# Technically correct news reports **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 3, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518 "2018-05-03T16:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/1 "2018-05-03T16:14:48Z")
So, it is apparently a slow news day and various places are reporting on an 11-year-old girl finding a not especially remarkable trilobite fossil. In the first article I read, [it was pointed out](https://www.inquisitr.com/4886747/east-tennessee-girl-finds-475-million-year-old-trilobite-fossil-on-lake-shore/) that “there are more than 600 trilobite species recorded by science.” [There are more than 17,000 known species of trilobites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilobite). So while 17,000 is–technically–more than 600, it doesn’t really seem to be in the spirit of precision. Any favorite examples of news items that have technically correct but not really useful points of information? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/2 "2018-05-03T16:22:39Z")
That report is the best kind of correct! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/3 "2018-05-03T17:30:52Z")
Well, she found it in Tennessee. Maybe the state of Tennessee only recognizes 600-odd species of trilobites\* for reasons of Biblical inerrancy? \*See _Paul’s Epistle to the Precambrians_, Chapters 2-4. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/4 "2018-05-03T17:34:45Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Any favorite examples of news items that have technically correct but not really useful points of information? I fucking hate it when the weatherman says, “It’s going to be Mild”. What the fuck does that mean? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/5 "2018-05-03T18:23:13Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I fucking hate it when the weatherman says, “It’s going to be Mild”. > > What the fuck does that mean? 😕 > [@dictionary.com](#): > > mild > … > 3. > not cold, severe, or extreme, as air or weather: > mild breezes. Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/6 "2018-05-04T02:07:28Z")
Still on weather, where I am they use the word “fine” to mean “no rain.” Bugged me a bit during our five year drought that led to severe water restrictions. Fine? It’s not fine at all from my point of view! But I guess they can’t use “dry” because that means “not humid.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/7 "2018-05-04T03:48:06Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Hope that helps. Not at all. Temps can range here from -10 to 103. What is “not cold” to you? Me? About 45. My wife? About 84. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/8 "2018-05-04T05:09:24Z")
Tucker Carlson can easily win this thread. He recently covered, during prime time, the story that pandas are strong enough to kill a human (and how fortunate we are that they are not aggressive). The story was so important he didn’t get a chance to talk about the raid of Cohen’s offices, that was the big news story everywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/9 "2018-05-06T04:48:09Z")
Anything of the form “X may have happened”. Unless what happened was previously thought to be impossible logically (factorizing a prime number) or physically (moving faster than the speed of light in any reference frame), it’s not very informative. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/10 "2018-05-06T06:58:27Z")
There were some recent stories about how it was 100% certain the Earth was going to be hit by a big rock and wipe out civilization. I didn’t read the stories, so have no idea if they qualified that prediction by, say, giving the odds of that happening in some limited time span. The headlines themselves were pure scaremongering. I can’t find the articles at Google News, so perhaps someone came to their senses and removed them. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/11 "2018-05-06T09:44:30Z")
Funny you ask. I just found a mystifying one on Wikipedia, and was trying to think of a placed to park my question here. Article on Handedness. The opening paragraph passes along the following: . Studies suggest that 70–95% of the world population is right-handed. Studies suggest that approximately 10% of the world population is left-handed. Cross-dominance or Mixed-handedness is the change of hand preference between tasks. This is uncommon in the population with about a 1% prevalence. [Handedness - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness) OK. It looks like 100 - 10 - 1 = Approximately 70-95. Jesus. How hard can it be to find out how many people are right handed, with “studies suggesting” more precisely than that? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/12 "2018-05-06T17:08:03Z")
Save up to 25% or more! No other brand of worthless placebo is more effective than this worthless placebo. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/13 "2018-05-06T17:17:45Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Not at all. Temps can range here from -10 to 103. > > What is “not cold” to you? > > Me? About 45. My wife? About 84. It’s a standard term for a standard concept. Nitpicking it doesn’t make it meaningless. Most people understand what it means. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technically-correct-news-reports/813518/14 "2018-05-07T14:06:11Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Save up to 25% or more! > > No other brand of worthless placebo is more effective than this worthless placebo. Obligatory xkcd: [xkcd: Advertising](https://xkcd.com/870/) My favorite technically correct headline was on inauguration day with a picture of the Trumps and Obamas at the White House: “White billionaire takes federally subsidized housing from black family”