# The world is doomed **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 15, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048 "2001-01-15T00:24:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/1 "2001-01-15T00:24:39Z")
[click](http://my.aol.com/news/news_story.psp?type=1&cat=0100&id=0101141645332901). :rolleyes:: ☹ :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/2 "2001-01-15T00:29:15Z")
Good lord, that’s damned funny. ---
**Author:** ![Wicked\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wicked\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wicked_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/3 "2001-01-15T00:34:23Z")
C&P from article (bolding mine): Researchers compiled 500 pages of errors, ranging from maps depicting the equator passing through the southern United States to a **photo of singer Linda Ronstadt labeled as a silicon crystal**. What the hell is that all about? LOL Rose ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/4 "2001-01-15T00:35:41Z")
Yep, we’re doomed. It’s been real, folks! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dewt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@dewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dewt)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/5 "2001-01-15T00:42:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Wendy Spiegel, a spokeswoman for Prentice Hall’s parent company, Pearson Education, told the Observer. ``But we believe we have the best practices to ensure accuracy.’’ Phew. Good thing. Hey, at least the text books are politically correct and culturally diversified. ---
**Author:** ![Upham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Upham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upham)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/6 "2001-01-15T00:43:35Z")
So were doomed eh? Anywone for tortilla chips? ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/7 "2001-01-15T01:11:39Z")
My father does freelance Editing of Science texts (biology, earth sciences and natural history oriented)… basicly the people that are hired to do the editing hire out several freelance people (like my father) who do the editing for them and then the editor compiles all the information. When the text is finally published they usually send him a copy of it. He will then check to see if they changed everything… many times they do not… occasionally its something fairly major. That irritates and frustrates him to no end. ---
**Author:** ![Show\_Biz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Show\_Biz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Show_Biz)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/8 "2001-01-15T01:21:51Z")
The world was doomed long before any of us was born, and will remain doomed long after we are all dust. Such is the human condition. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/9 "2001-01-15T01:58:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Show\_Biz \* > \*\*The world was doomed long before any of us was born, and will remain doomed long after we are all dust. > > Such is the human condition. \*\* You just have to ruin my day, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/10 "2001-01-16T20:26:14Z")
My little brother was a Photo Researcher for Prentice Hall in NYC a little while back, specifically with science textbooks for high schools. This could make for humorous family get-togethers if it was under his watch! Luckily he left and worked for a dotcom who’s doors are shut. They currently pay him to stay home. I GOTTA check this one out. Perhaps my parents only had enough viable DNA for the first four kids… (Ooops, now I can’t send him this link. Sorry Bagg!) ---
**Author:** ![Clucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@Clucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clucky)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/11 "2001-01-16T22:03:32Z")
It’s not so much that they make mistakes … believe me, if you put out a large publication, there’s going to be some mistakes. Even the best editor won’t catch every little thing. The main problem is that it doesn’t seem to concern the people who need to improve the system so that fewer obvious mistakes are made. I hope somewhere somebody’s doing something about this, because _nothing’s more frustrating and disappointing to a student than when the people charged with teaching him are f-ing clueless!_ There. I got it out. I’m better now. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/12 "2001-01-16T22:47:23Z")
Things are getting worse with SpellCheck, folks don’t even question it. A friend of mine had a thousand copies of a technical manual he’d worked on get recalled because “Master brake” got changed into “Masturbate” by the SpellCheck and had slipped past the editor. ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Don](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e95f7d/32.png) [@Engineer\_Don](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Don)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/13 "2001-01-16T23:24:07Z")
Richard Feynman (a famous Nobel prize winning physisist with a sense of humor) was on a committee in California to review textbooks, according to one of his autobiographies. IIRC he showed up for the meeting after reviewing the math and science texts with a huge list of factual errors, and was basically met with high levels of hostility from people with PC complaints. They were not at all interested in fixing factual content, but just wanted to look at PC stuff. He said it was a lost cause and didn’t do it again. The science texts I have seen are amazingly bad. The world has been doomed since the invention of the crossbow made the knights vulnerable to attack by any old peasant. Once the weapon/armor balance is broken all hell breaks loose, and things like democracies happen. This will just increase ignorance and confusion, and it ain’t no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/14 "2001-01-16T23:33:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wicked Blue \* > **photo of singer Linda Ronstadt labeled as a silicon crystal.** That explains why the computer I built out of Linda Ronstadt doesn’t work right. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/15 "2001-01-16T23:41:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Inky- \* > \*\*Things are getting worse with SpellCheck, folks don’t even question it. > > A friend of mine had a thousand copies of a technical manual he’d worked on get recalled because “Master brake” got changed into “Masturbate” by the SpellCheck and had slipped past the editor. \*\* “You have to switch to the masturbate.” “In case the masturbate fails, pull hard on the emergency brake” “Remember to engage the masturbate slowly, and not pump. This vcan be hazardous, especially when slippery” ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-doomed/50048/16 "2001-01-17T17:01:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Wicked Blue \* > > **photo of singer Linda Ronstadt labeled as a silicon crystal.** > > That explains why the computer I built out of Linda Ronstadt doesn’t work right. \*\* This is the most hilarious thing I’ve read all month. Indeed, I don’t think I’ll ever forget this one.