When asked to comment on this observation, the reporter responded:
How can it be ten times NEARER? It can come 1/10 the distance or 10% but not ten times nearer.
I agree with your assessment. Seems that the author of the article, Abigail Beall, went to Common Core Journalism school
10 times less far away?
I agree with you but there seems to be plenty of arguments about that usage - http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/114392/ten-times-fewer-the-number-versus-one-tenth-the-number
If i’m 20 feet away from the TV, wouldn’t 10 times nearer put me 180 feet behind it? :)
Thank you for your comment: “How can it be ten times NEARER? It can come 1/10 the distance or 10% but not ten times nearer.”
I despise the “Two times as small” kind of describing things. What the heck is wrong with 1/2 ?
Meanwhile, one of my favorite quotes: “Figures never lie, but liars always figure.”
If not her favorite, it is a top ten, from my daughter: “87% of all statistics are made up on the spot.”
nearness is the inverse of farness
I’ve noticed this type of logic used a lot when folks report distance and size issues in the media these days.
Makes you wonder who is teaching that method of comparison.
You are exactly right. The comparison is 1/10th, not ten times. This is not a multiple of the Moons distance. If it were, it would have to be outside the Moons orbital distance from the earth.
For instance, the asteroid could come within 2 times the distance of the Moon to the Earth.
You obviously understand this. It makes me wonder why they would put someone in charge of writing about scientific things if they can’t address them in a scientific manner.
When asked to comment on this observation, the reporter responded:
I know, that is what drew me to the article. What is 10 times nearer? The moon is about a quarter million miles away, is 10 times nearer 2.5 million miles closer? I can’t stand the way these people write these comparisons. Mrs Dad often hears me b!tch about the Charmin commercials where you use 4 times less. Or I heard the pampers or depends commercial last night that kept something 3 times drier. How do you people measure things? Just commiserating. ;^)
It used to be that people would say “one tenth the distance” or “one third the size”. Now media talks about “ten times closer” or “three times smaller”. I also wonder where this style change came from.
Maybe this statement is from the same ones saying there is no more controversy concerning climate change????
My first thought. And is ‘today’ September 7 or 17th.
Author either drunk, stoned or both (not to mention stooooopid).
Journalists are almost invariably innumerate. Sad.
Obviously author is a common core graduate. It will be .1 LD (Lunar distance) From earth.