THIS is the real problem here. "Information Technology" is so broad a term that any professional who uses a computer could wind up being considered an "IT person."
Here's the full text (the importantly vague part is 2(D))
__________________________
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘Computer Professionals Update Act’ or the ‘CPU Act’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.
Section 13(a)(17) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(17)) is amended to read as follows:
‘(17) any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation (including, but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker, whose primary duty is--
‘(A) the application of systems, network or database analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine or modify hardware, software, network, database, or system functional specifications;
‘(B) the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, securing, configuration, integration, debugging, modification of computer or information technology, or enabling continuity of systems and applications;
‘(C) directing the work of individuals performing duties described in subparagraph (A) or (B), including training such individuals or leading teams performing such duties; or
‘(D) a combination of duties described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), the performance of which requires the same level of skill;
who is compensated at an hourly rate of not less than $27.63 an hour or who is paid on a salary basis at a salary level as set forth by the Department of Labor in part 541 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations. An employee described in this paragraph shall be considered an employee in a professional capacity pursuant to paragraph (1).’.
This idea that libraries are a place where the books live, and you go to find a book, and that’s all it is, I think is really starting to shift.
"Starting" to shift? Libraries haven't been about books in at least 10 years (since I became a librarian). In fact, the "it's not about books" thing was a long-tired cliche even then.
and all three [landscapers] lost their busineses because local government banned watering
This is not a logical reason for landscapers to lose business. Xeriscaping requires nearly as much upkeep as lawns. As municipalities all over the U.S. move away from watered lawns, landscapers are seeing a boom, both of new/changing xeriscape and on maintenance contracts.
He included iPod which, unless you have some advanced iPod that no one else has been allowed access to, doesn't include VLC. Reading more carefully makes you look less foolish.
My wife worked for an attorney whose check would bounce. Every payday there was a dash to the issuing bank. They never paid Medicare or SS taxes to the fed
Your wife was complicit in her acquiescence to such conditions. Congratulations.
There already is an analog Polaroid available. Its called the impossible project, and their store in Vienna was packed when I was there a few weeks ago.
Agreed. I use my gf's iPad occasionally, and constantly think to myself all the things I'd LIKE to use it for if it had a better port set, broader file support, and a little more horsepower.
I hope that Anonymous has read up on the cartels. They don't play minor league down there.
Fortunately anon has you to warn them, saving them the horror of a 30 second Google search. Now that they're armed with the enlightenment you've provided I'm sure they'll desist from their foolish and ill-conceived plan.
You've almost certainly saved lives today, sir. Kudos.
I'm not clear here. What private corporation is going to do what the US Geological Survey does?
The same ones that invented the internet, lasers, microchips, GPSs, and microwave ovens, went to the moon, built the largest highway system in the world, created our clean water infrastructure, and electrified most of a continent.
Return control and funding to the local schools with State oversight, and we'd see much better outcomes.
There is zero evidence for this, and significant evidence to the contrary. State politicians are even less capable and less qualified to govern, and have less stake in the success of their governance (it's a lot easier to move to a better state than it is to move to a better country). See my previous comment.
I live in a state of religious nutcases, alcoholic gamblers, and illegals (Nevada). The last thing any of these people want is education.
My state can't even be bothered to provide a decent university, which I guess is fine since the high schools have a 30% dropout rate and those who do graduate can't read.
I'm sure the states will all do a fine job continuing the upward trajectory of American scientific greatness, though. After all, you don't need educated people for that, right?
If you have more than a handful of tabs, they belong on the side of the browser anyway. Chrome allows this. Yeah, it doesn't change the fact that they're dicks, but it might help some people.
Agreed. LibreOffice can't possibly match OpenOffice's brand recognition without a name change ("LibreOffice" is just clunky all around). Perhaps the death of OpenOffice could allow LibreOffice to adopt the former's far, far superior moniker.
We are most definitely all feeling the pain from this, and that's largely because a majority of us are (or were) living far beyond our means
Speak for yourself. This isn't why I hurt. This also isn't why people who have lost their jobs hurt. The people who were living far beyond their means got hurt in 2008. Those of us who have been fucked since then are just regular people caught in the middle.
Someone should write a paper or a book about the destruction of American business by the MBA.
I'd read this book, and hope one of the case studies would be about Border Books, a fantastic company of the '80s and early '90s. Then the creators and early executives left and the whole board was taken over by MBAs who had never worked in a bookstore, had no idea why Borders was superior to (or even different from) Barnes & Noble, and didn't understand anything about how the internet was changing retail.
