# Wrong date on Cecil's column? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 7, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508 "2008-07-07T01:45:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/1 "2008-07-07T01:45:49Z")
The date on [the guy-in-a-lawn-chair-with-helium-balloons column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_131.html) (which I happened to be looking at because it was linked to in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=474460)) is **28-Oct-1988**. Yet, according to internal evidence, the column, at least in its present form, could not have been written then. Cecil says, “It’s been a mere **16 years** since Larry Walters made his legendary flight” and he “went aloft July 2, **1982** ” (bolding mine); and later in the column Cecil refers to Larry’s death in **1993**. Unless I’m being obtuse, something doesn’t add up here. I know scholars sometimes err or are uncertain when dating ancient texts—is that what happened here? Does this cast doubts on the dates of other columns in the Straight Dope Archives? ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/2 "2008-07-07T02:11:05Z")
I noticed this too. It… it makes me question my faith. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/3 "2008-07-07T02:25:14Z")
Cecil wrote that column in 1988, but the line read “…it’s been a mere 6 years.” Also, the last paragraph was added for the online column. It wasn’t there in the original. Buy the books! ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/4 "2008-07-07T02:41:54Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Also, the last paragraph was added for the online column. It wasn’t there in the original. … Buy the books! [/QUOTE] :eek: Are you suggesting that we should have lower standards for online materials than for print ones… even when it’s \*Cecil’s material? \* ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/5 "2008-07-07T05:34:00Z")
Cecil’s online columns are often updated after their original publication. Somewhat annoyingly, there is rarely any explicit indication of when the updating took place. C’est la vie. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/6 "2008-07-07T15:02:38Z")
Doesn’t matter, because we have always been at war with Eastasia. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/7 "2008-07-08T20:21:03Z")
Some of the columns were updated when we went online in 1996. Some of the columns were updated when they were published in the Straight Dope books. Not all of the columns have been (or will be) updated. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrong-date-on-cecils-column/455508/8 "2008-07-10T15:51:18Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Doesn’t matter, because we have always been at war with Eastasia. [/QUOTE] Well said, Citizen.