Associated Press Carelessness Reaches Boiling Point

from the forget-fact-checkers,-we-need-laugh-testers dept

Mon, Jul 25th 2011 1:17pm — Marcus Carab

Recently, we were all very proud when the Associated Press finally figured out how to use hyperlinks (sort of). But perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised that it took them so long to master such advanced technology, since it turns out they are still struggling with thermometers:

Northeast braces for temps near boiling point

NEW YORK (AP) � The extreme heat that's been roasting the eastern U.S. is only expected to get worse, and residents are bracing themselves for temperatures near and above boiling point. Weather service heat warnings and advisories have been issued Friday from Ohio to Maine.

The high temperatures and smothering humidity will force up the heat indexes. Boston's 99 degrees on Friday could feel like 105 degrees; Philadelphia's 102 degrees like 114 degrees and Washington, D.C.'s 103 degrees may seem the same as a melting 116 degrees.

I guess the AP never passed AP Chemistry, because as you've probably noticed, they have made a small conversion error. As it turns out, cheesesteaks are still the meltiest things in Philadelphia, and the Gulf of Maine has not turned into the world's biggest lobster bisque. In fact, here in Toronto we've been enduring similar temperatures for the past week, and the only damage is to our beer budgets.

(Since the AP is fond of making un-noted corrections, here's a screenshot)

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Filed Under: fact checking, journalism, temperatures
Companies: associated press

102 Comments

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Pickle Monger (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 12:45pm

Math, eh...
That's just super. I'm surprised that hadn't mentioned that 90 degress is the right angle...
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:54pm
  
  Re: Math, eh...
  I was going to mark you funny, but I couldn't decide which of the two posts to click on, so I just gave up....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Grey Ferret, 25 Jul 2011 @ 4:42pm
    
    Re: Re: Math, eh...
    There's a formula for figuring this out.
    
    First Post Squared + Second Post Squared = Funny Squared
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - G Thompson (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 11:15pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Math, eh...
      So to be only just funny it needs to be totally rooted?
      
      *runs*
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Prashanth (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:47pm
  
  Re: Math, eh...
  The AP writers today are being quite...obtuse.
  (YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!)
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Pickle Monger (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 12:46pm

Math, eh...
That's just super. I'm surprised that hadn't mentioned that 90 degress is the right angle...
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The eejit (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 12:54pm

Actually, this is factually correct; the humidity of an area can drive up temperatures, just as a heavy Southerly wind can drive it down. Remember, it looks like they're using the Fahrenheit scale, rather than the Centigrade/Celsius scale.
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- Marcus Carab (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:20pm
  
  Re:
  Remember, it looks like they're using the Fahrenheit scale, rather than the Centigrade/Celsius scale.
  
  Think about that for a second, then read the AP's headline and lead sentence again...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Ninja (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:40pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Jesus, took me 3 seconds to see the title and locate the temperatures and do a sound facepalm!
    
    Then I thought "Oh, it must be sarcasm."
    
    Wait...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Ninja (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:41pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      In time: I'm a chemistry professional ;)
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - chris, 25 Jul 2011 @ 10:56pm
    
    Re: Re:
    The thing is "boiling point" could mean anything. The boiling point of what? They never said water if that's what you're getting at Mike. It's an expression.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2011 @ 12:24am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Apparently most people think water is the only element capable of undergoing phase change.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Marcus Carab (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 4:51am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Oh please. Are you two going to stand there and claim this article was just innocently talking about some other element, or using the term "near and above boiling point" as a casual expression? Read the article over again and tell me that's what you honestly think.
        
        It was clearly a stupid mistake on the AP's part, and to claim otherwise is just ridiculous.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Marcus Carab (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 4:52am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        *some other molecule
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        chris, 26 Jul 2011 @ 7:52pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I'm still not seeing that it has anything to do with water. The article may have been badly worded. Near the end, they say "melting" so I'm convinced they are using the word boiling casually.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Marcus Carab (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 9:29pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "temperatures near and above boiling point"
        
        you are honestly telling me that sounds like a casual usage to you?
        
        Well, suit yourself, but I can't agree.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        chris, 28 Jul 2011 @ 4:01am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "a melting 116 degrees"
        
        Are you telling me that the same article is claiming water melts at 116 degrees?
        
