To err is human... EDITOR’S CORNER
Adam W. Heft, CPG-10265
Hello everyone! By the time you’re reading this article, the election for the 2025 officers will be over and the Annual Meeting in Durango will be only about a month away. I hope to see many of you in Durango; Sara and I have been looking forward to this meeting all year. We plan to piggyback a vacation with the meeting, killing two birds with one stone.
This edition of TPG includes the annual undergraduate stu-
dent scholarship essays on why those students want to become a geologist. Be sure to give them a read and see what you think of this year’s group of recipients. The essay for the recipient of the Siok Scholarship for graduate students is also presented. In addition, we are featuring a few articles by non-members, including one on a dust study at urban air monitors in Texas, and another on sustainable data center cooling solutions. We also have a full-length article by Donald Strachan, CPG-10376, on a buried Quaternary Au-Te deposit. Please keep your article submissions coming! If you haven’t submitted an article before, I encourage you to do so.
As we all know, we are all human, and we all make mistakes.
“To err is human” the saying goes. This quote was attributed to Alexander Pope in his 1711 treatise An Essay on Criticism. The full quote, however, is “To err is human, to forgive divine.”
This edition of TPG holds information about two mistakes made: the first is a series of mistakes by one of our members long ago. This is detailed in his “Tales from the Field” submittal. If conditions had been a little bit different, his mistakes could have cost him his life. Be sure to read it and take away the les- sons he learned from this field event.
Not all mistakes are on the level of life and death, though they
can be, particularly when a series of mistakes continues to pile on and the resulting effects become catastrophic. No, most are more benign, or are only unpleasant. We hopefully learn from them so as not to repeat the same mistake more than once. And how a mistake is handled (at both ends) is just as important as learning from what happened.
The second mistake detailed herein is my own and falls within the benign category. It concerns an article submission by one of our members. This article was submitted to me last year and was intended to be published in the Apr/May/Jun 2024 “Student Edition” of TPG. This is where I return to the quote “To err is human” and add another piece to the quote that was variously attributed to Paul Ehrlich, Agatha Christie, or ‘Senator Soaper’ the fictional alter ego of newspaper columnist Bill Vaughan. The rest of the quote is: “…but to really foul things up requires a computer.”
www.aipg.org
You see, when I receive a submittal for TPG, I enter informa- tion about it into a spreadsheet so I can track all submittals I receive. I have devised a system whereby the entries are detailed with information and color coded as they progress through the review process. For submittals that for one reason or another do not get completely through the review process by the time an edition of TPG is finalized for publication, they are carried through to a new spreadsheet tab for the next edition. I have been fairly careful with my entries, particularly in giving those submittals that will be in the edition being worked on a stand- out color. The final version of the submittal is then placed into a working folder from which all content is pulled directly into the final layout.
In this case, although I had initially entered the submittal into
the spreadsheet and subsequently detailed it properly, when I eventually carried it to the next edition’s tab, I had made the mistake of not making sure I had saved the spreadsheet before I stopped working that evening. Naturally, when I opened the computer and started work (for my regular job) the next morn- ing I found that a corporate update had been pushed overnight, causing my computer to restart. I forgot at that point that I had not saved the spreadsheet the night before. When I next opened my tracking spreadsheet, the article in question was no longer on the next issue’s tab. So, when I began compiling articles for the Student Edition, this article was not listed where it should have been, and therefore was not on my radar, and I completely forgot about it, with the result that the article was not included in that edition.
Fortunately, the author messaged me after the edition was
released, inquiring why his article had not appeared as prom- ised. I was, to say the least, embarrassed that this had occurred. I explained to the author what had happened, and immediately put the article on the top of the list for this edition, and it is included (with a note of apology from the Editor). Fortunately, the author was gracious in accepting my explanation (and apol- ogy). I have since been more meticulous is making sure that my spreadsheet has been saved after every change I make to it, and I’m backing it up more often as well.
So, when you find that a mistake has been made (and you
will), let’s all act appropriately. If you made the mistake, own up to it and do your best to make it right – it’s the ethical thing to do as a professional. And if you were on the receiving end of a mistake, point it out in a professional manner and then accept the corrective actions and apology graciously (should I say in a divine manner?). Everyone will appreciate it, and someday, the shoe will be on the other foot.
Jul.Aug.Sep 2024 • TPG 3
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