The Webby Awards: 2002 Nominees
For the most part, a circle jerk.
Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, launched Consumer WebWatch, a service designed to rate websites. Consumer
WebWatch plans to develop specific guidelines to suit the different online
sectors that it will cover and offer information to help consumers protect themselves and help Web site developers improve their consumer protections.
Consumer WebWatch
Here is an example WebWatch guidelines:
CONSUMER WEBWATCH GUIDELINES
We believe Web sites will promote Web credibility if they adopt these basic policies:
1 Identity:
Web sites should clearly disclose the physical location where they are produced, including an address, a telephone number or e-mail address.
Sites should clearly disclose their ownership, private or public, naming their parent company.
Sites should clearly disclose their purpose and mission.
2 Advertising and Sponsorships:
Sites should clearly distinguish advertising from news and information, using labels or other visual means. This includes "in-house" advertising or cross-corporate ad sponsorships. Search engines, shopping tools and portals should clearly disclose paid result-placement advertising, so consumers may distinguish between objective search results and paid ads.
Sites should clearly disclose relevant business relationships, including sponsored links to other sites. For example: A site that directs a reader to another site to buy a book should clearly disclose any financial relationship between the two sites.
Sites should identify sponsors. The site's sponsorship policies should be clearly noted in accompanying text or on an "About Us" or "Site Center" page.
3 Customer Service:
Sites engaged in consumer transactions should clearly disclose relevant financial relationships with other sites, particularly when these relationships affect the cost to a consumer.
Sites should clearly disclose all fees charged, including service, transaction and handling fees, and shipping costs. This information should be disclosed before the ordering process begins.
Sites should clearly state and enforce policies for returning unwanted items or canceling transactions or reservations.
4 Corrections:
Sites should diligently seek to correct false, misleading or incorrect information.
Sites should prominently display a page or section of the site where incorrect information is corrected or clarified.
Sites should strive to mark content with its published date when failing to do so could mislead consumers.
Sites should clearly state their policy on a consumer's rights if a purchase is made based on incorrect information on the site.
5 Privacy:
Site privacy policies should be easy to find and clearly, simply stated.
Sites should clearly disclose how personal data from site visitors and customers will be used. Personal data includes name, address, phone number and credit card number.
Sites should disclose whether they use browser-tracking mechanisms such as "cookies," and other technologies such as Web beacons, bugs and robots.
Sites should explain how data collected from them will be used.
Sites should notify customers of changes to privacy policies, and provide an easy opt-out alternative.
"We need a new toaster."
"Why?" Stanley asked.
"Here, let me show you." I hold up two pieces of toast, each carbon black on one site, bread white on the other.
"How did this happen?"
Like I stood there with a lighter and carefully burned one side each of two pieces of bread. The toaster, mind you, is almost 20 years old. How did this happen indeed ...
But at least he let me throw away the old one rather than squirreling it away in one of his black holes containing "stuff I might need some day."
He thinks I sabotaged it, maybe not seriously thinking it but the question lurks on the fringes of his mind. Of course, he thinks I sabotaged the 16-year-old Chevy Nova so we could get a new car. He accused me of putting sugar in the gas tank. Again, only fractionally serious about it. It never occured to me to put sugar in the gas tank - if I had known that's all it would've taken to get a new car, I would've done it a long, long time ago.
A trip to Wal-Mart today made very clear to me, yet again, why I prefer to shop online. The Norwalk, CT Wal-Mart employees are certainly nothing like those cheerful souls seen in their tv ads. no sirree. We just have to figure out their Quiet Time - you know, when there are almost no customers.
Stanley has long made it a practice to go to Stew Leonard's (a local dairy/supermarket) about 15 minutes before closing. "They treat you like royalty if you go then," says Stanley. And they do, too - you can give them your list as you walk in the door and have it all packed by the time you reach the checkout counter - they'd probably pack the car too, if they weren't so busy trying to close so they could go home.
Whopper of the Week: Donald Rumsfeld - How were things in Tora Bora? By Timothy Noah
So what if it's in what's left of Slate?
DO NOT go here unless you have a high-speed connection. TextArc.org Home
This makes patterns of all the words in a document. W. Bradford Paley, the creator of this, um, applet? said "I am trying to create an agar in which meaning will grow." (Which means nothing.) It supposedly "turns a linear narrative into an interactive map in which the relationships between words that may be pages apart can be perceived at a glance." Yeah, sure it does.