        I don't know, maybe the guy is obsessed with phase change metaphors. I think he probably didn't know enough to tell when it sounded like scientific usage like it does in the phrase you quoted. But reading the whole article gives me a different impression.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Marcus Carab (profile), 28 Jul 2011 @ 4:48am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I think that's the perfect example. "A melting 116" is entirely casual, "near and above boiling point" is entirely not.
        
        But whatever. There's no clear answer unless the author speaks. A lot of people have picked up this story though (and not through me), so I'm afraid you're in the minority.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        chris, 30 Jul 2011 @ 3:43am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I appreciate your response. The guy is obviously an idiot. I don't like the AP anyway; don't like consolidation whether it's government, news, or whatever.
        
        I'm afraid you're in the minority.
        I'm used to it.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2011 @ 11:21am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Does any molecule actually enter a boiling state at 100� F and 1 ATM? I kind of doubt it but I'd be interested to know.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2011 @ 11:26am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        If Wikipedia can be believed then Iodine boils at 457.4K. That looks the closest for simple elements. I can't find a good list of molecular boiling points though.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:28pm
  
  Re:
  /facepalm
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:32pm
  
  Re:
  Way to completely miss the point (addictive site warning: link goes to tvtropes).
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 25 Jul 2011 @ 9:40pm
    
    Re: AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
    n/t
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- Designerfx (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:39pm
  
  Re:
  yeah, you know, we're only about 100 degrees off from that. I'm pretty sure we'll have bigger problems than water boiling at that point. In fact, I don't think we'll even have to worry about heat stroke at that point.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:42pm
  
  Re:
  BWAAHAHAHAHAHA. Do you work for the AP eejit?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:42pm
  
  Re:
  BWAAHAHAHAHAHA. Do you work for the AP eejit?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- CommonSense (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:44pm
  
  Re:
  The 'melting point' is when a solid turns into a liquid, and the 'boiling point' is when that liquid turns into a gas....in case you missed it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - The eejit (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:04pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Yep, I rolled a narutal 1 on my Read check.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Cowardly Anon, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:01pm
  
  Re:
  *golf clap*
  
  It takes skill to state the point and miss it at the same time. I tip my hat to you sir.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 5:03pm
  
  Re:
  You might want to take a physics course before commenting on stuff like this.
  
  Actually, this is factually correct
  
  No, it isn't.
  
  the humidity of an area can drive up temperatures
  
  Sorry - what? The temperature of an area is not affected by humidity. 35C is 35C regardless of whether the humidity is 0% or 100%.
  
  The humidity can affect how hot or cool the air feels, because it changes how effective the body's cooling systems are. But that doesn't change the actual temperature.
  
  a heavy Southerly wind can drive it down
  
  No. The wind can make the temperature seem cooler, because it can affect the body's cooling system, but it doesn't change the actual temperature of the air.
  
  Remember, it looks like they're using the Fahrenheit scale, rather than the Centigrade/Celsius scale.
  
  Yes, and they don't understand that 100F is not the same as 100C. That's the joke.
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  - The eejit (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 11:11pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Again, Read check. Natural 1. See other posts.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:24pm

I guess
the Hot News Doctrine works after all - I haven't see this story reported anywhere else!
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- Mojo, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:15pm
  
  Re: I guess
  What story? About AP misinterpreting boiling point? You wanna know why? BECAUSE IT'S NOT A STORY.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:24pm

Wow if we can boil water out there I dont need a stove to cook my ramen. Nice I think the AP is doing a superior job and should be commended.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:25pm

Well technically...
They didn't actually say the boiling point of water. Maybe they were talking about the boiling point of Ether.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:29pm

Let me bait a bit
I blame the USA's crazy measurement system. Notice that nowhere they mention the units, so any sane person would assume they are in the standard unit system everyone in the world uses.

Of course, then any sane person would think "100 degrees ambient temperature? This cannot be right, oh wait, it is just that crazy USA temperature unit again, what was that conversion formula again...?"

</troll>
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- Marcus Carab (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:31pm
  
  Re: Let me bait a bit
  Of course, then any sane person would think "100 degrees ambient temperature? This cannot be right, oh wait, it is just that crazy USA temperature unit again, what was that conversion formula again...?"
  
