Originally posted on Misinformationvisualization.com on 12/9/2013.According to Change.org’s current homepage:“Family wins release of son from prison! Ryan Ferguson’s family fought for his release from prison for a murder they say he didn’t commit. Ryan’s father, Bill, started a petition asking for Ryan to be freed, and after 250,000 signatures, Ryan’s conviction was overturned.”Ferguson was convicted in 2005. His father started an online petition on change.org to get him a new trial. in 2013, after 250,000 signatures, the two main witnesses against him recanted their testimony under oath, and his conviction was overturned!It would be interesting if we could test and determine exactly how many petition signatures is the critical number necessary to get a murder conviction overturned, and whether the petition caused the witnesses to recant, or whether the petition alone would have been sufficient to get the conviction reversed even if the witnesses hadn’t recanted. Mike Kupietz , a reluctant scion of the postmodern age, is larger on the inside than the outside: perhaps not a composer, but a producer and arranger of sounds; nor a writer, but an avid writer-down; an occasional author of doggerel; an erstwhile urban hermit; and privately a man of very great ardor. He is, if now resigned to never succeeding at those personal and artistic pursuits he holds most dear, unwavering in his determination to fail at them as entertainingly as possible. He is currently in what he calls the "red bathrobe period" of his life. If you're wondering what all this has to do with FileMaker development or IT consulting: you done taken the wrong turn, this river don't go to Aintry—Mike's professional services are on his San Francisco FileMaker Pro consulting website. View All PostsPost navigationPrevious Post How To Pick A Better PasswordNext PostMisinformation Visualization