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Comment Re:"A controversial method of natural gas extracti (Score 3, Informative) 279

by BitwiseX (#38370804) Attached to: Fracking Disclosure Rules Approved In CO

Hydraulic fracturing for stimulation of oil and natural gas wells was first used in the United States in 1947.[2][3] It was first used commercially by Halliburton in 1949,[2] and because of its success in increasing production from oil wells was quickly adopted, and is now used worldwide in tens of thousands of oil and natural gas wells annually. The first industrial use of hydraulic fracturing was as early as 1903, according to T.L. Watson.[4] Before that date, hydraulic fracturing was used at Mt. Airy Quarry, near Mt Airy, North Carolina where it was (and still is) used to separate granite blocks from bedrock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing_in_the_United_States
OK, so it's been around awhile..

With the explosive growth of natural gas wells in the US, researcher Valerie Brown predicted in 2007 that "public exposure to the many chemicals involved in energy development is expected to increase over the next few years, with uncertain consequences."[24] As development of natural gas wells in the U.S. since the year 2000 has increased, so too have claims by private well owners of water contamination. This has prompted EPA and others to re-visit the topic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing
and it's getting more prevalent...

I don't think anybody is saying that it's "suddenly" causing problems. It seems like the concern is the growth. As much as I dislike using a car analogy, I think if we hadn't have chosen automobiles as our primary form of transportation, we wouldn't have emission standards and the like, because what makes it an issue is quantity. We'd be fools to not question or investigate this, especially since fracking is questioned international. It's being investigated in many countries, and it's already banned/stopped in others. What if they're right?

Comment Re:I've seen a lot of dumb things on Slashdot ... (Score 1, Informative) 107

by BitwiseX (#37812494) Attached to: 3D Printers To Save Hermit Crabs

and then tossing *plastic* into the ocean

and from their website:

The goal is to create a printable hermit crab shell for domestic use thus reducing harvesting of natural shells

So unless you live in the ocean, that's not their intention.
I mean I get it.. you don't give a shit about hermit crabs, that's your prerogative, but these guys do. I can understand, we had a couple at the office and they were good pets! I do hope that you realize though, that if it wasn't for people like this, who try to help where others don't, the world would be a shitty(^Hier) place.
It may be stupid, it may be illogical, it may even be pointless, but dammit at least they are trying. Good intentions are good intentions, and the world needs more. (Can we make them with a MakerBot?)

Comment Re:A History of "Accidental" Flaggings (Score 1) 258

by BitwiseX (#37570840) Attached to: Microsoft Security Products Flag Google Chrome As a Virus

Not the first time MSFT has flagged competing products as viruses.

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

And one more reason not to trust Microsoft's "security."

How is it that this was modded "Insightful", without a single citation, link or anything?
Please share with us. I did a couple quick searches and didn't find anything else, (but I didn't spend a lot of time I'm it.. I'm at work like the rest of you.)
Two things I'd like to mention:

  • A very large chunk of what MSE scans is a "competing product".
  • EVERY Antivirus has false positives from time to time.

I am curious to see the other 2 in this list, and when they were discovered. Anybody?

Comment I guess I don't belong. (Score 5, Insightful) 119

by BitwiseX (#37023196) Attached to: Building a Better 'Anonymous?'

"If you leave Anonymous because you don't agree with something it did, then you don't belong in Anonymous," Housch says.

The problem with Anonymous being so unstructured, (which isn't a bad idea) is that anybody can do anything under that brand. As much as I like the thought and the idea of Anonymous, when they attack innocents I can't be associated with them. That's off target. Oh, they don't attack innocents you say? Well you look at those massive password dumps and tell me that all those folks are "wrong doers". I guarantee that MOST of those users are regular Joes (possibly even members of Anon!) who are just trying to make a pay check. Guilty by association doesn't work for entire corporations from top to bottom. Hell, I saw a mySQL dump of passwords for a nudist colony tweeted by Anonymous. Really? A corrupt nudist colony? When you're THAT off target, that's the kind of BS that's going to be used against you. "Chaotic" is the perfect description of Anonymous, and I don't see how it will be anything but. It's unfortunate.

This is why I don't call myself a member of Anonymous, and don't see myself being a "member" anytime soon. Good messages, poor execution.

Comment The reality is... nobody does this. (Score 4, Insightful) 159

by BitwiseX (#36975980) Attached to: The Epidemic of Digital Distraction
We don't! We may have 3 IMs, 4 new emails, 12 tweets, and a Facebook message to read, but the reality is, we don't read them all at once. It may be shortsighted, but I've always considering multitasking to be an illusion. We may be rapidly shifting focus, but we're never really focused on more than one thing at any given time.

I've learned over the years that prioritizing, and putting items/tasks/people on "the back burner" (even if for a few minutes) has resulted in an increase in quality of work, and overall sanity. Focus on a task. Only shift gears if absolutely necessary (priorities will always do this), or when there is a lull of activity (waiting on approvals, server builds, etc.).

Don't lie to me! You know when you're answering 2 IM conversations with a phone in your ear, you're cutting corners, missing information, and just trying to shut someone the hell up, so you can slow down and take a breath.... so politely put them off.

Comment no, not a chance (Score 1) 607

by BitwiseX (#36082380) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Is It Time For SyFy To Go Premium?
I'm sorry but they screwed up. I'm not going to pay $70 to $100 a month, have to watch a ton of commercials I'm not interested in, and THEN have to pay extra to get the content I want. Not gonna happen. Besides, if we did that, you don't think other channels would do the same? Next thing you know Cartoon Network will start charging for cartoons.

No I've been much happier with Netflix/Hulu, and been able to watch some actual Science Fiction (Farscape, BSG, Dr. Who.. ALL of Star Trek is coming to Netflix this summer). I just wish the cable/satellite company would wise up and realize where our TV is going to come from now.

Submission + - Mozilla Defies DHS, Won't Remove Mafiaa Fire Add-O (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Batblue
Batblue writes: "The open-source Mozilla project said Thursday it won't comply with a U.S. Department of Homeland Security request to remove a Firefox add-on that helps redirect Web traffic for sites that have been seized by the government.

At issue is the Mafiaa Fire add-on, designed to reduce the effectiveness of an antipiracy campaign by DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division. When users try to visit a website whose Internet domain has been seized by ICE, Mafiaa Fire redirects them to a working site set up to replace the seized domain.

That's a problem for the DHS, which is trying to knock these sites offline permanently. "The ICE Homeland Security Investigations unit alleged that the add-on circumvented a seizure order DHS had already obtained against a number of domains," wrote Harvey Anderson, vice president and general counsel for Mozilla, in a blog post Thursday.

In recent months, ICE has shut down a large number of websites suspected of selling illegally copied music, movies or counterfeit products. Some free-speech experts have said the seizures may violate freedom-of-speech protections in the U.S. Constitution."

Comment scary, but.. (Score 1) 168

by BitwiseX (#35616622) Attached to: Univ. of Illinois Goes War-of-the-Worlds On Students
at least all these students know that there's a system in place, and that it works!

I just hope it doesn't turn into an inordinate amount of "Are you SURE?" prompts.

"Are you sure you want to send this alert?" YES / NO
"Are you SURE? You're saying there's a shooter on the loose.." YES / NO
"OK, so you're certain.. *BLAM*

I kid...I'm sure they'll implement a better system then that.. but really.. is it broken? How long have they had this system? How many false alarms have there been before?

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