  Yeah, that's the part that got me. I don't care how bad you are at math or how little you know about temperature scales, if you've ever spilled coffee on your hand you should know that "boiling point" temperatures would be a globally reported natural disaster, not a quirky weather report...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Nick Coghlan (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 3:22pm
    
    Re: Re: Let me bait a bit
    Always good to know the 'professional' news organisations have those much touted fact checkers ensuring mistakes like this don't get published!
    
    Oh, wait...
    
    (Took me a while to get it myself, since I skipped over the headline and intro and jumped straight to the numbers. Had to reread to pick up the error)
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- Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:34pm
  
  Re: Let me bait a bit
  I would really hope that no one would think that it's 100�C out. I really, really hope no one would think it's 100�K out *shiver*.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - A Dan (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:12pm
    
    Re: Re: Let me bait a bit
    The thing about Kelvin is that saying "degrees" automatically rules it out, so it would take a very bizarre individual indeed to make that mistake.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - G Thompson (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 11:21pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Let me bait a bit
      Welcome to the Internet.. where bizarre is not only normal it is a requirement! ;)
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Troll, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:35pm
  
  Let me get out from under this bridge here...
  If you'd take a second to read the article you would notice that the author/editor included the location being reported from/at/whatever NEW YORK (AP) and any SANE person would assume that the unit of measure would be the STANDARD unit of measure in the country being reported from, which just happens to BE Standard.
  
  Enjoy your silly non-standard unit of measure.
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- Vinnie, 25 Jul 2011 @ 5:52pm
  
  Re: Let me bait a bit
  I don't think many of us Americans are going to disagree with you about the inanity of our systems of units and measures.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2011 @ 6:11am
    
    Re: Re: Let me bait a bit
    It seems I fail at trolling then.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Gwiz (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:31pm

The copyright notice at the bottom of the AP post (emphasis mine):

Associated Press
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I am glad that copyright is keeping this particular post from being "rewritten". Wouldn't want anyone else writing about "boiling" temperatures in the Eastern US.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:37pm
  
  Re:
  shit techdirt's gonna be getting some DMCA's for this
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- rubberpants, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:38pm
  
  Re:
  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
  
  So, help me understand: you are publishing, broadcasting, and distributing this but you don't want it to be published, broadcast, or distributed?
  
  It's a wonder your industry is struggling.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - :Lobo Santo (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:54pm
    
    Re: Re:
    That's right in line with somebody walking up and saying "These words may not be spoken." and then walking away.
    
    ;-P
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - harbingerofdoom (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 5:43pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      thats okay, im not using those words...
      
      ....im using these words!
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Mark, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:35pm

It's just a future headline
The AP is getting it's headline ready for when global warning does cause surface temperatures to reach the boiling point.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:40pm
  
  Re: It's just a future headline
  i thought we were back to freaking out about global cooling, make up your minds.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - E. Zachary Knight (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:49pm
    
    Re: Re: It's just a future headline
    No just "climate change" that way, it doesn't matter which way temperatures go, you are always right.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:58pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
      there was an explosion of panic today at the local pool as 'climate change' struck at the very spot a young boy was swimming. bystanders claim 'the water turned very warm as i swam by him' 'i think he was breathing too hard, letting out all sorts of CO2' others claimed that the water around the biy didn't get warmer, but the rest of the water dramatically cooled.
      
      several deaths have been attributed to the event, and leading climate change skeptics have been tarred and feathered
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - ShellMG, 26 Jul 2011 @ 3:52pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
        "there was an explosion of panic today at the local pool as 'climate change' struck at the very spot a young boy was swimming. bystanders claim 'the water turned very warm as i swam by him' 'i think he was breathing too hard, letting out all sorts of CO2' others claimed that the water around the biy didn't get warmer, but the rest of the water dramatically cooled. "
        
        You sure he didn't just pee in the pool?
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  - Ninja (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:51pm
    
    Re: Re: It's just a future headline
    Actually, global warming is not really a problem, the Earth has gone through much hotter periods. And if you think about it glacial ages and warm periods keep alternating so it's more like we are nearing the next glacial age.
    
    Which takes us to the article: they are probably talking about the temperature in Kelvin!
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    - jackn, 25 Jul 2011 @ 3:09pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
      ur right, not a problem for earth. Just most life forms
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    - freak (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 3:11pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
      Global warming isn't an issue due to the temperature change, but because of the speed of the temperature change. Change that normally takes centuries and millenia is taking only decades ...
      