This is a work of art - and an impressive bit of software creation. Monkeys typing.
Warning: recent mentions in the mass media means this site is getting heavy traffic. Be patient.
Digital Sushi. What's even more interesting is that there is a sushi webring.
Herb Block was one of the best cartoonists ever. This is a great place to spend some time. It's a shame he's not around to chronicle the lunacies of the current administration. Herblock's History (Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium): Library of Congress Exhibition
Stanley at Puppet Press Journal said the boeing stuff has already been explained - that this is old hat. He said he thought it was done on Metafilter, but, as is typical, I can't get on to MeFi when I really want to.
Google linked to the thread on kuro5shin, but there was no satisfactory explanation - just a lot of patronizing hot air.
MSNBC ran an article with a series of five photos taken from a Pentagon camera. The article says it shows the plane hitting the ground and then the building and erupting into a fireball. But I'm not sure I can see the plane.
Stanley says they recovered the black boxes from the plane. I don't find this convincing. All I want is to see or read is something that convinces me that the plane did hit the Pentagon. You know, like forensic-type evidence. The prosecution's case, as it were.
I'm not sure what I think about this yet - in this day and age of digital manipulation, it's pretty hard to know what's real and what's been screwed-around with - but it sure is interesting. I think all of the images are sourced, so it really wouldn't be that hard to track down the originals for a better look. I would really like to see the counterpoint to this. Pentagon : Hunt the Boeing! And test your perceptions!
Two things struck me as I read this article. The first is that the United States is sending $10 million in aid PER DAY to Israel. And the second is that the current administration is doing nothing to enforce the legal requirement that weapons we provide to Israel not be used for aggression.
Why are we giving Israel $3.5 BILLION-plus in aid per year? How much aid are we giving to the Palestinian Authority? Why are we allies of Israel to begin with? What do they provide for us in that region besides problems, instability, reasons for terrorist attacks on US citizens, additions to our legacy of hypocrisy, and complicity in human rights violations and murder? What is this aid buying the United States? In the United States, who benefits from our aid to Israel? What would happen if we ended our aid to Israel right now? And why aren't our nation's leaders demanding that we do?
Here is President Carter's column in its entirety:
New York Times
April 21, 2002
America Can Persuade Israel to Make a Just Peace
By JIMMY CARTER
ATLANTA — In January 1996, with full support from Israel and responding to the invitation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Carter Center helped to monitor a democratic election in the West Bank and Gaza, which was well organized, open and fair. In that election, 88 members were elected to the Palestinian National Authority, with Yasir Arafat as president. Legally and practically, the Palestinian people were encouraged to form their own government, with the expectation that they would soon have full sovereignty as a state.
When the election was over, I made a strong effort to persuade the leaders of Hamas to accept the election results, with Mr. Arafat as their leader. I relayed a message offering them full participation in the process of developing a permanent constitutional framework for the new political entity, but they refused to accept this proposal. Despite this rejection, it was a time of peace and hope, and there was no threat of violence or even peaceful demonstrations. The legal status of the Palestinian people has not changed since then, but their plight has grown desperate.
Ariel Sharon is a strong and forceful man and has never equivocated in his public declarations nor deviated from his ultimate purpose. His rejection of all peace agreements that included Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands, his invasion of Lebanon, his provocative visit to the Temple Mount, the destruction of villages and homes, the arrests of thousands of Palestinians and his open defiance of President George W. Bush's demand that he comply with international law have all been orchestrated to accomplish his ultimate goals: to establish Israeli settlements as widely as possible throughout occupied territories and to deny Palestinians a cohesive political existence.
There is adequate blame on the other side. Even when he was free and enjoying the full trappings of political power, Yasir Arafat never exerted control over Hamas and other radical Palestinians who reject the concept of a peaceful Israeli existence and adopt any means to accomplish their goal. Mr. Arafat's all-too-rare denunciations of violence have been spasmodic, often expressed only in English and likely insincere. He may well see the suicide attacks as one of the few ways to retaliate against his tormentors, to dramatize the suffering of his people, or as a means for him, vicariously, to be a martyr.
