Official "Science News" Thread - Page 53

Dubslow · 2012-06-24, 23:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by davieddy

High time you were awarded a "useless posts" thread of your own.

D

I try not to make such posts, but occasionally, ^{[SUP][SUP][SUP][SUP][SUP][SUP]like now}[/SUP][/SUP][/SUP][/SUP][/SUP][/SUP] duty calls.

davieddy · 2012-06-25, 16:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dubslow

I try not to make such posts, but occasionally, ^{[SUP][SUP][SUP][SUP][SUP][SUP]like now}[/SUP][/SUP][/SUP][/SUP][/SUP][/SUP] duty calls.

Yep.
Same here, as I am sure you appreciate since you reply to them in their various spirits intended.

The impression I get ATM though is that some of mine do actually have "content",
and instead of refuting or conceding my point, "they" simply slap a ban on me and/or delete them.

D

Spherical Cow · 2012-06-26, 19:22

An L.A. Times article about some of the science coming out of the Cassini spacecraft- The title, picture, and all the text in the article discuss these findings about Jupiter. Except of course, Cassini is orbiting Saturn, the NASA news release is about Saturn, and the NASA picture that was released is clearly labeled Saturn. Even though they quote the same Icarus article, and use exactly the same facts from the NASA news release, someone at the Times has gone to the trouble of "correcting" the entire discussion, and changing everything from Saturn to Jupiter. Could the LA Times actually believe that the NASA release and Icarus article had a bunch of typos, and that they must have meant Jupiter when they said Saturn?

From the article: "But new data compiled from imaging by NASA's Cassini probe, which has been orbiting the planet since July 1, 2004, show that Jupiter's jet streams have a different power source -- the planet's own internal heat."

This kind of science reporting really bugs me....I can see making a single typo in the caption; typing in Jupiter instead of Saturn. But throughout the entire article?

Norm

(In the next post below, I'll put the NASA image- same photo, same arrows, but clearly labeled Saturn.)

Spherical Cow · 2012-06-26, 19:25

And here's the same photo from the NASA release, clearly labeled Saturn...

cheesehead · 2012-06-27, 23:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spherical Cow

An L.A. Times article

www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-jupiter-jet-stream-20120626,0,2231668.story

Quote:

about some of the science coming out of the Cassini spacecraft- The title, picture, and all the text in the article discuss these findings about Jupiter. Except of course, Cassini is orbiting Saturn, the NASA news release is about Saturn, and the NASA picture that was released is clearly labeled Saturn. Even though they quote the same Icarus article, and use exactly the same facts from the NASA news release, someone at the Times has gone to the trouble of "correcting" the entire discussion, and changing everything from Saturn to Jupiter.

... and it wasn't a purely mechanical replace, replace, replace, ... because "Jupiter" is misspelled as "Jupter" in the third paragraph. (Perhaps a Freudian slip by the "corrector" who subconsciously knew the correct name had six letters and two syllables, not seven and three?)

Quote:

Could the LA Times actually believe that the NASA release and Icarus article had a bunch of typos, and that they must have meant Jupiter when they said Saturn?

When the L.A.Times covered the Save Star Trek protest march, the reporter thought a cheer of "Spock, Spock, Spock" referred to then-noted pediatrician and anti-Vietnam-war protester Dr. Benjamin Spock.

- -

But wait! There's more!

The web page's title, longer than the article headline ("Jet streams on Jupiter driven by internal heat, not the sun"), says, "Jet streams on Jupiter are driven by internal heat, not the sun, like on Earth."

It thus informs the comma-careful reader that jet streams on Earth are driven by internal heat, not the sun, like on J-whichever-it-is-n.

- - - - -

Added:

Here's a theory: Some proofreader (official or unofficial) saw the close-up photos of Saturn where the rings are not shown because they're outside the field-of-view, didn't notice what the rings' shadow implied, and wanted to be helpful.

retina · 2012-06-28, 00:02

Expecting newspapers to print something truthful and accurate is not something I have ever held my breath for. But deliberately changing the name of a planet is particularly egregious and sloppy. It is probably fair to say that half of what they print is true and the rest is made up. The problem is determining which bits are true and which are not. It would certainly be folly to simply read them and take as granted that it is all true and accurate.