      But even then, the earth will be much the same, a lot of bad things will have happened because we, nor any of earth's species, will have enough time to adapt, but we'll survive. After enough time, nature will even adapt to humans using so much carbon.
      
      The thing is . . . we know droughts and other disasters are going to happen, and we can make everyone in the future richer than they otherwise would be by avoiding this calamity . . . so why not avoid this global calamity?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Nick Coghlan (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 3:31pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
        It isn't a given that humanity will survive. We know from the example of Venus right next door that a runaway greenhouse effect is physically possible. We know from Earth's own history that climate change induced mass extinctions are also possible (as the less temperature change tolerant components of the foodchain die off, causing serious problems for critters higher in the foodchain that can themselves tolerate the changes in temperatures, but starve due to the depletion of their food sources).
        
        Now, such dire outcomes may not be *likely*, but they're definitely possible. We can see the oncoming train - it makes sense to step off the tracks.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - mdpopescu (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 5:14am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
        Because, even assuming you're right, we would make ourselves poorer to do it. Since the future generations are by definitions going to be richer than us anyway (they have all the capital we had, plus what we and they produce), you're asking the poor to make the rich even richer. Which is dumb.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2011 @ 6:10am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
        What.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - aikiwolfie (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 5:29pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: It's just a future headline
      In the last ice age much of the northern hemisphere was under miles of ice. I guess you better get ready to move to Brazil. ;)
      
      When the Earth gets hot, the poles become tropical and the tropics become in hospitable dry desert wastelands where anything that can burn generally does. ... It won't get that bad.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous, 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:48pm

yawn.

"boiling point" is a turn of phrase that doesn't necessarily refer to 212 Fahrenheit.

WOB
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- E. Zachary Knight (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:50pm
  
  Re:
  I prefer Fahrenheit 451.
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- Marcus Carab (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:52pm
  
  Re:
  Oh please. Yeah, if it was used as a casual expression I suppose, but when you use a phrase like "temperatures near and above boiling point" you clearly mean it in a literal sense.
  
  It's obvious that whoever wrote this article stupidly and carelessly mistook Fahrenheit for Centigrade and never actually thought it through. Then nobody gave it a second thought all the way through the editorial chain, and it got pushed out across the wire with a hilarious error.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - RobShaver, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:14pm
    
    I think your overreaching here
    I think they typed exactly what they meant thinking that their readers would be smart enough to know they were using a metaphor.
    
    I like TechDirt and don't care for AP but, knowing TechDirt's past reporting on AP, this reads like petty editorial bias. Please stick to items with some some substance.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Rich, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:23pm
      
      Re: I think your overreaching here
      Even if they didn't mean it literally (which they most certainly did), it wouldn't be a "metaphor." Exaggerations are not metaphors.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - RobShaver, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:26pm
        
        Re: Re: I think your overreaching here
        Maybe I'm in over my head here (see what I did :) but my point was ... wait for it ... wait for it ... IT WASN'T WORTH MENTIONING!
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Nick Coghlan (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 3:34pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: I think your overreaching here
        Given the much vaunted touting of 'professional fact checking' by the various legacy news organisations and their regular failure to acknowledge mistakes and updates online, yes, it absolutely *is* worth mentioning.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        DCL, 25 Jul 2011 @ 4:37pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: I think your overreaching here
        Man that is a cold thing to say!
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:23pm
      
      Re: I think your overreaching here
      At the very least, they are guilty of terrible writing.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Marcus Carab (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:25pm
      
      Re: I think your overreaching here
      I think they typed exactly what they meant thinking that their readers would be smart enough to know they were using a metaphor.
      
      Really? I'm sorry, but I honestly just don't see that at all. They say boiling point twice, both in ways that suggest they mean it very literally - and they happen to be talking about temperatures crossing 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It seems entirely clear that they made a very stupid error. How is it a "metaphor"?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - RobShaver, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:33pm
        
        Re: Re: I think your overreaching here
        Okay, let's say you're correct. It still wasn't worth mentioning and, in my opinion, makes TechDirt look petty. Just my opinion. Clearly you think differently.
        
