-the TV's remote may work using HDMI-CEC
-some have hooked up an IR receiver and remote

I have used the official remote app on an Android tablet, and am pretty happy with it. Overall, I'm happy with using a raspberry pi and OSMC, especially with the latest bump in processing power and built-in wifi.

Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.

Agreed. Setting up something like sharepoint is a good exercise, and is something that a lot of places use (and suffer with...).

The express versions are free to download. Also look at dreamspark.com- if you have a .edu email, you can register an account and download full copies of most of the products. You wouldn't be licensed for production use, but the purpose of that program is for people to download and learn for free.

FWIW, I'm running a free-tier-for-now micro instance in us-east (luckily not using RDS, I'll run my own databases thankyouverymuch), and everything has been normal today.

During the episode with the storms over the summer, I saw my steal% in sar spike considerably- I assume some reddit nodes were moved on to our quiet little hypervisor, and the sheer volume of cat pictures was probably affecting everybody.

This is more from an application error log- it has a good bit of javascript on the web front end that make it very hard for humans to generate exceptions, it's usually only when somebody is trying something (e.g. manually changing the querystring passed) or a bot that exceptions are generated.

The case that comes to mind is "cz32ts" (or that's at least how it identified itself in its user-agent header). It sends requests like this, looking for raw exceptions back:

person=xxxx%2cyyyy%2czzzz%2c%20And%20char(124)%2b(Select%20Cast(Count(1)%20as%20varchar(8000))%2Bchar(124)%20From%20[sysobjects]%20Where%201=1)>0

Tom Kyte of Oracle/"Ask Tom" fame blogged about this recently:

http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2011/02/interesting-read.html

He continues, "it is much harder to write code that doesn't use binds than it is to write code that uses binds". I agree- I feel... dirty... not taking the minute or two to add a parameter. Looking at our error logs, I see bots searching for parameters in web forms and testing vulnerabilities.

I spend a good bit of time in Colorado hiking and biking in places where there is no hope of cell coverage. If I'm going somewhere off the beaten path, I toss my HT into my pack- the extra weight isn't noticeable, and while I have no illusions about being able to hit repeaters from a remote valley somewhere, it sure doesn't hurt to bring it.

http://www.arrl.org/news/injured-colorado-skier-uses-amateur-radio-to-summon-help

I agree with the need for an escape plan. The 2001 recession taught me that the emergency fund isn't an abstract concept, it's as important as paying your electric bill (I have used it to pay the electric bill).

I also agree with asking for better compensation.

Also, consider that, even if no extra compensation for added responsibilities is given, that there may be a huge value in new responsibilities. You might not get money now, but when you are looking for future jobs making more money, more doors may open because of the skills and experience you bring to the table. Somebody making a hiring decision might view a content producer with proven sysadmin skills as more valuable than a content producer who has always worked with a sysadmin.

Looking back, I'm hugely grateful to the younger me for not saying "that's not my job" and quietly building skills and experience.

Sorry, I blame the spelling on my Colorado high school education.

Congradulations! Your application for the State of Colorado CIO position has been accepted now that you have established that you meet the required minimum skills. If Governor Ritter recognizes your name, you will be contacted for a phone interview.

A few reasons why it may be better to board sooner come to mind:

-If you have a standard 22x14x9 suitcase for carry on, you need to be able to stow it overhead- these bins fill up quickly (and some people have the obnoxious habit of stowing their suitcase near the front of the plane even if they are seated in the rear), and if you board last you may be required to check it.
-If you are in first, they will generally serve you some coffee or a drink while the plane fills.