Tragically, the policies of Mr. Sharon have greatly strengthened these criminal elements, enhanced their popular support, and encouraged misguided young men and women to sacrifice their own lives in attacking innocent Israeli citizens. The abhorrent suicide bombings are also counterproductive in that they discredit the Palestinian cause, help perpetuate the military occupation and destruction of villages, and obstruct efforts toward peace and justice.
The situation is not hopeless. There is an ultimate avenue to peace in the implementation of United Nations resolutions, including Resolution 242, expressed most recently in the highly publicized proposal of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah. The basic premises of these resolutions are withdrawal of Israelis from Palestinian lands in exchange for full acceptance of Israel and Israel's right to live in peace. This is a reasonable solution for many Israelis, having been accepted in 1978 by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and ratified by the Israeli Knesset. Egypt, offering the greatest threat to Israel, responded by establishing full diplomatic relations and honoring Israeli rights, including unimpeded use of the Suez canal. This set a pattern for what can and must be done by all other Arab nations. Through constructive negotiations, both sides can consider some modifications of the 1967 boundary lines.
East Jerusalem can be jointly administered with unimpeded access to holy places, and the right of return can be addressed by permitting a limited number of displaced Palestinians to return to their homeland with fair compensation to others. It will be a good investment for the international community to pay this cost.
With the ready and potentially unanimous backing of the international community, the United States government can bring about such a solution to the existing imbroglio. Demands on both sides should be so patently fair and balanced that at least a majority of citizens in the affected area will respond with approval, and an international force can monitor compliance with agreed peace terms, as was approved for the Sinai region in 1979 following Israel's withdrawal from Egyptian territory.
There are two existing factors that offer success to United States persuasion. One is the legal requirement that American weapons are to be used by Israel only for defensive purposes, a premise certainly being violated in the recent destruction of Jenin and other villages. Richard Nixon imposed this requirement to stop Ariel Sharon and Israel's military advance into Egypt in the 1973 war, and I used the same demand to deter Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 1979. (A full invasion was launched by Ariel Sharon after I left office). The other persuasive factor is approximately $10 million daily in American aid to Israel. President George Bush Sr. threatened this assistance in 1992 to prevent the building of Israeli settlements between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
I understand the extreme political sensitivity in America of using persuasion on the Israelis, but it is important to remember that none of the actions toward peace would involve an encroachment on the sovereign territory of Israel. They all involve lands of the Egyptians, Lebanese and Palestinians, as recognized by international law.
The existing situation is tragic and likely to get worse. Normal diplomatic efforts have failed. It is time for the United States, as the sole recognized intermediary, to consider more forceful action for peace. The rest of the world will welcome this leadership.
Jimmy Carter, the former president, is chairman of the Carter Center, which works worldwide to advance peace and human health.
Found this at Dr. Dan's (Dan Wasmund, a vet near Marietta, Ohio) website while looking up how to get rid of ear mites (ain't this Internet thingie wonderful? Can find the info I need just any old time of the day or night ... without paying $50 for the vet to tell me the exact same thing I can read.)
1. Introduction: Why Do We Need Humans?
So you've decided to get yourself a human being. In doing so, you've joined the millions of other cats who have acquired these strange and frustrating creatures. There will be any number of times, during the course of your association with humans, when you will wonder why you have bothered to grace them with your presence.
What's so great about humans, anyway? Why not just hang around with other cats? Our greatest philosophers have struggled with this question for centuries, but the answer is actually rather simple: THEY HAVE OPPOSABLE THUMBS.
This makes them the perfect tools for such tasks as opening doors, getting the lids off of cat food cans, changing television stations and other activities that we, despite our other obvious advantages, find difficult to do ourselves. True, chimps, orangutans and lemurs also have opposable thumbs, but they are nowhere as easy to train.
2. How And When to Get Your Human's Attention:
Humans often erroneously assume that there are other, more important activities than taking care of your immediate needs, such as conducting business, spending time with their families or even sleeping. Though this is dreadfully inconvenient, you can make this work to your advantage by pestering your human at the moment it is the busiest. It is usually so flustered that it will do whatever you want it to do, just to get you out of its hair. Not coincidentally, human teenagers follow this same practice. Here are some tried and true methods of getting your human to do what you want:
Sitting on paper: An oldie but a goodie. If a human has paper in front of it, chances are good it's something they assume is more important than you. They will often offer you a snack to lure you away. Establish your supremacy over this wood pulp product at every opportunity. This practice also works well with computer keyboards, remote controls, car keys and small children.
