Get your DeLoreans ready, Muse fans

This Google AdSense ad appeared on one of my other blogs on December 15, 2012. Click the image to enlarge it.

This writing offends me

Hey, Yahoo!, there needs to be a comma after the year in the date of February 29, 2011, but more importantly, that date did not even exist! Also, near the end of the above excerpt (which happens to be the article's opening paragraph) there is a has that should be a he - that is quite the misspelling. Also also, offense should be offensive. From "Urban Outfitters' St. Patrick’s Day Merchandise Offends Irish" on Yahoo! Canada Shine on March 6, 2012. Then,

the second paragraph quotes an offending phrase from one of the shirts, but

one can see from the accompanying image that Yahoo! left out a word. Then,

underneath the image, a misplaced apostrophe turns the correct Urban Outfitters into the incorrect Urban Outfitter.

Why?

In this photo caption (from "Protests grow against Gordon Campbell award" on CBC News online on September 5, 2011), why would the writer misspell Bill Tieleman's last name? And why would they leave out the word are from between there and a? In the article itself, Tieleman's last name was misspelled all four times it was written. Now, in an apparent fix, it alternates: it's introduced correctly, then is wrong, is correct, and ends wrong. Why? Why only fix two of the four and why leave the photo caption alone entirely? Also,

why has the weirdness surrounding the date and time of posted articles not been fixed? Click an image to enlarge it.

Who decided on that date?

The first thing I noticed about this article ("Princeton pool plans worry residents" on CBC News online on September 2, 2011) was the odd posting date and time. It's awfully similar - actually, it's identical - to the posting date of the article in the last post. Then,

in the article's final sentence, decided should be decide. Click an image to enlarge it.

That's old news

I didn't find anything wrong with the writing in this article ("1 woman dead, 1 arrested at Burnaby highrise" on CBC News online on September 1, 2011), but I do think that the date and time of the article's posting - seen beneath the headline - is a little unusual. Click the image to enlarge it.

Please don't tell me to do the math

The first sentence of the third paragraph of the article ("Photographer behind 9/11 "Falling Man" retraces steps, recalls "unknown soldier"" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 29, 2011) starts out fine as a reminiscing timeframe for 9/11 is set. For the record, the mid-July is in 2011. But then,

at the start of the third paragraph's second sentence, the writer introduces us to some wonky calendar calculations. Yes, July is two months away from September, but the writer went the wrong way as July is also ten months away from September. Somehow the writer was made aware of the gaffe

and subsequently "fixed" it. Is the writer now converting 9/11 to November 9? Click an image to enlarge it.

The Vancouver Courierrors

These errors were on the same page of The Vancouver Courier on July 15, 2011. First up - from "Picks of the week" - the screening was likely on July 15 because June 15 was not part of "the week" that the paper came out in. Then,

farther down the page in "The trouble with Harry (Kudos & Kvetches)", whose should be who's and there needs to be a question mark instead of a period at the end of that sentence. Click an image to enlarge it.

That's a wrap?

This is the final sentence in "Vancouver pot rally draws in thousands" on CBC News online on April 20, 2011. It should be either in the 1970s at a California high school or in the 1970s at California high schools (no apostrophe in 1970s, and clarifying whether it's a single school or multiple schools). Click the image to enlarge it.

Yahooooooooooo!

Are you ready? Seriously, there is a lot to go through here, so you better be ready. We have many - and I mean many - errors from the Yahoo! Canada homepage from the last two weeks, plus a few errors from articles we were led to via the errors on the homepage. First up, from February 23, 2011, it's an obvious misspelling of Justin Bieber's last name. Next,

this teaser from February 28, 2011 is kind of ambiguous as to who paid (and who was paid) the million dollars. Consider: jblue paid $10 to eat a burger. Who paid? jblue paid. Therefore, I find it odd that Nelly Furtado coughed up $1M to sing for Gadhafi. Putting was between Furtado and paid would clear things up nice and proper. Then,