I'm a usability specialist surrounded by people (the actual decision-makers) who THINK they know all they need to know about design, even though none have actually every designed much of anything. My advice is this: Make all your people sit down and watch some usability testing videos. You can find some online, or maybe (hopefully) there are already some floating around where you work.
Make an event out of it -- bring in some popcorn and watch them together. There will be much laughter and fun-poking, but in the end they should get the point: NO ONE is really a usability expert. Even having done testing for the past 10 years and having a pretty good instinct for what will work and what won't, I learn EVERY SINGLE TIME I test someone. The things people do -- even smart, educated, computer-savvy people -- will amaze you and your employees.
Politically, having some of my coworkers watch some of my testing with real users is the smartest thing I ever did. It didn't fix all my usability-related problems, but it was a huge help.
The C64 was the most successful "personal computer" ever built
Are you making this assertion (which I don't disagree with), or is this a widely accepted conclusion?
Atari was nowhere near as influential in the personal computer space as C=. Not by a country mile. (Games are another story)
I don't think you can separate or downplay the impact game playing had on early hackers. Pong led me to Atari, which led me to a TRS-80 (I couldn't afford a C-64). I don't think it's useful to try to pit all these systems against each other as far as "influence" -- except as a thought experiment.
This line of thinking got us a President with zero experience of any useful kind.
And if you'll recall, the only alternative was someone whose only experience appeared to be wrecking planes and politicking. There is no one from either party who is seriously offering viable alternatives, and if they were, they'd be laughed off the ballot. This is the problem with having an uninformed, uneducated populace -- something both parties have worked very hard to cultivate.
Agreed entirely. On paper my beliefs tend more toward the conservative than liberal, but Republicans have pissed away any chance of getting my vote by adopting stances contrary not only to science and obvious truth, but to their own supposed belief system (remember when nation-building was bad and fiscal responsibility was more than just a buzzword? Yeah, I don't either.)
I may not like what Democrats do or propose, but at least I am semi-aware of what they stand for.
Slashdot Mirror
How many people government officials did YOU do away with today, tough guy. Oh, none? Then STFU.
THIS is the real problem here. "Information Technology" is so broad a term that any professional who uses a computer could wind up being considered an "IT person."
Here's the full text (the importantly vague part is 2(D))
__________________________
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘Computer Professionals Update Act’ or the ‘CPU Act’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.
Section 13(a)(17) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(17)) is amended to read as follows:
‘(17) any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation (including, but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker, whose primary duty is--
‘(A) the application of systems, network or database analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine or modify hardware, software, network, database, or system functional specifications;
‘(B) the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, securing, configuration, integration, debugging, modification of computer or information technology, or enabling continuity of systems and applications;
‘(C) directing the work of individuals performing duties described in subparagraph (A) or (B), including training such individuals or leading teams performing such duties; or
‘(D) a combination of duties described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), the performance of which requires the same level of skill;
who is compensated at an hourly rate of not less than $27.63 an hour or who is paid on a salary basis at a salary level as set forth by the Department of Labor in part 541 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations. An employee described in this paragraph shall be considered an employee in a professional capacity pursuant to paragraph (1).’.
This idea that libraries are a place where the books live, and you go to find a book, and that’s all it is, I think is really starting to shift.
"Starting" to shift? Libraries haven't been about books in at least 10 years (since I became a librarian). In fact, the "it's not about books" thing was a long-tired cliche even then.
and all three [landscapers] lost their busineses because local government banned watering
This is not a logical reason for landscapers to lose business. Xeriscaping requires nearly as much upkeep as lawns. As municipalities all over the U.S. move away from watered lawns, landscapers are seeing a boom, both of new/changing xeriscape and on maintenance contracts.
He included iPod which, unless you have some advanced iPod that no one else has been allowed access to, doesn't include VLC. Reading more carefully makes you look less foolish.
ipad lets me view and hear anything. AppleTV does the same. ipod, iphone, etc...
Flash? Vorbis? FLAC? You can stop lying now.
My wife worked for an attorney whose check would bounce. Every payday there was a dash to the issuing bank. They never paid Medicare or SS taxes to the fed
Your wife was complicit in her acquiescence to such conditions. Congratulations.
There already is an analog Polaroid available. Its called the impossible project, and their store in Vienna was packed when I was there a few weeks ago.
Agreed. I use my gf's iPad occasionally, and constantly think to myself all the things I'd LIKE to use it for if it had a better port set, broader file support, and a little more horsepower.
I hope that Anonymous has read up on the cartels. They don't play minor league down there.
