Why journalists need a broader education, Part 34,567,276:

The European-built Huygens descended through the dense atmosphere and touched down on the largest and most intriguing moon of Saturn on Friday.

On board is a $12 million spectrogram built by scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder that will analyze electroviolet light.

Emphasis mine.

My email correspondent who sent me this informs me that it was a republication of an article by the noted NYT science reporter John Noble Wilford.

Based on a discussion with my friend who is a scientist on the descent imager, Wilford wrote his piece without the idiocy, which was added by a reporter at the Denver Post, who was no doubt trying to provide a ‘local spin’ to the presence of a Univ. of Colorado instrument on the mission.

If journalists got a broader education, they would be overqualified and would get a real job actually building something.

Rand,

Did the Denver Post hire Ralph Wiggum?

What surprised me was how much the Denver Post modified the story. Here, aside from the electroviolet gaff, there was extensive editing of the original story.

For example, the second paragraph (as well as the paragraph with the "electroviolet" gaff) didn't appear in the original story, condensation of some of the sentences, adjective substitution ("intriguing moon" replaced "mysterious moon"), and the routine truncation of the last two paragraphs (which I consider acceptable practice since the author generally plans the story so that the end of it can be lopped off).

But the amount of editting seems excessive to me. The Denver Post should write its own story if it's going to edit a reprint that much.

There's a second howler in there (as Rand knows). A spectrogram is the output of a spectrometer...

Electroviolet? That takes me back to the kid books about Mr Bass and the Mushroom Planet, which is only visible under INFRAGREEN light. Let's hear it for the Denver Post for putting the "d'oh" in pseuDOscience.

Read these and tell me Ralph Wiggum didn't edit that story:

"Favorite Ralph Quotes
Me fail English? That's unpossible.

Hi, Super Nintendo Chalmers!

Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and then the baby looked at me.

Eww, Daddy, this tastes like Gramma!

I bent my wookie.

The doctor said I wouldn't have so many nose bleeds if I kept my finger outta there

Ralph: "Daddy, I'm scared. Too scared to even wet my pants."
Chief Wiggum: "Just relax and it'll come, son."

I heard your dad went into a restaurant and ate everything in the restaurant and they had to close the restaurant

And, when the doctor said I didn't have worms any more, that was the happiest day of my life

I found a moonrock in my nose!

That's where I saw the Leprchaun. He tells me to burn things!"

Steven, we're honored to have you reading, and commenting here. I hope you're well, and can continue to stay in touch, and thank you for all of your contributions to the global conversation to date.

Leave it to SDB to beat me to the punch on the spectrogram/meter slip up!