Waking your human at odd hours: A cat's "golden time" is between 3:30 and 4:30 in the morning. If you paw at your human's sleeping face during this time, you have a better than even chance that it will get up and, in an incoherent haze, do exactly what you want. You may actually have to scratch deep sleepers to get their attention; remember to vary the scratch site to keep the human from getting suspicious.
3. Punishing Your Human Being:
Sometimes, despite your best training efforts, your human will stubbornly resist bending to your whim. In these extreme circumstances, you may have to punish your human. Obvious punishments, such as scratching furniture or eating household plants, are likely to backfire: the unsophisticated humans are likely to misinterpret the activities and then try to discipline YOU. Instead, we offer these subtle but nonetheless effective alternatives:
* Use the cat box during an important formal dinner.
* Stare impassively at your human while it is attempting a romantic interlude.
* Stand over an important piece of electronic equipment and feign a hairball attack.
* After your human has watched a particularly disturbing horror film, stand by the hall closet and then slowly back away, hissing and yowling.
* While your human is sleeping, lie on its face.
4. Rewarding Your Human:
Should Your Gift Still Be Alive? The cat world is divided over the etiquette of presenting humans with the thoughtful gift of a recently disemboweled animal. Some believe that humans prefer these gifts already dead, while others maintain that humans enjoy a slowly expiring cricket or rodent just as much as we do, given their jumpy and playful movements in picking the creatures up after they've been presented. After much consideration of the human psyche, we recommend the following: Cold blooded animals (large insects, frogs, lizards, garden snakes and the occasional earthworm) should be presented dead, while warm blooded animals (birds,rodents, your neighbor's Pomeranian) are better still living. When you see the expression on your human's face, you'll know it's worth it.
5. How Long Should You Keep Your Human?
You are only obligated to your human for one of your lives. The other eight are up to you. We recommend mixing and matching, though in the end, most humans (at least the ones that are worth living with) are pretty much the same. But what do you expect? They're humans, after all. Opposable thumbs will only take you so far.
It's one of those rainy, kinda lazy Saturdays. Though I have a lot to do, I don't feel like doing much. We went to get haircuts earlier, and stoped at Petco for animal food (and, of course, more toys for the beasties). Saw an astonishing parrot, big, very young (like a few months old) with gold and iridescent peacock blue and teal feathers. He is healthy, friendly, and $1500 - so I guess I won't even bother putting him on my wish list.
It's a gray day, on the chilly side but I like it this way after the temperature hitting the 90s this week - good grief. We need the rain and the wildflower seeds I planted need the rain.
I need to organize my desk and office yet again and I know I'll feel better when I do - it's just getting started that's the hard part. Sooner or later I'll put some cds on and start the spring cleaning stuff. Just not yet.
I do love spring. It's so pretty right now I don't even mind spending half my awake time in a benedryl-induced stupor. The dogwoods are especially pretty this year - and so was the magnolia, though it seemed to last only a couple of days this year. Maybe because there hasn't been enough rain.
This is one view of the Japanese dogwood as seen from my window. It was even greener a couple of days ago - stunning this year. This tree is suffering from some blight all the Japanese dogwoods seem to have here in Fairfield County, Connecticut, but it doesn't look like it's going to die anytime soon.
Another view of the dogwood from the window.
"I never did like dogwood."
Note to Google: don't sue me for revealing this - I got it from Mark Hurst at Good Experience.
During the past 24 hours, the domain server for infopulsellc.com (our company webserver) was changed from what it should be to an Interland nameserver (Interland now services the Cobalt RaQ that is our webserver. It used to be an Interliant box, but Interliant decided to sell its customers. Which we didn't find out about until long after it was fait accompli.)
This, apparently, was accomplished by the Great Genie Notus as Interland says they didn't do it and Network Solutions, er, VeriSign, is pleading ignorance.
