Darwin book found on shelf worth up to $100,000

That is one expensive shelf! Have your copy editor read about dangling modifiers.

I suggest “Darwin book worth up to $100,000 found on shelf.” Unless, of course, you did mean that the shelf was worth so much money.

C.W.

A number of readers were amused by this one. We later improved it: GBU Editor

A detail of British artist John Collier’s 1883 painting of Charles Darwin. REUTERS/Tal Cohen

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Conoco says Sweeny compressor shut during FCC start up

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips said on Thursday a hydrogen purification unit compressor shut briefly in association with start-up of a gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracker at its Sweeny, Texas, refinery.

“The compressor was brought back on-line as soon as possible,” Conoco said in a filing with the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, but added that some residual flaring occurred while units were stabilizing.

I am getting sick of seeing your news organization refer to ConocoPhillips as Conoco. The merger occurred over SEVEN years ago. It is disgusting that this continues to happen so persistently. I’ve contacted Reuters on more than one occasion about this.

Clinton wishes he had left White House “in a coffin”

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Monday he would have preferred to leave the White House in a coffin because he loved being commander in chief, but signaled his political life was over.

“It’s good that we have a (term) limit. Otherwise I would have stayed until I was carried away in a coffin. Or defeated in an election,” Clinton said at a conference in Istanbul. “I loved doing the job.”

Clinton won two terms in office, the maximum under the constitution, and served from 1992 to 2000.

Your story contains a rather obvious factual error, that he served in office 1992-2000. He was elected in 1992, and took office in January 1993, as you undoubtedly know.

Whether you want to put the end date as up until the inauguration in 2001 or to call it 2000 is probably a judgment call, but I don’t think there should be any question about citing 1993 as the beginning of his presidency.

Get it Right

Clinton saying:”It’s good that we have a (term) limit. Otherwise I would have stayed until I was carried away in a coffin. Or defeated in an election,” is NOT the same as saying: Clinton wishes he had left White House “in a coffin”

That’s a ghoulish way to interpret that.

Amazed

We corrected the dates to 1993-2001.

Several readers also felt our headline was too much of a stretch, given the facts in the story. They have a fair point: GBU Editor

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton listens before giving a lecture in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 5, 2009. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo

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Ford Hood shooting suspect still alive, Army says

KILLEEN, Texas, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The suspect in a shooting rampage at Ford Hood Army post on Thursday in which 12 people were killed and 31 wounded is in a hospital in stable condition, contrary to previous reports he had been killed, an Army general said.

Shooting at “Ford Hood”? I believe the Army uses the alternate spelling, F-o-r-t. This was a featured link on Google News highlights so I am sure lots of people saw it.

I had to look three times to make sure it wasn’t a joke on purpose. You know, hood possibly being an automobile component and Ford being an auto manufacturer just made it funny to me.

J.B.

Ouch. Not a great week for headline editing, if you look at the two items before this one as well. Yes, this one did get noticed: GBU Editor

Major Nidal Malik Hasan. REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout

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Brussels set to complain over Oracle’s deal to by Sun-FT

I am sure someone has made you aware of this ERROR…. The word you want is BUY.

Kelly

Yes. Readers did, as you say, make us aware of this one: GBU Editor

REUTERS photo Robert Galbraith

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Canada takes step to scrapping long-run registry

OTTAWA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Canada took a step on Wednesday to scrapping a controversial gun registry, though rules will still remain much tougher than in the United States.

It’s Canada’s long-GUN registry, not “run.”

Tim

Indeed: GBU Editor

Ziad Richa, a Lebanese marksman, takes aim during practice at a club in Dbayeh area, east of Beirut, July 26, 2008. REUTERS/Cynthia karam

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Dara Torres faces “long road ahead” after knee surgery

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Five-times Olympian Dara Torres was “doing fine” after radical knee surgery but was still uncertain if she will compete at the 2012 London Games.

“It’s a long road ahead of me but I’m glad I finally got the operation over with,” the 42-year-old told Reuters Thursday in a telephone interview from her Boston hospital bed.

Torres, who has won medals at five different Olympics, had two pieces of cartilage placed into her left knee Tuesday and will be sidelined for 12-18 months.

FWIW, I guess that we’re all supposed to know exactly who Dara Torres is, and for what Olympic sport she won her medals?

Excuse me, but I don’t. And I wouldn’t really know by reading the body of this Reuters story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091022/sp_nm/us_swimming_torres_1

Oops…there it is! In the URL. Silly me.

Amiamian

It is a fair point that we should not presume it’s obvious to every reader which sport we are talking about in a story. Our headlines usually include the name of the sport, but that is often snipped for online use, leaving the information nowhere to be found in the text: GBU Editor

Olympic swimmer Dara Torres smiles during an interview in New York, August 6, 2009. REUTERS/Jamie Fine

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Hugh Craig, Daniel Jackman sell out on Broadway

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, best known for playing big screen action heroes Wolverine and James Bond, have drawn record ticket sales for their play “A Steady Rain,” but it drew mixed reviews on Wednesday after opening night.

Um really? Hugh Craig & Daniel Jackman in the headline? How many people reviewed and approved this article before it posted? A severe case of dyslexia here. Hope you fix.

M.H.

It’s not all that important, but you might want to correct the headline of one of your entertainment stories from “Hugh Craig, Daniel Jackman sell out on Broadway” to “Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig sell out on Broadway.”

C.D.

Yikes. A number of readers noticed this one. The headline error was inserted in some online products. We corrected: GBU Editor

Actor Hugh Jackman gestures to fans while sitting on a motorcycle at a red carpet event for the Japan premiere of “X-men Origins:Wolverine” in Tokyo September 3, 2009. REUTERS/Michael Caronna

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Uninsured Americans Hope Reform Brings Health Coverage

WITHOUT question the dumbest headline I’ve seen in my 65 years.

Now, if people where OPPOSED to getting free taxpayer provided health care, with no ellort on their part, THAT might be a headline. Stating the obvious is not a headline…….

A.B.

As headlines go, it isn’t exactly a startling click-magnet: GBU Editor

President Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting on health care in Grand Junction, Colorado August 15, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing

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Religious fanatic briefly hijacks Mexican plane

MEXICO CITY, Sept 9 (Reuters) - A Bolivian-born man clutching a Bible and claiming a divine mission hijacked a plane in Mexico with more than 100 people aboard on Wednesday, but the incident ended quickly and without bloodshed.

Jose Flores, who told police he was a Protestant minister, seized the AeroMexico Boeing 737 after take off from the Caribbean resort of Cancun demanding to speak to Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Surely if every time a Muslim fanatic commits an act of terror, you call this nutjob a Muslim, you made an error or an oversight by not identifying the hijacker of this plane as a Christian.

But  then why would you let a little thing like confirmed bigotry against Islam to color your editorial judgement in headlining a Christian nut job’s vile behavior

Your headline should have been Christian Hijacks Plane to be consistent with your usual form.

A.Y.

We have no such “usual form.” I went back into our archives and found very few references to religion in the headlines of stories about hijackings. The suspect’s religion and motivation were made clear in the first dozen words of this story: GBU Editor.

Bolivian-born Jose Flores gestures while he is being taken to jail in Mexico City September 11, 2009. REUTERS/Eliana Aponte

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