Dear Editors,

I opened the e-mail you sent to me in order to view the new calendar for 2010 from Astronomy and was suprised to read that besides the usual dramatic pictures of the Horsehead Nebula, The Tadpole Galaxy, and the Milky Way's core that I would be treated being informed about nine more astrological events.

Please be aware that such events are of no interest to me and thus I have to regretfully inform you that your new calendar holds no interest for me as I can read about the daily astrological events for free in my local paper.  I understand your possible wish to branch out into that other arcane science to attract more buyers but I for one am perfectly happy to stay on my side of the fence and deal with astronomical events.

Regards,

L

(Oh, and if this is a typo that escaped the proofreader, well: nevermind. )

C'mon guys . . . it's a small error.  Something is bound to slip through the cracks when the magazine is forced, by this poor economy, into making tough decisions about how to spend their time and resources.  I mean if you were forced to choose between a trip to Rancho Hidalgo, a night remotely capturing photos from the new observatory, interviewing your favorite rock band, or actually proofreading the printed word, which would you choose?

Just in case someone does decide to do the latter, this may be of some assistance;

 http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Proofreading.html

 Mistakes are going to happen. But to interchange astrology with astronomy is beyond the pale.

Something like that should be cause for immediate apologies to be sent out. But then, given some of what we've seen, maybe they don't really care about such things; or even worse have people on the staff who don't even know the difference.

I do believe they are just preparing for 2012.

Now that's funny!

Great replies guys.

Of all the gaffes possible to make this one was just amazing.  I read it several times as I couldn't believe my eyes! 

Maybe I should have punched up the Subject line more but I really didn't want to blurt out something along the lines of Astronomy goes Astrological!   There has been plenty of that sensationalism around of late.

Still, wouldn't we all be happier with a bit more astrological insights into our little world?  Think of it this way, by concentrating the light, oh from say Jupiter, in our telescope and that having that power beamed directly into our eye and thus to our brain, imagine the astrological influence that heavenly light must have on our future!  Right?

Well, maybe not.

L

They can do all the astrology they want if they can just tell me when I will have clear skies again to observe.

jodoak:

They can do all the astrology they want if they can just tell me when I will have clear skies again to observe.

Unfortunately the present superior aspect of Jupiter with Mars rising portends great strife in the ecliptic which will begat great amounts of rainfall for your area until at least Halloween.

The planets have spoken,

Sorry

leo731:

Unfortunately the present superior aspect of Jupiter with Mars rising portends great strife in the ecliptic which will begat great amounts of rainfall for your area until at least Halloween.

The planets have spoken,

Sorry

Do you think I would have better luck asking "The Great Pumkin"?

I don't know if the Great Pumpkin takes requests but asking him for help would make just as much sense as asking the stars to guide you.

I had hoped someone at Astronomy would have responded to their egregious gaffe, I even opened this thread with some humor to give them an easy out, but it appears that they will respond in the usual way by hoping that it will just go away and that most people will not notice that there is a significant difference between astrological and astronomical.   I am sure that the people over at S&T or Sky at Night are laughing themselves silly and/or cringing.  We all make mistakes, but sometimes you need to admit them, figure out how to avoid repeating them, and then move on with humility, humor, and grace.

L

Hi Leo (and everyone else),

Sorry this is late. I read your original post, laughed at the clever humor, but didn't realize you wanted a direct response from me. That was my fault.

Yes, it was a regrettable error in that promotional e-mail. Unfortunately, not everyone who works in our company's promotions department is as familiar with the terminology of the 16 magazines they deal with as we'd like them to be. We're taking steps to avoid this happening in the future, though. In fact, you might be able to make fun of me if an error happens again because all the ad copy will probably be coming across my desk from now on. Please be kind to my ego, though. I'm human and bruise easily. 

And honestly, how do you correct something like that? It's way easier in a magazine (print a correction) or on the Web (change it!). An e-mail? That's weird territory because resending a corrected promotion might seem like spam to some people. I noticed it first thing when I opened my e-mail and was like, "Shoot, what do we do now?"

Anywhos, who knows? Maybe sales will go up with that word in there. There could be tons of them who'd like a little astrology with their astronomy.  

Karri Ferron:

We're taking steps to avoid this happening in the future, though. In fact, you might be able to make fun of me if an error happens again because all the ad copy will probably be coming across my desk from now on.

An excellent corrective action, Karri.

Karri Ferron:

We're taking steps to avoid this happening in the future, though. In fact, you might be able to make fun of me if an error happens again because all the ad copy will probably be coming across my desk from now on. Please be kind to my ego, though. I'm human and bruise easily. 

Karri,

Thanks for the reply, though I am sorry that this error resulted in increasing your workload.  I will try and look at any future gaffe's with a touch of humor and only a bit of bite so you can respond with some humor as you have just done. I am glad that this type of error will henceforth be less able to sneak by.

Karri Ferron:

Anywhos, who knows? Maybe sales will go up with that word in there. There could be tons of them who'd like a little astrology with their astronomy.  

.  Be careful about that, you might invite an entire horde of star worshippers who will demand to know why Astronomy lacks a monthy horoscope and articles on how one can cast a chart to determine when the best observing nights will occur.

Till Jupiter aligns with Mars,

L