Fortunately anon has you to warn them, saving them the horror of a 30 second Google search. Now that they're armed with the enlightenment you've provided I'm sure they'll desist from their foolish and ill-conceived plan.
You've almost certainly saved lives today, sir. Kudos.
I had no trouble parsing that :)
How about "expertsexchange" or "therapistfinder"?
Wait til Ballmer hears about this.
"You'd need to be a computer scientist to use WireDoo!"
I'm not clear here. What private corporation is going to do what the US Geological Survey does?
The same ones that invented the internet, lasers, microchips, GPSs, and microwave ovens, went to the moon, built the largest highway system in the world, created our clean water infrastructure, and electrified most of a continent.
Return control and funding to the local schools with State oversight, and we'd see much better outcomes.
There is zero evidence for this, and significant evidence to the contrary. State politicians are even less capable and less qualified to govern, and have less stake in the success of their governance (it's a lot easier to move to a better state than it is to move to a better country). See my previous comment.
I live in a state of religious nutcases, alcoholic gamblers, and illegals (Nevada). The last thing any of these people want is education.
My state can't even be bothered to provide a decent university, which I guess is fine since the high schools have a 30% dropout rate and those who do graduate can't read.
I'm sure the states will all do a fine job continuing the upward trajectory of American scientific greatness, though. After all, you don't need educated people for that, right?
If you have more than a handful of tabs, they belong on the side of the browser anyway. Chrome allows this. Yeah, it doesn't change the fact that they're dicks, but it might help some people.
Boy, you must have REALLY been against the PATRIOT ACT.
Agreed. LibreOffice can't possibly match OpenOffice's brand recognition without a name change ("LibreOffice" is just clunky all around). Perhaps the death of OpenOffice could allow LibreOffice to adopt the former's far, far superior moniker.
Undoing accidentally negative moderation...
We are most definitely all feeling the pain from this, and that's largely because a majority of us are (or were) living far beyond our means
Speak for yourself. This isn't why I hurt. This also isn't why people who have lost their jobs hurt. The people who were living far beyond their means got hurt in 2008. Those of us who have been fucked since then are just regular people caught in the middle.
Someone should write a paper or a book about the destruction of American business by the MBA.
I'd read this book, and hope one of the case studies would be about Border Books, a fantastic company of the '80s and early '90s. Then the creators and early executives left and the whole board was taken over by MBAs who had never worked in a bookstore, had no idea why Borders was superior to (or even different from) Barnes & Noble, and didn't understand anything about how the internet was changing retail.
Then the company died.
I'm a usability specialist surrounded by people (the actual decision-makers) who THINK they know all they need to know about design, even though none have actually every designed much of anything. My advice is this: Make all your people sit down and watch some usability testing videos. You can find some online, or maybe (hopefully) there are already some floating around where you work.
Make an event out of it -- bring in some popcorn and watch them together. There will be much laughter and fun-poking, but in the end they should get the point: NO ONE is really a usability expert. Even having done testing for the past 10 years and having a pretty good instinct for what will work and what won't, I learn EVERY SINGLE TIME I test someone. The things people do -- even smart, educated, computer-savvy people -- will amaze you and your employees.
Politically, having some of my coworkers watch some of my testing with real users is the smartest thing I ever did. It didn't fix all my usability-related problems, but it was a huge help.
The C64 was the most successful "personal computer" ever built
Are you making this assertion (which I don't disagree with), or is this a widely accepted conclusion?
Atari was nowhere near as influential in the personal computer space as C=. Not by a country mile. (Games are another story)
I don't think you can separate or downplay the impact game playing had on early hackers. Pong led me to Atari, which led me to a TRS-80 (I couldn't afford a C-64). I don't think it's useful to try to pit all these systems against each other as far as "influence" -- except as a thought experiment.
This line of thinking got us a President with zero experience of any useful kind.
And if you'll recall, the only alternative was someone whose only experience appeared to be wrecking planes and politicking. There is no one from either party who is seriously offering viable alternatives, and if they were, they'd be laughed off the ballot. This is the problem with having an uninformed, uneducated populace -- something both parties have worked very hard to cultivate.
Agreed entirely. On paper my beliefs tend more toward the conservative than liberal, but Republicans have pissed away any chance of getting my vote by adopting stances contrary not only to science and obvious truth, but to their own supposed belief system (remember when nation-building was bad and fiscal responsibility was more than just a buzzword? Yeah, I don't either.)
I may not like what Democrats do or propose, but at least I am semi-aware of what they stand for.