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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Typo may have led to radioactive material leak
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 8:19:34 AM
Author: "Larson, Jay" <Jay.Larson**At_Symbol_Here**SCIENCE.DOE.GOV> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Typo may have led to radioactive material leak
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 08:11:52 -0800
Author: Dan Blunk

From: Beth Shepard <Beth.Shepard**At_Symbol_Here**SIAL.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Typo may have led to radioactive material leak
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 07:54:18 -0600
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: CAA8P=MR_AqqXD0M+j_ubxMp6nfu3+0AqVtztxXGg-PHHwyniqw**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To


Good morning, Jyllian--

I also enjoy your work. And by no means was my comment intended to excuse the fact that a small typo created this significant safety issue.

The fact that spelling/proofreading errors rampant in our world of spell-checking/texting devices is something that everyone creating critical documents (SOPs, production records, specifications, technical documents, etc.) should keep in mind.

The other example that always comes to my mind is the spacecraft (Mars Climate Orbiter) that crashed because the units of measure weren't converted incorrectly. The original data calculations were in metric units & the computer program converted them into English units, so after all that work/time/money, the spacecraft crashed into Mars instead of entering orbit.

Beth



On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 7:19 AM, Larson, Jay <Jay.Larson**At_Symbol_Here**science.doe.gov> wrote:

Jyllian, I enjoy all your work, very helpful. Thanks! Jay

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Jyllian Kemsley
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2014 11:14 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Typo may have led to radioactive material leak

FWIW, I don't usually use spell check programs--they flag too many technical terms.

But yes, I had several people point out the typo today, within minutes of it posting. I'm grateful for so many interested readers!

On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 6:24 AM, Beth Shepard <beth.shepard**At_Symbol_Here**sial.com> wrote:

And spelling/proofreading errors are rampant in these days of spell-check on computers...


A case in point from Ms. Kemsley's article:

"Perhaps I've been exposed to a few too many horrified "ingredient X in your food is an ingredient in Y industrial product!" chemophobia cries, but I'm not convinced that just having the ingredients in the same please means that you have a drum-sized bomb."

Based upon context, this should have been "...in the same place..." (not please).

Beth Shepard



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