Supposedly, this is not supposed to happen without explicit permission from the domain owner (that's us). Well, we sure didn't give permission for this. When WE try to make a change we practically have to send in a DNA sample -- or a driver's license at the very least. Your data is supposed to be safe and protected with all the hoops one has to jump through to make a change. What a lie.
The whole thing is allegedly under investigation by both Interland and Network Solutions. We have no hope of ever getting an answer about what happened. The current theory (from Interland) is that Network Solu ... we mean VeriSign ... was doing a batch update to a bunch of Interland domains using a script, and somehow the script messed up. (I guess they never heard of error checking.) We started the process of changing the domain server back to what it's supposed to be, but it takes a couple of days for the change to go in effect. Meanwhile, our website might as well not exist.
If we actually get any answers as to why and how this happened, from either company, we'll post the details here.
At any rate, we strongly advise all who have a domain registered at Network Solutions (or VeriSign, who owns it now) to switch to another registrar immediately. We're going to finish moving all of ours to DNS Central just as soon as we can (it costs $17 but it adds a year to your registration.)
VeriSign's tagline is "The Value of Trust." So why are they so untrustworthy? This kind of crap happens, along with domain name hijacking, and companies are supposed to spend their buckaroos for a silly little ugly VeriSign shield logo? Who are they trying to kid? It's getting so that when I see the VeriSign seal, I want to run.
As far as Interland goes, I'm not sure yet what it's like doing business with them. It's not really 24/7 tech support if the DNS people don't have a body or two on the help desk after 6:00, is it? Interliant tech support was pretty good the couple of times we needed it. I keep thinking about moving to Rackspace or maybe another rack farm, but the thought of transferring up to 200 websites to another box makes my blood run cold.
It astounds me that there are still learning disabilities that I've never heard of (I've been paying attention to this, for one reason or another, for 25 years). Even when I taught special education, I never ran across this one (or a manifestation of it): Hyperlexia: An Illness That Causes Compulsive Reading.
If you've been threatened with legal action for something posted on your website, or a website you host or maintain, you should check this out before you panic: Chilling Effects Clearinghouse. It's a joint effort of Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and clinics at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Stanford's Center for Internet & Society, etc.
Thanks to Giles Turnbull at writetheweb for this info.
This site is keeping track of all the CDs people report as being ruined with that assinine copy protection: Fat Chuck's - Corrupt CDs. You can report your unfortunate discoveries here. I would definitely check here before buying any new CD.
For more news and links about corrupt CDs, check out what Stanley has to say at Puppet Press Journal - this is his latest entry: digital media battle.
This is going to be a fascinating case to watch: the owners of the Times Square billboards vs. the owners of the movie Spiderman - Digital ads entangle "Spider-Man". In this case, the movie makers inserted their own ads into the Times Square billboard space so the billboard owners are suing, claiming Sony had no right to do this. Do they? I wonder if they changed the ads in Vanilla Sky? I know there's technology to do this for sports broadcasts ...
This is tangle I'm glad I don't have to sort out. Thanks to Lance at Glassdog for this story.
From PBS - all about the most common learning disabilities affecting schoolchildren. Misunderstood Minds
These cats are testing image recognition technology. At first glance, this seems one of those "What are they nuts?" type of sites, but take the time to read stuff - it's actually fascinating. Pretty cats, too. Quantum Picture
These are very weird. What's weirder is ZDNEt UK's nicely done site to offer these so-called songs (and the lyrics) and the "bestseller" charting of the top anthems. What do companies do with these things, play them at board meetings or something? Corporate Anthems
This is an astonishing virtual exhibit from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (in Kansas City, MO): Tempus Fugit: Time Flies. It explores times on a multitude of levels. Visit this site when you have some time to really explore it - it's worth it.
Clay Bennett of the Christian Science Monitor won for his editorial cartoons: A job well drawn. His are some of the best I've seen, and he deserves the award. You can view his winning cartoons by clicking "See Clay Bennetts's winning cartoons" to the right of the photo.
Electrolux introduces talking washing machine.
A public library, the American Library Association, and the ACLU have challenged the constitutionality of the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which requires that libraries install filtering software on all computers with Internet access in order to receive federal funds. InfoToday reports that the nine-day trial in federal court has wrapped up and the litigants are now awaiting a decision: CIPA Hearings Wrap Up; Decision Expected Next Month. Even if the provision is struck down, it will probably go on to the Supreme Court.
