can’t get the proof readers these days

well I guess we could commiserate with the editor on seeing his photo on the front cover – working himself to the bone yet still going round in circles.

Hi, in the original release of this data book, there are 13 pages of drill sizes, the ones printed in MEW 302 are; two of page 3, page 1 and page 4. Page 1 should have been printed on the left hand duplicate, when looking at the two duplicates in the reading position. In the original run, there were a few misprinted ones like this, but I can't remember which ones they were, but all were reprinted correctly in the end, so there may be a few more that get printed incorrectly if the original files have been used.

Regards Nick.

Certainly not the printer. It's all done by computer these days. The editor hits the print button in his office, or living room these days I suppose, and miles away at the print centre a thin aluminium laser-etched printing plate comes gliding out of a small machine just like a page out of an office paper printer. That plate is wrapped around the press roller without a glance and off it goes.

Once upon a time there was a squad of crotchety old print compositors making up the plate with eagle eyes, and an even crotchetier squad of final proof readers slavering at the mouth to point out any errors the compositors missed in their ignorance and incompetence. Now there is just Neil in his living room playing the Lone Ranger.

It's interesting to look back at old 1940s to 70s ME mags and see the cast of thousands, well a dozen or so anyway, that made up the editorial department and the editorial advisory team. Full of names like GH Thomas, Ian Bradley, Prof Chaddock and Claude Reeve etc. The editor had at his disposal a gang of pendants that would put the ME forum's most particular enthusiasts to shame.

Presumably the pendants hang around until someone makes a mistake?

Proof reading your own text really isn't easy.

Exactly. There you go. That's what you get for relying on spell checker instead of crusty old proof readers.

You can't blame the spell checker, as pendants is spelt perfectly.

….. which is kind of his point.

A little poem I have used to show people, both adults and secondary age children, the importance of proof reading. Silly I know.

Eye have a spelling chequer,
It came with my pea sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss Steaks I can knot sea.

Eye strike the quays and type a whirred
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am write oar wrong
It tells me strait a weigh.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your shore real glad two no.
Its vary polished in its weigh.
My chequer tolled me sew.

A chequer is a blessed thing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right all stiles of righting,
And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The chequer pours o'er every word
Two cheque sum spelling rule

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 19/03/2021 16:33:46