The wonderful and talented Lisa of Lisa's Chaos is this week's Fun Monday hostess. The challenge for this week is simple just ask a question for the visitors to answer or show Lisa a bird picture. Keep in mind, Lisa is an extremely capable photographer.I have decided to show a picture and ask a question. My question is related to my bird picture. Those of you that have visited my blog, Return of the White Robin, are familiar with my masthead picture. Most you probably recognize that the bird is a young robin. I felt fortunate to capture this picture without the little creature flying off to his nest. Last June. I posted a photograph of the bird that currently appears in my masthead for a Wordless Wednesday post; and then, a few days later I was lucky to catch another juvenile bird in a photograph . This bird was perched in the exact same spot as the first bird. So even though the birds were different-looking, I wondered if the two pictures might be the same bird. I posted a second picture on my blog with my query, "Is this the same bird?" Three people, who know more about birds than me, questioned my assumption that these two might be the same bird, my lovely sister-in-law, REM, Pamela of Dust Will Wait, Gawilli of Back in the Day. I sent the pictures to some experts at Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Sure enough, the bird experts confirmed what my friends suspected or knew, that these are two different birds. The first picture, the one that graces my masthead, is an American Robin, and the second baby is a Common Grackle.
On June 15, 2007, I did publish this retraction in my blog.
I am sorry blogging world for the misinformation about our avian friends. I
thank REM, Pamela, and Gawilli for their insight. However, I am somewhat
embarrassed by my error. Not only, do I teach science, but my degree is actually
in biology. Moreover, I have partially completed a correspondence course in
ornithology. Finally, I call my blog, Return of the White Robin. Hopefully, if I
ever see a white robin, I will be able to recognize the bird...Sheesh.
My question is, "Have you made an embarrassing or idiotic mistake on your blog or in your life that required a retraction or at least a revision?"
27 comments:
No mistakes or retractions yet. But the stories that I tell do end up embarrassing me when I read them the day after I post them!
Those two birds looked a lot like each other. They were in the same spot. Asking questions is a good thing. The answers are given at a point in time and may change as time produces more data. I have not had any retractions because my work is mostly check over by the White Robin herself.
Hmmm... do first marriages count?
Seriously, my dad usually catches me in a slip or inaccuracy and rather gleefully points it out in the comments. Since I have my own editor, I let him "fix" it with the correct information. I don't worry about it much.
First year of teaching I called my principal and said that I couldn't come to work because of an eye infection. He was so concerned that he wanted to come by to see if I needed anythng. Luckily a friend and colleague offered to make the run for him. No more white lies to miss school!
Molly,
Good question. I have made numerous errors and/or mistakes in my parenting years. Quite often I am reminded that I am not perfect and owe my children an apology and tell them that I could have handled a certain situation much better than I did. Fortunately my children are very forgiving.
I must be perfect, I don't remember anything and I tried hard to find something,lol !
I apparently often make errors in my posts and my darling daughters are quick to point out my mistakes. I usually amend the post or point it out in some way~ my excuse is I'm getting old and the memory plays tricks!
when I was younger!! I would give people nicknames or play on their orginal name but then I when I saw them in the flesh I wouldn't be able to remember which name was the real one!! and have on more than one occasion called them by the wrong name - sorry rather boring I know LOL
Yep all the time, the difference is I don't really care! LOL! We are only human after all! I don't claim to know everything or expect anyone else to! And yes, daddy d makes a great point, asking questions is the only way we are going to learn isnt it?
Me mistakes? Oh lordy....all the time. But I always tell myself "100 years from now it'll make no difference". So, tho embarrassing at the moment I suppose, I don't 'give a hoot!'
I knew the photo above was a grackle...we have them here, year 'round.
My FM question is posted.
I have done loads of embarrassing things but I just block them out, something I'm very good at.
I make so many mistakes I have lost track.
Beckie (previously of GiveItaTry)
Mistakes, yes, retractions, no. Hey, I'm human.
oh i've made plenty of mistakes. mostly to do with my hubby. but i learned a long time ago how to fix things. and i've taught him a thing or two as well. recently he has become a lot smarter about things. if one of us is wrong about something, we say, you remember xyz, oh yeah you were right about that. we give credit where credit is due and if something is not going to matter in 5 minutes, let alone 5 years, we simply say NEVER MIND and go on.. its not worth it.
I feel my entire life needs a good rewrite.
i don't think i have on my blog, but ALL the time in real life. :0/
Oh, wait! Does misspelling things count? I do that a lot!
