News of the Tautological

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at WSJ written by the editor, James Taranto.

News of the Tautological
“Orphan Kangaroos Spend Christmas Without Their Parents”—headline, Independent (London), Dec. 24

Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate

“Correction: The article below said that, due to the rotation of the Earth gradually slowing down over time, this winter solstice would feature the longest night ever. I got this wrong. The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing on an extremely long timescale, but on a shorter year-to-year basis, geologic factors can alter the speed as well. Data indicates that the rotation speed has actually sped up slightly over the past forty years (due to all sorts of factors, such as melting of ice at the poles and the resulting redistribution of the Earth’s mass), and before that, the trend was up-and-down for most of the 20th century—so, as far as we know, the longest night in Earth’s history likely occurred in 1912. I apologize for the error. Thanks to Steve Allen and Ryan Hardy for pointing it out.”—Joseph Stromberg, Vox .com, Dec. 21
“CORRECTION: This article originally claimed that police ‘ran over’ a protester. However, video of the incident shows a police SUV slowly backed into the woman and an officer who tried to move her out of the way. Neither the woman nor the officer appeared to be hurt. Raw Story regrets the error.”—RawStory, Dec. 21

Out on a Limb
“Marijuana Use Has Increased in Colorado, Study Shows”—headline, Associated Press, Dec. 26

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”