November 28, 2008 – 8:00 am
E=mc3+1: As mathematicians, journalists make fine geishas. One of the paper’s most perspicacious readers has again successfully challenged our careless checking of figures in reports received from overseas and interstate. In one report we had an Olympic swimming pool holding a meagre 1000 megalitres - a waist-high depth that would becalm Eamon Sullivan (’Angel’, 4, drowns as plastic dam wall fails, page 17, November 25). And in another report we had 40,000 US “gleaners” filling 80,000 4-6kg sacks with 250kg of vegetables - a minuscule 6g per person (Hard times bite in America, World page 28, November 26). We still don’t know what we meant.
November 20, 2008 – 8:00 am
In the story “Calls about child neglect up 77pc, says group” on page C3 yesterday, the increase in the number of calls related to suspected psychological abuse should have been 58.6 per cent, not “more than doubled”. The error was introduced in the editing process.
November 20, 2008 – 8:00 am
The Value Added column in the Nov. 17 Business section should have said that a typical Chevrolet dealership sells 400 units per year, compared with Toyota’s 1,800 per year. The column incorrectly characterized those numbers as monthly figures. The column also incorrectly calculated that dealerships earn $150,000 in profit before taxes for every $1 million in sales. The correct figure is $15,000. Link
Thanks, G!
November 12, 2008 – 8:00 am
An article on Monday about an agreement between YouTube and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios to make some of MGM’s full-length television shows and films available online misstated the damages being sought from YouTube by Viacom, which has accused the Web site of displaying some material in violation of copyright law. Viacom’s lawsuit seeks $1 billion — not $100 billion. Link
November 10, 2008 – 8:00 am
Last week, we reported that Martin Clunes had cut the price of his Wimbledon home by £ 500,000. The price was, in fact, reduced by £ 50,000. We apologise for any offence caused.
October 23, 2008 – 8:00 am
Merrill Lynch spent $1.2 million on federal lobbying in the third quarter of 2008, $920,000 in the second quarter and $1.3 million in the first quarter of the year. Morgan Stanley spent $690,000 on such lobbying in the second and third quarters of 2008, up from $600,000 in the first quarter. Wells Fargo spent $515,740 lobbying in the third quarter of 2008 and $530,000 in the second quarter. A U.S. News article Monday incorrectly said that Merrill Lynch spent $1.5 million in the third quarter, $1.2 million in the second quarter and $1.7 million in the first quarter; that Morgan Stanley spent $765,000 in the third quarter, $810,000 in the second quarter and $730,000 in the first quarter; and that Wells Fargo spent $655,740 in the third quarter and $640,000 in the second. Link
October 20, 2008 – 8:00 am
An item on yesterday’s front page said oil prices had fallen to a 14-year low. We should be so lucky. In fact, they fell Thursday to a 14-month low. Link
October 13, 2008 – 8:00 am
An entry in the Manhattan section of Residential Resales Around the Region on Sept. 26, using information from a broker, misstated the sale price of a two-bedroom co-op at 245 West 107th Street. It was $1.166 million, not $1.666 million. Link
October 2, 2008 – 8:00 am
A Sept. 29 Metro article about efforts to bring a Live Nation entertainment venue to Silver Spring misstated the amount of tax breaks the county would provide Live Nation. The tax breaks would total $800,000 over 10 years, or $80,000 a year, not $800,000 annually. Link
October 2, 2008 – 8:00 am
Due to a typographical error, a previous version of this article said that the amount of losses from Monday’s market collapse was $1,300 trillion. The correct amount is $1.3 trillion. Link
Thanks, Daryl!
