Wednesday, August 26, 2009

If you've ever wondered why I think Justice Antonin "Nino" Scalia is a scum-sucking waste of life...

...here's but one in a litany of examples:

Twenty years ago, off-duty police officer Mark McPhail was shot and killed in a Savannah, Georgia parking lot. Based on information provided by Sylvester Coles, the police sought Troy Davis for the murder. Davis turned himself in and was charged with the crime. He was found guilty and sentenced to death based on the testimony of eyewitnesses.

Since then, however, nearly all of those witnesses have recanted, claiming in affidavits that they were pressured by police to name Davis as the perpetrator. Meanwhile, additional evidence has been found indicating that Coles, the prosecution's star witness against Davis, was the actual killer. Yet despite national and international attention--including pleas by former Georgia Governor and U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Georgia Republican Congressman and federal prosecutor Bob Barr, and even Pope Benedict--neither the Georgia courts nor the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board has seen fit to stop Davis's execution.

Last week, the Supreme Court offered Davis a ray of hope. In response to his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, the Justices ordered that a federal district court in Georgia "should receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes [Davis's] innocence."

The Court's order in Daviswas not unanimous, however. Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented. Justice Scalia said that even if the district court were to find Davis to be innocent, there would still be nothing unlawful about executing him.

Scalia opines that there is nothing unlawful about executing an innocent man. Well, how much class can you expect from a piece of worthless garbage like Scalia?

GOP Outrage

Misplaced as always.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4967/outrageous.jpg

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Ted Kennedy - Rest in Peace

The end of an era, indeed.

Wired on Craigslist



The tone of Gary Wolf's article in Wired pisses me off quite a bit. He seems to be writing from the perspective of someone frustrated by Craigslist, and certainly, there are things about Craigslist that frustrates its users. But I would suspect that all those Craigslist users who are frustrated with Craigslist, their frustrations are not impediments to use. There are things about Craigslist that frustrate me for sure, but it doesn't stop me in the least from using it, both for finding stuff, and getting rid of stuff. I've been far more successful than not with Craigslist, so I have to wonder about why Wired and Gary Wolf are so damn pissy.

As a Web designer, I marvel at the success of a site that is so visually unappealing. But it succeeds in the area that has frustrated so many Web designers, and that is UX (User Experience). Craigslist simply works because it is so simple. Ultimately, in Web design, the one thing that matters more than anything else is usability. This is where Craigslist excels like few other sites on the Web.

If you are one of the few who needs shiny graphics and Ajax widgets to hold your hand and soften your online experience, then there's probably some other online classified sites you can pay to use. I for one appreciate the simplicity of Craigslist, and take the bad with the good. Craigslist dominates Amazon and EBay in traffic for one simple reason: It's simply works.

For added giggles, check out Wired's picks for Craigslist makeovers by "leading" designers. Puh-leeeez! (*Though I do kinda like the "Make It Simple" design)

Monday Kickstarter - 8-bit trip

Yes, it's Tuesday, but I've been sick.

This may been inspirational to some, but I'm a bit on the fence. Having been so depleted of energy for days now, I can't fathom the notion of spending 1500 hours futzing with Legos trying to pull off something like this. On the one hand, I think I might go insane thinking about it long enough, but then maybe I can channel that into inspiration. What say you?