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Comment Re:Oddly touching (Score 1) 60

The real account (non-troll) is account number 965497, named "PopeRatzo". The troll account is account number 9779246, named "PopeRatzo (965497)". That first number you see is actually part of the name.

Comment Re:They need to be doing a whole lot more to compe (Score 1) 18

... if I had a rooftop antenna, but being I live under home regulations which forbid them, I am stuck streaming.

Most laws, regulations, and restrictions purporting to prohibit rooftop antennas are illegal under 47 CFR 1.4000, which, as a federal regulation, preempts most state and local laws (and even prohibits HOAs from imposing restrictions). Unless you happen to be in a Historic Place (as defined in federal law) or there are safety regulations prohibiting anything of similar size and weight (or certain other special circumstances), you cannot be prevented from putting up an antenna on property that is for your exclusive use (anything you own, any building you rent as a whole, exclusive balconies in apartments, etc.).

Comment Re:Wouldn't change anything in IT (Score 1) 545

From http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtim... :

To qualify for the computer employee exemption, the following tests must be met:

  • * The employee must be compensated either on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 per week or, if compensated on an hourly basis, at a rate not less than $27.63 an hour;
  • * The employee must be employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer or other similarly skilled worker in the computer field performing the duties described below;
  • * The employee’s primary duty must consist of:
    • * The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
    • * The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
    • * The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
    • * A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.

The computer employee exemption does not include employees engaged in the manufacture or repair of computer hardware and related equipment. Employees whose work is highly dependent upon, or facilitated by, the use of computers and computer software programs (e.g., engineers, drafters and others skilled in computer-aided design software), but who are not primarily engaged in computer systems analysis and programming or other similarly skilled computer-related occupations identified in the primary duties test described above, are also not exempt under the computer employee exemption.

If the "computer professional" part is removed, then the entire exemption goes away (unless one of the other exemptions applies). The other exemptions only apply to other specific jobs, excepting the "highly compensated" exemption, which is currently pegged at $100,000 per year.

Linux Business

CentOS 5.9 Released 96

kthreadd writes "The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 derivative CentOS version 5.9 has been released just 10 days after its upstream provider. According to the release notes a number of changes have been made. New packages available in CentOS 5.9 includes for example OpenJDK 7 and Rsyslog 5. Several drivers have also been updated in the kernel which has been updated to version 2.6.18-348, including support for Microsoft's virtualization environment Hyper-V." CentOS has been plugging away now for nearly 10 years.
Businesses

Submission + - Can Microsoft really convince people to subscribe to software? (xconomy.com)

curtwoodward writes: "For most consumers, monthly subscriptions are still something for magazines and cable TV. With Office 365, Microsoft is about to embark on a huge social experiment to see if they'll also pay that way for basic software.
But in doing so, Microsoft has jacked up prices on its old fee structure to make subscriptions seem like a better deal. And that could really leave a bad impression with financially struggling consumers."

Science

Submission + - Researchers Model Pluto's Atmosphere, Find 225 mph Winds (txchnologist.com)

MatthewVD writes: "Pluto may have been downgraded to a dwarf planet, but researchers modeling its wisp of an atmosphere continue to find that it is asurprisingly complex world, particularly when it comes to weather patterns. Howling winds that sweep clockwise around the planet at up to 225 mph — though the atmosphere is so thin, it would only feel like 1 mph hour on Earth. The algorithms used to model the atmosphere will be helpful in studying far more complex atmospheres, like Earth's."
Media

Tapeheads and the Quiet Return of VHS 446

Hugh Pickens writes "Joshua Phillips writes that something was lost when videos went from magnetic tape and plastic, to plastic discs, and now to digital streams as browsing aisles is no more and the once-great video shops slowly board up their windows across the country. Future generations may know little of the days when buying a movie meant you owned it even if the Internet went down and when getting a movie meant you had to scour aisles of boxes in search of one whose cover art called back a story that echoed your interests. Josh Johnson, one of the filmmakers behind the upcoming documentary 'Rewind This!' hopes to tell the story of how and why home video came about, and how it changed our culture giving B movies and films that didn't make the silver screen their own chance to shine. 'Essentially, the rental market expanded, because of voracious consumer demand, into non-blockbuster, off-Hollywood video content which would never have had a theatrical life otherwise,' says Palmer. While researching the documentary Palmer found something interesting: there is a resurgence taking place of people going back to VHS because a massive number of films are 'trapped on VHS' with 30 and 40 percent of films released on VHS never to be seen again on any other format. 'Most of the true VHS fanatics are children of the 1980s,' says Palmer. 'Whether they are motivated by a sense of nostalgia or prefer the format for the grainy aesthetic qualities of magnetic tape or some other reason entirely unknown, each tapehead is unique like a snowflake.'"

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