September 29, 2008 – 8:00 am
A picture caption on Sept. 7 about crocodile accessories gave an incorrect price from Bally for its portfolio. It is $7,000, not $450. Link
September 24, 2008 – 8:00 am
A chart on Sunday showing the change in the value of shares that chief executives held in their financial companies from January 2007 through Friday erroneously included one former executive. Henry M. Paulson Jr., who was chief executive of Goldman Sachs and is now the Treasury secretary, sold his holdings in Goldman upon joining the Bush administration in 2006 — a point The Times correctly reported on Saturday. Mr. Paulson did not hold $523.5 million worth of the company’s stock as of Friday. Link
September 19, 2008 – 8:00 am
Some confusion crept into a report that defined heavy drinkers as those who regularly consume at least twice the daily guidelines of 35 units a week for women and 50 for men. We meant to say that 35 units a week for women and 50 for men is twice the recommended limit (Revealed: the nine types of heavy drinker, page 10, September 17). Link
September 18, 2008 – 8:00 am
Metrolink crash: An article in Monday’s Section A about USC student Katie Longawa, who was injured in Friday’s Metrolink crash, gave the age of her mother, Cherie Phoenix, as 59. Phoenix is 49. Link
September 18, 2008 – 8:00 am
An article on Saturday about a Chinese government investigation into the sale of powdered baby formula contaminated with melamine, an industrial compound, misstated the number of animal deaths in the United States last year that were attributed to pet food contaminated with melamine from China. It was at least 16, not thousands. (The number of animals that became sick totaled in the thousands.) Link
September 17, 2008 – 8:00 am
An article on Monday about plans for the Smithsonian Institution outlined by G. Wayne Clough, its new chief executive, misstated the goal of the institution’s capital campaign. It is to raise more than $1 billion over five to seven years, not $5 million to $7 million. Link
September 15, 2008 – 8:00 am
Chevron Corp. expects to book petroleum reserves as soon as the end of the year from its share of an onshore area between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. A Corporate News article in some editions Thursday about Saudi Arabia’s extending a contract with Chevron incorrectly said the U.S. oil company expected to immediately book reserves. Also, the onshore area of the Partitioned Neutral Zone, as it is called, produces an estimated 270,000 barrels of heavy crude a day. The article incorrectly said 550,000 barrels. Link
August 20, 2008 – 8:00 am
Due to an editing error, the For Collectors column in Saturday’s Abode section reported incorrectly that the 2009 Double Eagle gold coin would sell for $20. While the coin will have a $20 denomination, it will contain an ounce of 24-karat gold and will sell for approximately $900, depending on the value of gold at the time it is issued.
August 15, 2008 – 8:00 am
The price of broccoli: some readers have questioned the discrepancy between the picture of a piece of broccoli on page 3 yesterday (Food and fuel prices send inflation to new high as City fears interest rate increase) apparently showing a price rise of 11%, and that of another piece on page 2 of G2 (Beat rising food bills - follow the inflation-proof diet), which showed its price falling by 20%. The first piece of broccoli was there to represent price changes on vegetables overall, as monitored by the Office of National Statistics. The G2 broccoli price change was based on a shopping basket compiled by the Daily Mail - which in fact indicated a fall in price of 50%, not 20%. Link
August 12, 2008 – 8:00 am
Due to an error by Rachel Kaufman, last week’s Young & Hungry column mentioned a free sandwich received by Clarence Webb “66 years ago,” when Webb was a rookie in the Alexandria Police Department. Webb, as reported, is 74 and was not 8 years old when he joined the police department; the sandwich in question was received 52 years ago. Link
Thanks, Gregory!
Geographical aberrations: California is not the biggest US state (Schwarzenegger lays off 10,000 California workers, page 20, August 2); Alaska and Texas are bigger. The Seine estuary opens into the English Channel, not the Atlantic (Discovery of sea trout in Seine shows success of river clean-up, page 19, August 2). Zoological aberration: a rabbit is not a rodent (Quick crossword, page 32, G2, August 1) Collins dictionary defines it as one of various common gregarious burrowing leporid mammals. And a mathematical lapse: we quoted an economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research as saying the Olympics could cost Britain up to £600,000 in lost productivity (Britons limber up for the main event - the long lunch, page 26, August 2). A fact box nearby said the cost in hundreds of thousands of pounds would be 600. That figure should have been six. Link
*Correction August 6: The word “aberrations” was misspelled in the headline of this post. It has been corrected. Thanks, Kailin!
The fourth paragraph in a report “Stampede near Himachal temple claims 146 lives” (August 4, 2008, page 1) was “More than 5000 devotees were on their way to the temple, situated at a height of about 4000 metres, at the time of the incident.” It should have been 4000 feet.
The second paragraph of a report “Inflow into Mettur reservoir continues to be heavy” (Tamil Nadu, August 2, 2008) said that the storage on Friday was 20,000 tmcft as against the capacity of 93.4 tmcft. It was an editing error and should have been 20 tmcft. Link
Thanks, Anil!
Some versions of this story incorrectly said: “One out of every two Black Americans is infected with HIV, according to a new report from the Black Aids Institute.” In fact, as the story now says, “One in two persons newly infected with HIV in the U.S. is African-American … ” Link
In the July 30 “Moneybox,” Daniel Gross included a significant numerical error. The piece linked to a Bureau of Transportation Statistics report, which can be seen here, that shows public construction spending on roads and highways in monthly totals. That Census Bureau reports the data as monthly totals expressed at an annualized rate. Because we read that annual rate as a monthly rate, the original article overstated public spending on highways and roads by a factor of 12. Link
We said that Australian companies “forecast spending $800 between 2002 and 2013 on geothermal exploration” (19 July, p 24). That should have been $800 million. Link