"How to Publish a Scientific Comment in 1 2 3 Easy Steps"

Physics professor Rick Trebino of Georgia Tech has written a hilarious diatribe called "How to Publish a Scientific Comment in 1 2 3 Easy Steps". There are actually far more steps than this, and I have heard similar stories from collaborators about the ordeal of trying to get a scientific comment published to correct a major mistake in a prominent paper.

Note: This story is not for the faint of heart or the easily depressed. (Especially if you might get depressed about the current state of affairs of self-correction in science.)

(Tip of the cap to Alex Vespignani.)

Foot-in-Mouth Disease

I need to keep my mouth shut.

This morning, something that I intended only as a marginally snarky comment came across as a bitter hatred (that I don't feel, by the way). The reason I suspect this was because of the shocked reaction of the others in the room, when the worst I thought I'd get was people disagreeing and thinking the joke was stupid. (Well, I'm sure they think that as well.) Then I spent some more time during the day going back over how the phrasing actually came out, and I can see what the unintended interpretation was. Clearly, I critically failed my perform check. I decided that attempting a real-time explanation would only dig a deeper hole, so I at least had enough thought processes going to quit while I was "ahead". So that's why I'm writing this. The one consolation I have is that many people who are still close friends of mine have had visibly similar reactions to my comments on occasion. (Still, I feel like this was a bit of a kender saying 'Oops!' moment.)

Let's see if I do better on my charisma check next week.