Day: May 3, 2005

I’ve been awfully political lately, here’s some lighthearted stuff to break the mood.

OK, you know those things that you use to pay with a credit/debit card at the grocery? This is one of the worst machines I’ve ever seen. I’ve used it well over one hundred times, and I still have to stop and read every button every time. Have you ever seen someone try to use it for the first time? You might as well be in line behind some who wants to pay by trading leftover kleenex — it’s gonna be a while.

The sad part is that 95% of patrons are using it to do the exact same thing — pay with a card. How hard is that? The price comes up, you swipe your card, you push yes. How many buttons do you need? Two? They have over 20. A standard numeric keypad. 3 keys that change their function depending what point you are in the process. Another 3 or 6 with various payment options. It’s insane. Think about this device the next time you use it. Then tell me I’m wrong.

Sadly, I feel just as strongly about this as I do the political material. There will be more posts on bad user interfaces in normal life. It drives me crazy. I actually spend time nodding my head while I read sites like this.

Update: Here is a pic of the interface so you can see how ridiculous it is.

Earlier, I said that the media let the Bushies get away with their lies. They have, so the Bushies lie more. If you can make up quotes about Gore, make up stories about Gore, and no one calls you on it, then why would you stop? Until the Bushies are shown some negative reinforcement, they have every reason to grow more secretive, more autocratic, more arrogant, more insular, and more deceptive. Yglesias says it better:

I used to get mad at the administration for trying to manipulate people all the time. I don’t anymore. You can hardly blame them. Everyone would act this way if the media were so casual about letting them get away with it. But now we’re well beyond letting them get away and deep into aiding-and-abetting territoriy.

The only difference between us is that I am still mad.

Rice cooks the books to fake the terrorism isisn’t rising.

Once again, the Bushies figure out a way to lie without technically lying.