Discussion:
Do news media editors know enough physics to correct errors?
(too old to reply)
Dingbat
2021-12-03 07:20:30 UTC
Permalink
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez

I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
bil...@shaw.ca
2021-12-03 07:35:10 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
"Diamonds and rust" is nobody's blooper. It's a song lyric, and arguably poetry.
You should learn the difference.

bill
CDB
2021-12-03 13:27:16 UTC
Permalink
Post by ***@shaw.ca
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media. Do
editors know enough Physics to correct them?
"Diamonds and rust" is nobody's blooper. It's a song lyric, and
arguably poetry. You should learn the difference.
Presumably the blooper is using "light years" as a measure of time.
Lewis
2021-12-03 18:29:18 UTC
Permalink
Post by CDB
Post by ***@shaw.ca
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media. Do
editors know enough Physics to correct them?
"Diamonds and rust" is nobody's blooper. It's a song lyric, and
arguably poetry. You should learn the difference.
Presumably the blooper is using "light years" as a measure of time.
It is, of course, a measure of time AND space, that's rather the point.

Voyager 1 is 1279 minutes from Earth, or about 21 hours. It has taken
over 44 years to travel that distance.
--
"My parents were unwilling to secure the necessary eagle's eggs and
lion semen"
CDB
2021-12-04 14:30:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by Lewis
Post by CDB
Post by ***@shaw.ca
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from
Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
"Diamonds and rust" is nobody's blooper. It's a song lyric, and
arguably poetry. You should learn the difference.
Presumably the blooper is using "light years" as a measure of
time.
It is, of course, a measure of time AND space, that's rather the point.
Voyager 1 is 1279 minutes from Earth, or about 21 hours. It has
taken over 44 years to travel that distance.
OK, "blooper".
Dingbat
2021-12-04 00:08:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by ***@shaw.ca
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
"Diamonds and rust" is nobody's blooper. It's a song lyric, and arguably poetry.
You should learn the difference.
Very well, but suppose a writer uses "light year" as a unit of time in some more serious
writing. Would an editor catch the error?
Stefan Ram
2021-12-04 00:24:27 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dingbat
Very well, but suppose a writer uses "light year" as a unit
of time in some more serious writing. Would an editor catch
the error?
Most editors would. For this to happen, the editor does not
need to know what a light year is. It would be enough if he
notices that it's a funny or unknown expression. He could
then ask the author or look it up in a dictionary. Should he
look in the OED, he would read:

|2. figurative. An indefinitely great distance.
| Also: an indefinitely long time.

.
Ken Blake
2021-12-04 15:30:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dingbat
Post by ***@shaw.ca
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
"Diamonds and rust" is nobody's blooper. It's a song lyric, and arguably poetry.
You should learn the difference.
Very well, but suppose a writer uses "light year" as a unit of time in some more serious
writing. Would an editor catch the error?
What a strange question. It of course depends on the editor. Some would
and others wouldn't.
Richard Heathfield
2021-12-03 07:58:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
Or perhaps journalists don't know enough Physics to commit them?
--
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line 4 vacant - apply within
Athel Cornish-Bowden
2021-12-03 09:22:42 UTC
Permalink
Post by Richard Heathfield
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
Or perhaps journalists don't know enough Physics to commit them?
I'm having trouble seeing the relevance of journalists to this thread.
Were those two songs really written by journalists?
Can you usually see the relevance of what Dingbat posts?
--
Athel -- French and British, living mainly in England until 1987.
Sam Plusnet
2021-12-03 21:08:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by Richard Heathfield
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
Or perhaps journalists don't know enough Physics to commit them?
I'm having trouble seeing the relevance of journalists to this thread.
Were those two songs really written by journalists?
How many journalists keep a journal?
--
Sam Plusnet
Stefan Ram
2021-12-03 14:36:48 UTC
Permalink
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Senor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust =
by Joan Baez
...
such Physics bloopers
Ever heard of "literary trope" or "figurative language"?

Joan Baez is related to John Baez, who wrote the
Usenet Physics FAQ.
Richard Heathfield
2021-12-03 14:46:10 UTC
Permalink
Post by Stefan Ram
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Senor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust =
by Joan Baez
...
such Physics bloopers
Ever heard of "literary trope" or "figurative language"?
Indeed.
Post by Stefan Ram
Joan Baez is related to John Baez, who wrote the
Usenet Physics FAQ.
And while we're on the subject, her father Albert Baez (John Baez's
uncle) co-invented the X-ray reflection microscope. It's probably fair
to speculate that Ms Baez has at least a passing familiarity with what a
light year is.
--
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line 4 vacant - apply within
Arindam Banerjee
2021-12-04 23:25:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
Do physicists know enough physics to correct their ridiculous errors?
Arindam Banerjee
2021-12-05 06:03:29 UTC
Permalink
Post by Arindam Banerjee
Post by Dingbat
... fools bogged down in a magnetic field - from Señor by Bob Dylan
... a voice I'd known a couple of light years ago - from Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
I don't see such Physics bloopers in prose in the news media.
Do editors know enough Physics to correct them?
Do physicists know enough physics to correct their ridiculous errors?
All quiet on the Lodder, Moylan, etc. front.

I suppose they have all kfed me. Wise of them.

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