Grammar and Old Navy

Old Navy has temporarily withdrawn a line of tee-shirts purportedly to correct the grammatical error of "Lets Go" with "Let's Go". The Old Navy website posts the following statement:

SORRY! THIS TEE HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY TAKEN INTO CUSTODY. Thanks to the Grammar Police for catching it. LOOK FOR A CORRECTED TEE SOON!

Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner (reference) offer three alternatives why the person responsible for approving the tee-shirts for production allowed the grammatically incorrect graphic to be released:

a. just didn't notice the apostrophe was missing.
b. didn't know it was supposed to be there in the first place.
c. didn't care and would never have dreamed that not caring would cost his employer a pretty penny.

I offer a fourth alternative:
d. excluding the apostrophe was intentional.

Old Navy wants to project an image of being popular and trendy. Texting, with an emphasis on speed and concept over accuracy and detail, is a popular aspect of our modern life. My wife testifies to the frustration of having to go through multiple steps on her allegedly smart cellular telephone to input an apostrophe. To rapidly get an idea across to a targeted audience, cellular telephone manufacturers - and seemingly many of their customers - consider the apostrophe superfluous.

If I am correct, I suspect Old Navy was shocked representatives of Syracuse University held the company accountable. Give Old Navy credit for making the most of a situation that could have been far more awkward. I, for one, normally would not give Old Navy free advertising by talking and posting about the matter.

Kudos to the Grammar Police!


Reference:
Glickman, Simon, and Julia Rubiner. "Score One for the Apostrophe." Visual Thesaurus. Thinkmap, Inc., 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/3007/

China Eastern airliner orders

News media outlets have widely reported China Eastern canceled an order for twenty-four 787s, in favor of purchasing forty-five 737s. Not as widely reported is the airline also ordered fifteen A330s from Airbus. I interpret these actions as dissatisfaction with the delivery delays of Boeing’s Dreamliner and a tactical adjustment on route structure. Hopefully it is not indicative of dissatisfaction with the Dreamliner itself.

Housing Values

The house across the street was foreclosed some time ago. The bank eventually put it on the market and sold it for grossly under what, at least I believe, was market value. The transaction drove down the market value of our house. Thankfully, our mortgage is not underwater, but the hit to our property value was substantial. On the other hand I was pleased to see how diligently our new neighbors immediately began work on upgrading their property. I was curious, though, why they did not move in despite all the renovation they put in the house. Now, I understand. After having held the property for only a few months, they are trying to flip it. I just hope they make a huge profit and raise the value of my house to where it was before the bank undersold the house.

Reno Air Races

I got the desire to see the National Air Races from my dad. He saw Jimmy Doolittle race in Cleveland. I defer to my sister, the family historian, about which year. I, too, went to the National Championship Air Races and Air Show. For me, it was last year at Reno. The slogan associated with the Races is Fly Low, Go Fast, Turn Left. That is exactly what the racers do. They did in Cleveland (and Chicago before that) and they do in Reno. Last year The Reno Air Racing Association canceled the final race, the Gold Cup championship for the Unlimiteds, because of high winds. The event is dangerous, but I believe the organizers do all they can to assure the safety of the racers and spectators. With new housing erected, the Air Races no longer ran in Cleveland. Years later they moved to the desert, in part because of the risk to those who were not associated with the race.

The Gold Cup championship race for the Unlimiteds is the last race of the last day and is the climax of the Races. Propeller driven, piston engine powered, airplanes - most of which were designed originally as fighters for World War II - compete in a spectacle of noise, power, and speed. One of the most disappointed of the pilots last year undoubtedly was Jimmy Leeward, a highly accomplished pilot who flew Galloping Ghost through lower level qualifying races to have a chance to compete against the preeminent Strega, Voodoo, and Rare Bear. Safety, though, took priority and the race was canceled.

This year, in the first Gold Cup heat of the weekend the four met September 16. Strega and Voodoo were leading, and Galloping Ghost had passed Rare Bear when tragedy struck. Martt Clupper wrote an excellent article on what likely caused the accident. Telemetry data shows Galloping Ghost was flying at 495 miles an hour as it rounded Plyon 7 for the straightaway in front of the grandstand. Questions have been raised as to why the pilot did not do more to avoid hitting the spectators' area. The telemetry data reveal the answer; Mr. Leeward experienced 21Gs immediately after the trim tab broke off the airplane. No human could withstand such force. The FAAs planning did not, and could not reasonably have been expected to, assume such an event. Eleven people have died and scores of others were injured. I thank God the human loss was not more.

Some people are calling for the end of the Air Races. Others want to impose more restrictions in hope of reducing the possibility of another accident and loss of life. Did I expect to die when I went last year? Of course not, but I knew that by being there my probability of death was greater than for many other activities. I made the decision, fully expecting to live, but with the knowledge (remotely in the back of my brain) that I might not. I hope the Air Races continue and I look forward to attending the Fiftieth edition in 2013.

References:

Clupper, Martt. "The Galloping Ghost Tragedy... Life, Risk, And The Future." AirPigz. 20 Sept. 2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.

Howe, Jim. "P-51 Galloping Ghost Reno Crash Telemetry Data." Aerobatic Display Teams, Flight Demonstration Squadrons. 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.