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Posted on 27th April 2014 |
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The Beeb has been at it again. In this story, about a planned new British Icebreaker, the author talks about how an "early design concept for the new ship has been drawn up by naval architects, but this will need to be finessed. I have a feeling that they meant something other than finessed. In this story, about nuclear fusion research, the author writes that "in 1997, scientists pushed 24MW of energy into Jet [Joint European Torus] and managed to get 16MW out". Whilst these numbers are indeed not bad, 24MW is a measure of power (rate of energy) not of energy; you cannot have 24MW of energy. This is about as scientifically stupid as the Star Wars statement (by Obi Wan Kenobi) "never underestimate the power of the force", and space ships in dodgy ScFi movies tavelling at speeds measured in lightyears (a lightyear is a measure of distance, not speed). In this story about a Nigerian rapist who has been sentenced to death by stoning, there is a statement that he "admitted raping the girl but said he had incited by the Devil". I find that inserting the overlooked word "been" between "had" and "incited" greatly improves the sentence. | |