The Times Does Geometry

Over the years, we have often had fun with the ignorance shown by reporters and editors of the New York Times with respect to literature, history, geography, and especially math and science, as reflected in the paper’s corrections section. Today’s corrections include a classic of the genre. It concerns this photo, which was part of an article about an environmental controversy in Maine:

A picture caption on Saturday with an article about concerns over a proposed liquid petroleum tank in the Maine coastal town of Searsport described incorrectly opponents of the tank who were shown standing in a circle and holding hands. They were demonstrating the tank’s circumference, not its diameter.

Don’t you wonder, sometimes, how the Times’s reporters and editors did on their SATs? Just remember, next time that paper tells you the science on some topic or other is settled, that you are getting that assurance from people who don’t know the difference between diameter and circumference.

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