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[PyroDesu]

MY GOD, THE POWER IS BACK!

Really makes me appreciate what the people who repair power lines do.

Fucking tropical storm Lee though. 3 trees at different places on the lines.

[Glowcat]

Rick Perry during the Republican debate today.

That stain gets an innocent man executed because he reveres ignorance and he wants to talk about justice? The hypocrisy and evil of the modern Republican party is infuriating. They can drive me to MAIM KILL BURN rage with just a few moments of speaking.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/10/did_texas_kill_an_innocent_man

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Thanks to David Grann's piece in the New Yorker last month, the case of Cameron Todd Willingham is getting the exposure it deserves. Willingham was executed by the state of Texas for setting fire to his home in 1991. The blaze killed his three young children. His conviction was largely a result of the testimony of two local arson investigators, who said Mr Willingham had deliberately set the fire. But subsequent reviews found troubling problems with the arson finding. In 2004, as Willingham sat on death row protesting his innocence, an independent investigator reviewed the original report and concluded that the fire was accidental and that the initial investigation was based on "junk science". That report was sent to the governor's office and the Board of Pardons and Paroles, but Willingham's appeals were turned down and he was executed on February 17th 2004.

Since that time, there have been three other investigations into the fire. Here are the results, as summed up by the Chicago Tribune:

    Over the past five years, the Willingham case has been reviewed by nine of the nation’s top fire scientists—first for the Tribune, then for the Innocence Project, and now for the [Texas Forensic Science Commission]. All concluded that the original investigators relied on outdated theories and folklore to justify the determination of arson.

So there seems to have been a bit of a foul-up with the initial investigation, as even the prosecutor admits. Could this be the case that anti-death-penalty advocates have dreamed of—where a state actually admits to killing an innocent man? Of course not.

Shortly after the Texas Forensic Science Commission was formed in 2005 it took up the Willingham case. The commission hired Craig Beyler to review the initial investigation and, as noted by the Tribune, he reported that the original findings were deeply flawed. Mr Beyler was set to present his review to the commission last month when... three (and now four) of the commission members, including the chairman, were replaced by the governor, Rick Perry.

The governor was perfectly within his rights to do this, but the timing seems a bit suspect. After all, Mr Perry allowed the execution to proceed in 2004, despite having in hand the first of the reports that questioned the investigation. The governor, who is up for re-election in 2010 and facing a very tough primary battle, has dismissed that report, and all the others, calling the fire investigators who reviewed the case, "latter-day supposed experts". (For supposed experts, they have very impressive resumes.) The now-former commision chairman also says he felt pressured by aides to Mr Perry. The governor, as you may have guessed, remains confident that Willingham was guilty.

Mr Perry is not the first politician to show disdain for experts and science—it seems to happen rather often when the science doesn't comport with one's personal views. You might think that the importance of a death penalty case would lead to a more considered approach, but a flagrant disregard for evidence is what has allowed the death penalty to persist all these years. A substantial amount of research shows it comes at a high cost to states without deterring murder. More than 130 people who had been sentenced to death have been subsequently exonerated. Yet a majority of Americans continue to support executions, perhaps because this is the way we show our indignation for the evil act of murder. Revenge demands blood—even the blood of an innocent man, it now seems.

[ein]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySsbkLVuYOs

I kinda liked that, actually~
Were it not for the shit quality, I would've enjoyed it more~
Pretty solid cover, aside from the incomprehensible endy bits and the, y'know, screaming fans~

[Rilder]

STEAM: HEY VERIFICATION OF THE INTEGRETY OF THAT GAMES CACHE IS COMPLETE AND EVERYTHING IS FINE NO NEED TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING OVER BUT I'M JUST GONNA DELETE YOUR 15GIG GAME INSTALL ANYWAYS AND FORCE YOU TO REDOWNLOAD IT.

[MaximumZero]

Have you already learned your text by heart? Can't get the full effect without the right acting.

"I like swords!" ^_^

[ChairmanPoo]

I should dress as TechnoJesus one halloween. I've already committed to FF Fighter (or an approximation) this year, though.

[Dsarker]

I should dress as TechnoJesus one halloween. I've already committed to FF Fighter (or an approximation) this year, though.

Silly ChairmanPoo. That's not TechnoJesus. That's the Omnissiah.

[PyroDesu]

Fox News: Environmentalism promoting video games are actually a secret liberal agenda!

[MaximumZero]

Both Xboxes RROD'd again. I don't believe I can fix either one this time. First is error 73, a potential problem with the ethernet port. The second one refuses to put out an A/V signal at all.

[Vector]

a. Public bus system

b. Internet down

c. Combination: didn't get to class today, either, because I spent the time I should have used trying to get to class (i.e. getting to the bus stop 40 minutes before class, in hopes of arriving on time) trying to get on the net so I could do my homework for said class.

Fabulous.

[Bouchart]

Job interview sucked.  They sent me a rejection email before I even got home.

I'm better off for it.  Those guys looked incompetent.

[Heliman]

I was making a image to go along with one of my updates in my new suggestion game, but Gimp decided to flip it's shit at me just as I was finishing. It crashed and I lost all my data.

RAAAAGE!

[Mindmaker]

The changes in my local bookstore are shit.
At least 50% of the stuff the stuff they are selling there aren't books.
Sci-Fi category is gone, so is Psycholgy and Fantasy doesn't feature a single Discworld book.

Time to order all my stuff online...

Also marketing fail from Andriod.
Still no other payment option for europe than credit cards? Seriously?
Well, enjoy not earning any money then.

[Jopax]

Mirrors Edge.

The game is pretty fun when you aren't getting murdered by the cops/scenery because it fails to recognize what you wanted to do or simply smacks you in the face because you didn't do it perfectly.

[Willfor]

The changes in my local bookstore are the shit.
At least 50% of the stuff the stuff they are selling there aren't books.
Sci-Fi category is gone, so is Psycholgy and Fantasy doesn't feature a single Discworld book.

Most local bookstores are happy to place special orders for books that they do not have in stock.