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ORIGINAL: HottLicks

Mercnbeth,

Thank you so much for the quick response!  I will surely be googling today!

James Madison was a relative and had the same symptoms I have.  He spent nights unable to sleep, awake and writing the constitution.  I am glad he had some comforts and his work didn't seem to be hindered, but enhanced even though he was ill with some unknown disease [at the time] and smoked. [smile]  What I find interesting is that many who have the right to argue both sides of this point, don't realize they have that right because of persons who could have actually been high [lol] when they served to give them the rights. [What does that say about some research?]

Thank you for the info... and some new interest to check into... I guess my medicating doesn't harm my interest levels, my ability to research and conclude reasonable conclusions... of course that would be determined I am sure by those who don't know me and would prefer to go on hard research that says I must be an idiot if I medicate.
Cheers!

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ORIGINAL: velvetears

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I've been curious though as to why marijuana is considered a deadly drug?

Because it's a stepping stone to other drugs and also because dealers (on all levels) lace it with pcp, heroin, formaldyhyde, etc...  The pot heads who want it legal will argue that it isn't, they have a vested interest in spreading their "rhetoric" that it is harmless.  It is also dangerous because they are conducting studies and finding that the earlier one smokes it the more at risk it puts you for developing a psychosis later in life, specifically schizophrenia.  Not all pot is laced, not everyone will get psychosis but people should know the risks involved. Not one person has answered a very important question i have asked several times - How would the authorities control our highways and test for those driving while under the influence. A breathalizer at least gives you a specific reading and if you are above it your butt goes to jail, your licence is yanked and you pay a hefty fine. This does prevent a lot of people from drinking and driving. How will pot heads be prevented from smoking and driving?  No one will answer that question because they can't. Simple as that. Legalizing pot is a lot more complicated than everyone assumes and they talk of individual freedom and rights - but they could give a shit less about anyone elses. 

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ORIGINAL: velvetears

also because dealers (on all levels) lace it with pcp, heroin, formaldyhyde, etc... 

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ORIGINAL: velvetears
It is also dangerous because they are conducting studies and finding that the earlier one smokes it the more at risk it puts you for developing a psychosis later in life, specifically schizophrenia. 

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ORIGINAL: MercTech

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ORIGINAL: farglebargle

Actually, breathalizers are being dismissed from testimony because their computer software isn't available for inspection by the defense, and therefore cannot be cross-examined in any meaningful way.

That aside, the NYC Vehicle and Traffic law thoroughly covers operating while ability is impaired for any reason.

Interesting. It sounds like someone needs to send the D.A. office back to 9th grade science class or something. A breathalyzer is just an overpriced explosive gas detector. There is no "software" to be examined but the provenance records on the calibration of the machine and the provenance of the use results would have to be available and in order to stand up to legal review.

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Some of the more interesting excerpts from the Base One report:


1. The Alcotest Software Would Not Pass U.S. Industry Standards for Software Development and Testing: The program presented shows ample evidence of incomplete design, incomplete verification of design, and incomplete “white box” and “black box” testing. Therefore the software has to be considered unreliable and untested, and in several cases it does not meet stated requirements. The planning and documentation of the design is haphazard. Sections of the original code and modified code show evidence of using an experimental approach to coding, or use what is best described as the “trial and error” method. Several sections are marked as “temporary, for now”. Other sections were added to existing modules or inserted in a code stream, leading to a patchwork design and coding style…

It is clear that, as submitted, the Alcotest software would not pass development standards and testing for the U.S. Government or Military. It would fail software standards for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as commercial standards used in devices for public safety…If the FAA imposed mandatory alcohol testing for all commercial pilots, the Alcotest would be rejected based upon the FAA safety and software standards…

4. Catastrophic Error Detection Is Disabled: An interrupt that detects that the microprocessor is trying to execute an illegal instruction is disabled, meaning that the Alcotest software could appear to run correctly while executing wild branches or invalid code for a period of time. Other interrupts ignored are the Computer Operating Property (a watchdog timer), and the Software Interrupt.

6. Diagnostics Adjust/Substitute Data Readings: The diagnostic routines for the Analog to Digital (A/D) Converters will substitute arbitrary, favorable readings for the measured device if the measurement is out of range, either too high or too low. The values will be forced to a high or low limit, respectively. This error condition is suppressed unless it occurs frequently enough…

7. Flow Measurements Adjusted/Substituted: The software takes an airflow measurement at power-up, and presumes this value is the “zero line” or baseline measurement for subsequent calculations. No quality check or reasonableness test is done on this measurement…

10. Error Detection Logic: The software design detects measurement errors, but ignores these errors unless they occur a consecutive total number of times. For example, in the airflow measuring logic, if a flow measurement is above the prescribed maximum value, it is called an error, but this error must occur 32 consecutive times for the error to be handled and displayed. This means that the error could occur 31 times, then appear within range once, then appear 31 times, etc., and never be reported…