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Comment: Psychoactive users are not junkies (Score 5, Insightful) 250

by vandan (#34669464) Attached to: The Animal World Has Its Junkies, Too

It's a common perception ... and totally wrong ... that psychoactive users are junkies. Far from it. I have participated in multiple voluntary studies with the Australian National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, where they study recreational drugs ( E, LSD, etc ) ... and have asked them each time what they thought of my habits, and that of my peers. Each time they said the same thing ... that it was a pleasure to work with people who actually had their life together ... that the real 'junkies' use heroin, alcohol, cocain, etc ... and the recreational drug users, in contrast, are well in control of their activities, and leading productive lives. In fact I would go a step further and say that psychoactive drug users have their life together far more than the average person.

Comment: Intel Graphics? (Score 1) 358

by vandan (#33617864) Attached to: IE9, FF4 Beta In Real-World Use Face-Off

The story doesn't mention the GPU in use, but it does mention it's an i7 processor. So I assume it's using an i965-class GPU. These aren't exactly known for speed or stability on linux. I believe FF4 uses Cairo, which in turn uses XRender, and my experience with integrated Intel GPUs and XRender is that pure software ( ie X on FBDev ) is faster. I would have liked to have seen a system used which could actually accelerate the drawing operations.

Comment: Re:The whole universe is alive (Score 1) 145

by vandan (#33485806) Attached to: Transition Metal Catalysts Could Be Key To Origin of Life

Wooot! Another insightful post on Slashdot. Maybe I should spend more time here? Yeah I agree completely ... the way we call organisms individuals, separate from their surroundings, is completely arbitrary. If you haven't already read them, you may be interested in 'Autopoiesis and Cognition' by HR Maturana, FJ Varela and 'Web of Life' by Fritjof Capra.

Comment: Re:The electro-dynamic field came first, of course (Score 1) 145

by vandan (#33484858) Attached to: Transition Metal Catalysts Could Be Key To Origin of Life

I agree with your attack on materialism, and also that Darwinists have an agenda as do Creationists. But instead of focusing on electromagnetic fields, which is itself inside the domain of the material, I think the source of life lies in a domain of organisation and thought ... one which 4-dimensional physics is enfolded in.

Comment: Re:That's how the market is supposed to work. (Score 1) 762

by vandan (#33198684) Attached to: Just One Out of 16 Hybrids Pays Back In Gas Savings

We bought a Civic hybrid with 30,000kms on it. We paid exactly the same as we would have for other Civic models. We got the battery checked out - was in 'perfect' order. It uses about 5.5 l/100km in the city, which is considerably better than the other Civic models, which I expect would be getting around 7 or 8 l/100km. So for us it's making very good economic sense. I don't expect to be changing the battery any time soon - they're supposed to go 10 years in this model. Maybe you should check out 2nd-hand models in your analysis.

Other people have already commented on the hand-outs to big oil fouling up your whinging about subsidies to hybrid tech.

It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like. -- Jackie Mason

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