        So the only value in my comment is to let you know that one of your (non-paying) customers thinks it's a waste of time ... and I'm wasting your's and mine so I'm going to close this thread and not comment any further.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Marcus Carab (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:40pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: I think your overreaching here
        Uh, okay. I actually could explain to you why I do think it's worth posting (other than the obvious fact that it's a bit of fun) but I guess I won't bother since you've made your curt little exit.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:27pm
      
      Re: I think your overreaching here
      If this was a metaphor, why is it phrased as if it were a factual statement?
      
      "Temperatures reach a boiling point."
      
      That's a metaphor.
      
      "...bracing themselves for temperatures near and above boiling point."
      
      That just sounds badly written.
      
      But the headline?
      
      "Northeast braces for temps near boiling point"
      
      Unless this story has something to do with a bunch of pissed off employees from Kelly Services, I think someone just flat out fucked up.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:49pm
      
      Re: I think your overreaching here
      I'm sorry, but you're just wrong on the first point. When you refer to "near or above boiling point," you are necessarily referring to a specific number. There is no "metaphor" involved.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:02pm
  
  Re:
  I don't think it's a "turn of phrase" when used to refer to actual temperature, and the actual temperatures mentioned in the article just happen to be approaching 100 degrees (Fahrenheit), which would be the actual boiling point of water if the units were measured in Celsius.
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johnjac (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 1:59pm

air pressure
Water will boil at 100�F, IF the air pressure were low enough. So maybe they are trying to alert us to falling air pressures.
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- Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 7:46pm
  
  Re: air pressure
  Just for fun, doing the math, water would boil at 100�F at about 18,000m (18km) above sea level. (assuming the equation I'm using doesn't break down as I'm not sure it was meant to go that high)
  
  Just FYI, Mount Everest is just short of half that altitude.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:01pm

well i suppose they'd be right if the altitude was like 60k feet, sigh
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Jim, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:01pm

Well, maybe Bromine
Br has a boiling point of nearly 138 degrees F, so *maybe* they are chemistry nerds.
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Cowardly Anon, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:02pm

Math is hard....let's go shopping! :)
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 7:28pm
  
  Re:
  AP Barbie/Ken
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:10pm

Sounds like a pure Fahrenheit to Celsius problem, 100 being the boiling point in C.
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Gracey (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:16pm

Is the boiling point of water the same as the boiling point of a human being (er, I suppose the blood/water in a human)?

Actually, I think it is, or at least within a few degrees (100 C or 212F) so perhaps they're a little off.

On the other hand, at what temperature would you begin to boil? Me...probably long before that. I get crabby when it's 100F...a few more degrees and I'd be boiling mad.
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- E. Zachary Knight (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:27pm
  
  Re:
  I think you only have to get pork to around 168 degree Fahrenheit to make it safe for consumption, so I think that is probably the extent of human endurance of temperature.
  
  I have never tested this theory though.
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  - Murdock, 25 Jul 2011 @ 3:43pm
    
    Re: Re: Human Tempature limits
    Actually, humans have been in rooms upto 230F for 5+ minutes with no ill affects. I read a nice arcticle about the experiments some time ago and NPR just re-visited the study this morning:
    http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/07/25/138603776/when-does-a-person-start-to-boil
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    - Sam (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 4:07pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Human Tempature limits
      Humans are capable of regulating their own temperature; a slice of bacon isn't. Were the internal temperature of a human to hit 75C or whatever, you'd be very dead. You only need a fairly low internal temperature rise to hit hyperthermia (not to be confused with a fever, which is the body raising its own internal temperature to fight infection) - I believe it's only about 40C that's considered a medical emergency for hyperthermia.
      
      And as someone else mentioned, the boiling point of the water in you would be higher than 100C because you're a solution, not pure water, but by that point you'd be much too dead to worry about it.
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      - DCL, 25 Jul 2011 @ 4:43pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Human Tempature limits
        100 degrees is cooler then New York right now.... besides it is the humidity that really gets you.
        
        personally I like it when it is 75 degrees, not too hot to be active, but not too cool to sit around.
        
        (PS html does a weird thing to your degrees symbols, it turns them into a "C")
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- Rich, 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:27pm
  
  Re:
  No, pure water boils that 100 C. Impurities will raise the required temperature. For example, salt water starts boiling at a higher temperature than pure water (which is why you boil pasta in salt water).
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Ikarushka (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:21pm

Elite club of 3 countries:

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/06/countries-that-do-not-use-metric-system.html
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ArkieGuy (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 2:33pm

Math FAIL
LOL! Gotta love the HUGE MATH FAIL....