Tim Hortons does not have an apostrophe. That's from March 1, 2011. Two days later,

there is a misspelling of artificial. I wondered how the article itself ("World first artificial bronchus graft in France" on Yahoo! Canada News on March 3, 2011) would manage with that word,

and saw that the headline did okay, but surely it should be World's first, as it was on the homepage. In the article's very first sentence,

actually the article's second word, another problem with artificial. You know, both artifical and articifial (seriously, Yahoo!?) would have been caught by a spell check. In the article's second sentence/paragraph,

both commas are missing in the date. It should read carried out on October 28, 2009, by a team. In case you think articifial was a simply overlooked typo,

here it is again in the article's third sentence/paragraph. What a fucking joke. Returning to the Yahoo! Canada homepage,

there was a misspelling of girlfriend on March 4, 2011. Also on March 4, 2011,

where did the second period go in the abbreviation of New Zealand? Or has the country changed its name to New Z? Next up,

you should be your. That was from March 5, 2011. From the same day,

it's more info about Mike Myers and his wedding, which was apparently on the top of the list of all secret weddings in history. Or it was his favourite of all his own secret weddings. Or Yahoo! meant to write top-secret wedding. Then,

on March 7, 2011, it's an its/it's homophonic error. Also from March 7, 2011,

I don't understand how this went undetected by the folks at Yahoo!. Bill Gates'g philanthropy? How does that even happen? The G on a keyboard is far from the enter key, the space bar, and the letter S. So, really, how did that happen? Naturally, I went to the article ("Bill Gates'g philanthropy costs him richest-man title" on Yahoo! Canada News on March 7, 2011) to see what was up there. First up,

the headline was exactly the same, right down to the ridiculous error. Making it even odder,

is that a few paragraphs into the article, here is the same phrase with absolutely nothing after the S. Finally,

on March 8, 2011, the Yahoo! Canada homepage featured a misspelling of St. Louis. For the first time ever, I've received this error message while adding labels to this post: The combined length of all the labels must be at most 200 characters. Consequently, several labels had to be omitted. Click an image to enlarge it.

You're so 1990...

.. and it's 1994. It's a blast from the past on the front cover of today's 24 hours Vancouver. Except for the part where January 14-16 in 2010 didn't fall on Friday-Sunday. So it's actually just an error. On the cover page. Yeah.

Don't delay, apply toda- oh, too late

I am pretty sure that this Sun News job posting - for a Mobile Journalist, or MoJo, from today's 24 hours Vancouver - wasn't in their previous edition. Yet the deadline for aplying has already passed. Also, there should be a comma after Friday and a comma after 31st. One page later,

there's another Sun News job posting, this one for ENG/Editor/Satellite Truck Operator. Same three problems as above.

5+7=11(?)

If December 5th of this year is a Sunday (which it is), then how can December 11th also be a Sunday? Oh, that's right - it's not. From a Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir advertisement in The Vancouver Courier on November 12, 2010.

FRIDAY, OCT. 21ST

This sale must be on for longer than a year, since October 21 is on a Friday in 2011. From a Hudson's Bay Company advertisement in 24 Hours Vancouver on October 15, 2010.

after 1:30; targetted assault; The Szendrei family has asked from privacy as they grieve.

She was found on Saturday, but was it after 1:30 p.m. or 1:30 a.m.? Of course, the former would also cover the latter - perhaps just could be put immediately in front of after - but other news outlets have stated the attack was in broad daylight, so p.m. it is. From "Teen dies after brutal Delta park assault" on 24 hours Vancouver online on September 27, 2010. Later in the article,

it's another instance of a writer for 24 hours Vancouver misspelling targeted. A spell check would have caught that. Finally,

the writer has asked for privacy as he grieves the loss of a proofreader.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

The cover of The Vancouver Courier on Wednesday, September 15, 2010, had the correct date, but at the top of 32 of the other 39 pages the date was displayed as Friday, September 15, 2010 (the 7-page classifieds had the correct date). That date never existed, and will never exist.

Next month; 2010 Oregon Brewer's Festival runs from July 22 to 25

July 22-25 is next month, eh? This is from "Heaven for a beer drinker" in today's 24H Vancouver, two days before the festival (which is actually apostrophe-free Oregon Brewers Festival) starts.

Expires May 31/2010

It appears to be a deal that anyone can take advantage of, but can you tell what the catch is in this VelaShape Vancouver advertisement in The Georgia Straight on July 8, 2010?

if the Azzurri bets Slovakia; out of the Group; Thursday at 5 a.m.

There are three errors in this brief blurb. First, bets should be beats. Second, group should not be capitalized. Third, 5 a.m. should be 7 a.m. From "Group F (World Cup)" in today's 24H Vancouver.

on Thursday only

The error here isn't obvious, but the movie is playing on Thursday, June 10. Since this article ("Rush will be forever the outcast") is from today's 24H Vancouver, you'd think the writer would make it clear that the showing is next Thursday, not tomorrow.

MARCH 12-14, 09

In the last post, 24H Vancouver was off by only a couple of hours. Now 24H Vancouver is off by a full year. If you're going to be that wrong, go full-tilt and put the apostrophe in '09.