Yes, and my mistake went on a nationally broadcast podcast. I was in a cranky mood one day and I was perusing blogs and I came across one that was calling all of the blogs they were listing 'useless garbage' and seemingly picking on the bloggers. The keyword here is 'seemingly'. I didn't read it fully.
So, full of self-riteous indignation I went back to my blog and awarded the owner of the blog the King Useless award.
He writes back and asks, "What did I ever do to you?" in a sad way. Confused at the polite and sincere response I went back and actually read his blog and discovered that it was a group of bloggers picking on themselves. A self-deprecating humour type of thing.
I wrote a humble and sincere apology both on my blog and to him personally. He and his co-blogger spoke about the whole incident on their podcast. Not in a bad way, but, I was still so ashamed. I've not picked on anyone's blog since.
Oh yes, I still feel horrible that a year ago I posted about going for biopsies then my husband wouldn't allow me to post the results. I would never have posted in the first place if I knew he wouldn't want the results shared - long story why but I do understand where he's coming from, just don't want to mislead, or, well I'm sure you get it.
Ironic that the second of my three bird posts was corrected by PamelaJamela. (See today's link.)
I received a lot of "grief" for calling my blog a glob and creating a Globbing Dictionary. But, it was all in fun because I'm so lysdexic and always type blog, glob. That was in the first two months of starting my glob, and I learned that it was more fun to stir things up and be a little controversial, then very serious, etc. That way, no one knows where I'm coming from.
I spend a lot of time apologizing for mistakes and then trying to learn from them.
"If you can't make a mastake, you can't make anything."
What??/ your kidding me???.... nope, never, not one thing have i ever messed up on!!!
Okay okay I hang my head..there have been a few!!
probably many.
unfortunately I'm such a mean old woman that everyone is afraid to point it out for fear of my biting off of his/her head.
Actually - I've been corrected so many times I can't possibly tell you all of them. (:
No, I just write about my embarassing moments for all the world to read. Plenty of material there!
I've been corrected on my bird identifications before...by my bird identification teacher. Luckily he was nice about it and sent me an email with the correct identifications.
Many! I'll give you just one, but it was one of my most embarrassing.
Last year at archaeology field school we were excavating the site where it was reported there had been a farmhouse and barn. They did find evidence of these. On the path that led up towards them my 13yo found some thorny shrubs that he thought were wild roses. I gave them a quick glance and told him I thought he might be right. Then I let my imagination run wild. The orientation of the shrubs to the house made it seem to me as though someone had possibly planted them on either side of a drive. Without going back to look at the shrubs more carefully, I excitedly asked the archaeologist in charge of the project what she thought about this "find". I thought it was odd that this family, in these circumstances, and at this time had planted rose bushes at the entrance to their farm. I was trying to figure out answers to all the questions that came up from this one supposition. One of the other archaeologists overheard and started saying they were honey locusts. I was so intent on my assumption that I heard her but thought she must not be talking to us. (She was behind us and not really in the conversation.) She repeated several times, getting louder each time until I realized she was indeed talking to us. I was sure she was wrong, but later on I went down and looked at those "rose" bushes again. Duh.
Now, I do know the difference between a rose and a honey locust. These trees had been stunted--probably from being trimmed back continually--and had spread out more than up. They were young trees and didn't have the long thorns of a more mature tree, but the thorns were definitely longer than rose thorns. I'd probably seen a few very new thorns. The leaf pattern is different. A rose should have had some evidence of blooms at that time. There are so many differences that there's no excuse for the mistake other than my letting the power of suggestion and my imagination run WILD.
I went back and apologized to the archaeologist who had caught my mistake and to the head archaeologist. I laughed as I told them it was a good lesson in why you have to look carefully at evidence and not allow yourself to get caught up in wild imaginations and what ifs. But oh that was hard to do! I knew that if I didn't I would only look like more of a fool though.
Finally getting around to the rest of the Fun Monday posts...
mistakes -yes....but according to my husband, I never admit to them. hahahaha. So, if I have made a mistake, I don't remember it. :)
I need a smiley emoticon!!!
Where are you?
I came looking for Public Art.
Hope everything is ok at your place.
So sorry I'm so late. Great post. Erm, I haven't made a factual mistake, but I did upset a very good friend in one of my early posts about what celebrities name their children. Her son has an unusual but beautiful name that was picked with love and thought, but she thought my post might have been aimed at him. I spoke to her, cried a bit and added a little on the end to change the affect the post might have. It was awful though, I felt terrible.
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