Assuming....

100 degrees Celsius equals boiling point of water (fact) and the temp in Boston is approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (also fact) it does NOT follow that thetemperature in Boston is approaching the boiling point of water --- HUGE FAIL!

Well technically at least, I'm sure 100 degrees Fahrenheit may be A boiling point for something (or someone), it's not THE boiling point they are talking about. ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2011 @ 3:50pm

Not to worry. They'll get the politicians to fix it. The politicians will make a law that the boiling point is 100�F and the newspapers will be able to sue anyone that claims different.

Why not? This is the apparent method for dealing with other first world problems.
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- DH's Love Child (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 5:37pm
  
  Re:
  Please don't give them ideas... *shudder*
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Thomas (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 8:22pm

Accuracy rom newspapers...
is about as logical as honesty from politicians. Newspapers know full well they print outright lies anyway.
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Anonymous Wow, 25 Jul 2011 @ 8:44pm

anonymous trolls
Wow, I thought the AnonTrolls had reached a low before... actually arguing that such an article put out by a supposedly reputable news agency, that allegedly employs standard fact checkers and editors, let alone writers who can actually write beyond a 6th grade level, might somehow be a metaphor and fence with any other rational person who read this story... just wow. It's even more lulzy than the original AP gaffe.

It's certainly related to Mike's work, in that a lot of "press coverage" is about as factual and well-researched as the opinion of Pastor Blowhard and calls into question the entire "factual" basis of these "news items."

It's also about a news organization putting out a story through multiple layers of editorial handling and review that would get you an D or F on an 8th grade writing assignment. That this type of mistake is made my "professional reporters" is exactly the type of thing Mike points out and documents in the articles he chooses to deal with.

Is that helpful, Anonymous Trolls? I hope so. Because you finally crossed the line from crabby provocateurs into ludicrious self-mockery. Or maybe that was your plan?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2011 @ 12:20am

This is one of the dumbest articles I've seen on techdirt in a while. What will we be taking issue with next, that rain does not actually pour but condenses?
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infinidiv (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 12:56am

Steamy baby!
Oh yes... that. just. made. my. day. I think I scared my coworkers laughing! :D
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infinidiv (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 12:56am

Steamy baby!
Oh yes... that. just. made. my. day. I think I scared my coworkers laughing! :D
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Andrew D. Todd, 26 Jul 2011 @ 1:24am

Offshoring Work.
The most probable explanation is that AP, in its relentless pursuit of profits, has jobbed some work out to India, or maybe somewhere else. In newspaper practice, writing headlines is a separate business from writing articles, along with "unburying the lede," etc. If you look at the way the thing is put together, it looks as though one of the minor New York papers, either the New York Post or the New York Daily News, sent a photographer out to the neighborhoods to take pictures of kids playing in front of fire hydrants. It's an annual ritual at the end of July, the same as photographing Christmas decorations. They put those pictures on file, on the computer system, waiting for a story to hang them on. And when the weather advisory from the Weather Bureau came in, someone hastily grabbed that, and the pictures, and said, in effect, "turn it into a story of X inches," and the request, together with the materials, was automatically e-mailed to India, and the copy was cut-and-pasted together by someone who thought in terms of Centigrade. Furthermore, this anonymous employee did all of this real fast, in thirty seconds or so, doing hundreds of similar items per day, for many different American newspapers.

There is a genre of jokes about people trying to operate in a language not their own. One of my favorites, in Maria Von Trapp's autobiography, concerns a German immigrant who told a New York grocer (in the 1940's): "Behold your asparagus! For twenty-five cents, I can become asparagus around the corner." (German: Behalten = Keep, Bekammen = Get, Obtain).
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tuscolablue (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 8:09am

Hmmmm
When have you known any of the news organizations to tell the truth in any of their stories? More fluff than fact.
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Just John (profile), 29 Jul 2011 @ 12:17am

Grilling point
So, being from Phoenix, AZ, I have to wonder.
When did the boiling point become such a high temperature?

Out here we grill our steaks on the sidewalk.

Now, let me know when they reach the "grilling point", then we can talk.
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