At issue is not whether libraries should block porn from children's eyes (like they haven't already seen plenty of it just watching TV and Britney Spears), but the fact that filtering software is so crappy it blocks too much that doesn't need blocking and not enough of what probably should be blocked from children, and that the filtering software can't be turned off when an adult uses the computer. The software can't distinguish between, for example, images that exploit children and a picture of the baby jesus.
With an Attorney General so twisted he has curtains placed in front of classical statues featuring breasts, I can see the government pursuing this case all the way to the SC instead of letting it drop because it's a flawed law relying on inadequate technology.
I wonder if, somehow, the gubmint will try to equate opposing this law with terrorism?
Who are the terrorists here? Photos of the assasination of Mahmoud Salah by Israeli stormtroopers.
It's almost spooky. I was looking for something else, and came across a link to a synopsis of a presentation I made way back in 1997: ONLINE-ADS>> WB '97#2: Will the Darlings of Push Be Around in A Year?. This was back in my industry analyst days. Nice to see I was right. Whatever happened to Pointcast, anyway?
Two things I remember from that 1997 conference: David Strom is really smart. And Jesse Berst's brain is way overextended. What's he doing these days? Closest thing to the present I could find on him is his lame BerstAlert website, which appears to be abandoned. He has a radio show, I think. Waste of bandwidth.
Pictures from the the Israeli invasion of Palestine (from various sources, via YellowTimes.org)
TWOFIFTY - Digital. Visual. Habitual. Lots and lots of eye candy - some of it stunning.
I've been meaning to get some of these photos up for months now. We went to visit our folks in Natick, MA over the holidays. I always take the camera, but most of the time I forget that I have it and don't get nearly as many pics as I'd like.
And here are a couple of shots I just like. Stanley snapped the cat.
I tried to take a lot of pics on Easter, but I screwed up. Here are some of the shots that did come out:
And th, th, thaaaat's all for now.
A List Apart: Modifying Dreamweaver to Produce Valid XHTML
Typographic Signage Project - fascinating digital exhibit.
In Search of the Perfect Web Site in Smart Business. A little heavy on Vividence - but interesting nonetheless.
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS - or IDIOTS as they're more commonly known) is partnering with Nielsen//NetRatings to do a sweeps month in May (Internet Sweeps Month FAQ) - I guess so they can justify giving awards to whomever they give awards to this year. Gee, those are two organizations with a lot of credibility. Not. I guess Nielsen is trying to find a way to give meaning to its web rating service - especially now that the people who pay the advertising bills are catching on that Nielsen ratings are total bullshit. All of them. Now this nonsense to add fake ratings to the web just like they did to TV.
At any rate, this entry comes via Nick Finck at Digital Web Magazine.
In Norwalk, Skakel Trial Means It's Prime Time
Oh, I see SNET (the Connecticut telco monopoly - owned now by SBC) can install 50 dialtones running on fiber optics on one pole in one day - yet they can't get one damned DSL line on a street lined with schools and a switching station in more than a year.
Sixty-five media outlets covering the beginning of this trial. Picture, if you will, someone pouring ten pounds of shit into a five-pound bag. That's what traffic is already like around Norwalk. Now add five more pounds. If the new administration in Norwalk can figure out how to pull this off, then they can figure out how to run this city on property taxes that don't require a second mortgage to pay.
Martha Moxley's killer should've been in jail 25 years ago. It's obscene that Scum Skakel should generate this kind of media feeding frenzy - a nothing man who should go down in a nothing trial. All this crap because he's a relative of someone married to a Kennedy. And we laugh at England for their slavish devotion to royalty.
The Supreme Court just ruled the innocent can be prosecuted for the sins of their children or grandchildren IF THEY HAPPEN TO BE POOR AND LIVE IN PUBLIC HOUSING - Granny gets evicted if someone catches grandsonny smoking reefer in the project's parking lot. If they're willing to make that obscene ruling, what hope do petty criminals have in California (where a videotape thief got slammed with 50 years to life under the three-strikes law?) I would say none. After all, this is the same lineup that pulled off the coup d'etat that put an ethics-challenged moron in charge of the doomsday button. Supreme Court to review reach of three strikes sentencing laws