Uncwilly · 2012-06-28, 00:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheesehead

www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-jupiter-jet-stream-20120626,0,2231668.story... and it wasn't a purely mechanical replace, replace, replace, ... because "Jupiter" is misspelled as "Jupter" in the third paragraph.

The picture posted was not a true color image. The processed picture was more Jovian in color than that of Saturn. Maybe that explains the reporter attempting to 'fix' NASA's 'error'.

cheesehead · 2012-06-28, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spherical Cow

Even though they quote the same Icarus article,

There are only paraphrases, with no direct quote. Perhaps they just read the NASA release rather than the journal article.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

The picture posted was not a true color image. The processed picture was more Jovian in color than that of Saturn. Maybe that explains the reporter attempting to 'fix' NASA's 'error'.

Hmmm... So, someone was familiar enough with Jupiter's and Saturn's true colors to make this mistake, but not familiar enough with the difference in characteristic cloud band patterns of each planet to notice the absence of Jupiter's distinctive zones. (Also, not clued-in by the rings' shadows!)

Dubslow · 2012-06-28, 02:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheesehead

but not familiar enough with the difference in characteristic cloud band patterns of each planet to notice the absence of Jupiter's distinctive zones

I'm certainly not that familiar with their cloud patterns, though I am of course aware that the rings are a big give away. I think the latter is more obvious to most folk, though either way, the morons at the LAT screwed up big time and in many, many ways.

cheesehead · 2012-06-28, 07:57

The paper has now made a correction to that article, but they still missed one occurrence of "Jupiter", in the last sentence of the first paragraph.

I tried to leave a comment, but every time I click on "Register" something interferes and all I get is a session expiration message.

Uncwilly · 2012-06-28, 12:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheesehead

The paper has now made a correction to that article, but they still missed one occurrence of "Jupiter", in the last sentence of the first paragraph.

I sent an e-mail to them about 7 hours ago. I got this response a bit after that:

Quote:

Re: Error in article
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 10:41 PM
From: "Thomas H. Maugh II" <latimesscience @ gmail.com>

You're right. I screwed that up big time. Hopefully the correction is now made.

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 10:13 PM [ME @ my e-mail] wrote:
This article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...,2231668.story

should be mentioning Saturn, not Jupiter.
Please see the JPL article here:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-186

2012-06-26, 19:22	#575
Spherical Cow Nov 2004 2²×3³×5 Posts	Wrong Planet An L.A. Times article about some of the science coming out of the Cassini spacecraft- The title, picture, and all the text in the article discuss these findings about Jupiter. Except of course, Cassini is orbiting Saturn, the NASA news release is about Saturn, and the NASA picture that was released is clearly labeled Saturn. Even though they quote the same Icarus article, and use exactly the same facts from the NASA news release, someone at the Times has gone to the trouble of "correcting" the entire discussion, and changing everything from Saturn to Jupiter. Could the LA Times actually believe that the NASA release and Icarus article had a bunch of typos, and that they must have meant Jupiter when they said Saturn? From the article: "But new data compiled from imaging by NASA's Cassini probe, which has been orbiting the planet since July 1, 2004, show that Jupiter's jet streams have a different power source -- the planet's own internal heat." This kind of science reporting really bugs me....I can see making a single typo in the caption; typing in Jupiter instead of Saturn. But throughout the entire article? Norm (In the next post below, I'll put the NASA image- same photo, same arrows, but clearly labeled Saturn.) Attached Thumbnails

2012-06-26, 19:25	#576
Spherical Cow Nov 2004 21C₁₆ Posts	And here's the same photo from the NASA release, clearly labeled Saturn... Attached Thumbnails

2012-06-28, 00:02	#578
retina Undefined "The unspeakable one" Jun 2006 My evil lair 13×479 Posts	Newspapers and truth. Never the twain shall meet Expecting newspapers to print something truthful and accurate is not something I have ever held my breath for. But deliberately changing the name of a planet is particularly egregious and sloppy. It is probably fair to say that half of what they print is true and the rest is made up. The problem is determining which bits are true and which are not. It would certainly be folly to simply read them and take as granted that it is all true and accurate.

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2012-06-28, 07:57	#582
cheesehead "Richard B. Woods" Aug 2002 Wisconsin USA 2²×3×641 Posts	The paper has now made a correction to that article, but they still missed one occurrence of "Jupiter", in the last sentence of the first paragraph. I tried to leave a comment, but every time I click on "Register" something interferes and all I get is a session expiration message.