Whatz My Job Agin?

Picking on spelling errors? Wow, that's hard-hitting journalism Keith. I've seen a few on your site as well my friend.

Plus, "chief" is one of those commonly misspelled words. Kinda like "irrelevant". Catch my drift?

Editor's note: and I am not a large government agency with vast resources that are supposed to prevent such things ... resources that ODIN and other monstrosities charge big bucks for ...

Why would they post a modification notice and not actually correct the title above the notice? This is BIZARRO WORLD!

Oh, please! The other day you were in the "cue" to be called on for more hard-hitting journalism. Use spellcheck yourself. (Or maybe it's homonym check.)

Editor's note: Well Mr. "Albatross", they cued me to start asking my question and then the producer cut me off just as I was ready to start by saying "that's all we have time for today." I think the word usage is correct.

Give it a rest Keith... you got them for the spell check problem, but now your after them for fixing it too! And I don't buy your large organization comment either. A large organization may consist of a large number of individuals, but it's those individuals that do the work that's presented as a product of the organization. The same is likely true of NASA Watch - an individual (you) presents your work as a product of your organization (NASA Watch). Surely you don't want to add another layer of spell checking process on their organization to increase cost and slow down things, or are you looking for something else to write about?

Editor's note: There is no NASA Watch "organization". It is - and always has been - just me - and lots of faithful - if not cranky - readers.

Keith, I like NASA Watch. It is a great source of information for anything related to NASA and spaceflight. However, when you post items like this, it negates much of the good that comes from your reporting.

Do you really have nothing more to do than report on a spelling error? Perhaps if you didn't point out this insignificant error, it wouldn't cost the agency so much money to fix it. But then, I'm sure you'd find something else to hassle them about.

NASA does some good things. Maybe you could try reporting those stories one day?

Editor's note: Well, Sen. Edwards, I guess you just missed all the great Mars stuff etc. the other day ....

Keep on pointing out every error that is made. These people are in a business where there are no "little" mistakes. Certainly the CIO office should take enough time, even on trivial matters, to do the job right. We're paying for all this so we have the right and responsibility to call for our public servants to do their jobs correctly, or fix errors when they're brought to attention.

NASA has human lives, billions of dollars and national prestige at stake whereas NASAWatch is just one obnoxious guy.

It is true, anyone could make that kind of spelling error. However, a well functioning NASA, with competent internal reviews wouldn't.

you gotta take the good with the bad at this site......and calling on spelling errors is bad

and then when someone calls the editor on one of his own mistakes, he denies it and makes something up....

keith, you used "cue" when it should have been "queue"........and you are a bad person for it

Editor's note: Yawn, Read my original post. I used the word properly.

Eye halve a spell check her

It came with my pea sea

It plainly marques four my revue

Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.



Eye strike a quay and type a word

And weight four it two say

Weather eye am wrong oar write

It shows me strait a weigh.



As soon as a mist ache is maid

It nose bee fore two long

And eye can put the error rite

It's rare lea ever wrong.



Eye have run this poem threw it

I am shore your pleased two no

It's letter perfect awl the weigh

My check her tolled me sew.

Must be a slow news day, eh, Keith?

Editor's note: What is hilarious is all of the wasted energy by readers who insist on telling me again and again that I am wasting energy on this.

By every definition I can find on the web, Keith, you should not have used the expression "on cue" in your previous post for what you were implying, i.e., you had been prompted (cued) to be ready to ask your question next.

Editor's note: This is the last time, folks. THEY SAID BE READY TO GO YOU ARE NEXT. I have done hundreds of TV spots, and that is called a "cue".

Appropriate phrasing could have been either "I was next in the queue..." OR "I had been cued...". (Now, for those coming down on you for mixing up "cue" for "queue", 'cue' is now acceptable for 'queue' in some dictionaries.)

The cue you used, however, was closest to the original stage command "Cue Keith" so as to prompt an actor to speak next; I haven't found any reference (admittedly, it was a quick search) wherein an actor was designated as being "on cue" to indicate they were next up to speak. They might miss their cue or come in on their cue, but even then, to say they were "on cue" means this (a matter of proper timing), not that they were WAITING to speak.

But back to your original observation: While it pains me to see ANYONE abuse the language in print, the painful irony of a Chief Information Officer at NASA mis-spelling his own title is pretty pathetic...but that is just another sign (as are all these folks coming down on you) that our society has shifted toward the acceptance of mediocrity.

And with the onslaught of txt msging, u kan onle xpect it 2 gt wurs. :)

I agree, the little details are important. I work on flight control - fly by wire systems. We have to verify every conceivable detail in the flight code. For example, I have seen anomalies such as an aircraft roll signal suddenly go from a large positive value to a large negative value when certain inputs exceed maximums by one count. All because of the use of " > " and not " >= " in some seemingly insignificant "if statement" in the source code. Little things like that get programs cancelled and people killed. More over, an individual's tendency to be rigorous or not is, to an extent, the product of the organizational culture to which the individual belongs. Disregard for thoroughness and discipline in one department tends to suggest the same cultural norms and attitudes exist with in other departments and possibly the entire organization.

I once worked for a Plasma Physics Laboratory, the sign over the door stated "The Devil Is In The Details"

Do the little details matter? - You Bet They Do !

So please keep up the good work Keith, particularly when faced with fierce opposition.

Regards

Brian Bernhard

P.S. Speaking of details, God rest Glen May, your friend misses you

Wow... no sense of humour amongst NASAWatch readers this week.

If someone can't see the irony of two spelling mistakes in a notice dealing with a Competency Center for the Chief Information Officer -- a position that, y'know, implies some competency with Information technology, perhaps up to and including a spell check function -- then they should ask for a refund of their NASAWatch subscription money.

What I find enhances the hilariousness (hey, is that even a word?) is the fact that these two typos appeared in a string of seven all-capitalized nouns in a row. These aren't just normal typos. They're luxurious ostentatious bourgeoisie typos. Hey...when is someone going to fix that typo on the N901 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft?



"PLACE OBITER HERE

BLACK SIDE DOWN

LEFTY LOOSEY

RIGHTY TIGHTY"

GregM, I love that poem!!

WWDD (What Would Dilbert Do?)

Myself, I'm amazed that such an egregious error was corrected as quickly as it was. Perhaps a "tiger team" was dispatched to handle it, so that in the meantime a decision to form a committee to investigate how such an error could have slipped past the "mission quality assurance" team can be determined.

I can predict the outcome: an intern, unfamiliar with the procedures, was assigned this task. Faced with a time constraint (perhaps a countdown clock screensaver?) and the fact that the intern's cognizant superior was on vacation, the incorrect data made its way "downstream".

The intern has been reassigned to Project Prometheus to prevent any further errors, and the procedure is in the process of being reviewed and will be corrected.

The pointy-haired boss will be back next week...