http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_131.html
A very minor FYI: In today’s classic column, the date at the top reads “28-Oct-1988”, yet Cecil mentions that Walters’ flight took place 16 years ago, dating the column to 1998. How are the column date stamps maintained (i.e. is it part of the text of the column, or calculated from separate data)?
Sometimes the classics are updated to make them timely now.
Sometimes the classics reflect other updatings; in this case it’s contemperanous with the publication of “Return of the Straight Dope.”
None of us here can tinker overmuch with the Canon; I can catch those pesky typo gremlins and fix coding, that sort of thing, but editing/rewriting, that takes a higher power.
This has been brought to Ed’s attention.
Then again, all this IS an artificial construct, so maybe the column is correct and we’re wrong. I’m willing to admit it if you are.
The column also mentions Walters’s death in 1993, something that was also presumably added to the 1998 revision.