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Typo vigilantes banned from national parks
When it comes to marking up historic signs, good grammar is a bad defense.
Two self-styled vigilantes against typos who defaced a more than 60-year-old, hand-painted sign at Grand Canyon National Park were sentenced to probation and banned from national parks for a year.
Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson pleaded guilty August 11 for the damage done March 28 at the park's Desert View Watchtower. The sign was made by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the architect who designed the rustic 1930s watchtower and other Grand Canyon-area landmarks.
Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States this spring, wiping out errors on government and private signs. They were interviewed by NPR and the Chicago Tribune, which called them "a pair of Kerouacs armed with Sharpies and erasers and righteous indignation."
An affidavit by National Park Service agent Christopher A. Smith said investigators learned of the vandalism from an Internet site operated by Deck on behalf of the Typo Eradication Advancement League.
Authorities said a diary written by Deck reported that while visiting the watchtower, he and Herson "discovered a hand-rendered sign inside that, I regret to report, contained a few errors."
The fiberboard sign has yellow lettering with a black background. Deck wrote that they used a marker to cover an erroneous apostrophe, put the apostrophe in its proper place with correction fluid and added a comma.
The misspelled word "emense" was not fixed, Deck wrote, because "I was reluctant to disfigure the sign any further. ... Still, I think I shall be haunted by that perversity, emense, in my train-whistle-blighted dreams tonight."
Deck and Herson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property.
They were sentenced to a year's probation, during which they cannot enter any national park or modify any public signs. They were also ordered to pay $3,035 to repair the watchtower sign.
The TEAL Web site now has only this message: "Statement on the signage of our National Parks and public lands to come." When it comes to marking up historic signs, good grammar is a bad defense. ... more -
The Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL)
I saw this posting by Laughing Squid last night when I was coming out of the new Indiana Jones movie (duh nuh nunt duh!) with my sister, who happens to be an English Teacher. Radical underground movement to correct typos across the country?!? I think she is coordinating to start a local chapter in the Bay Area!
Seriously though, this needs to be a movement, not just a blog. Topic Page? I saw this posting by Laughing Squid last night when I was coming out of the new Indiana Jones movie (duh nuh nunt duh!) with my siste... more -
Phone Book Typo = Sex Line
I snagged this little quip from my hometown paper, the Sun Journal:
"WATERVILLE (AP) – People calling the U.S. Postal Service using a toll-free number listed in a rural Maine phone book instead are connected to a sex line.
The incorrect number was published in the latest Somerset County-Moose River Valley edition of the EZ to Use Big Book. Instead of a postal employee, callers are routed to a sexually explicit recording.
According to Edward Kruger, general manager of the EZ to Use Big Book, a typo is to blame. He said about 20,000 phone books were printed with the error.
The phone books are produced by Pennsylvania-based Ogden Directories Inc., which publishes 73 phone directories in eight states.
A Postal Service spokesman said he wasn't aware of any complaints from the public." I snagged this little quip from my hometown paper, the Sun Journal: ... more -
Typo Hunt Across America
Just saw this on the news. This guy, Jeff Deck, has gone on a tour across America, correcting typos as he goes with a multitude of colored markers and white-out. Just saw this on the news. This guy, Jeff Deck, has gone on a tour across America, correcting typos as he goes with a multitude of col... more
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Death by typo ruins womans life
A Nashville woman saysthat having to prove she's alive over and over is ruining her life. Laura Todd said an 8-year-old typo is affecting everything from her credit to her tax return. A Nashville woman saysthat having to prove she's alive over and over is ruining her life. Laura Todd said an 8-year-old typo is a... more
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Score One for Equality, Not
Woopsies! A typo was found in an Arkansas state law that essentially legalizes marriage among two people of any age, including babies (No word yet on whether fetuses are considered people and at what stage). A randomly placed "not" in the language legally allows anyone of any age to marry with parental consent. But let's cut Arkansas lawmakers a break. This is not something that spellcheck would not have not caught. Did you expect them to proofread the whole entire law? Or perhaps this is just the beginning of a state coup sponsored by the motivated and well-funded progressive baby marriage lobby. Or a profound social statement to show that every person who wants to marry has the legal ability to enter the most sacred of unions, regardless of age! (*note: homosexuals not included). Congratulations, Arkansas, for stepping up to fill the void in the progressive movement that California lazily and drug-inducedly left open. Woopsies! A typo was found in an Arkansas state law that essentially legalizes marriage among two people of any age, including babies ... more
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