jonwvara 

I'm sure that many longtime members of this forum were disturbed to learn of a possible misinterpretation of the serial numbering of Centurion brand bicycles. This in itself is bad enough, but it gets worse. Please bear with me, because this will take a moment to explain.

I am not a devout Christian, but have been a lifelong celebrant of a religious holiday known as "Christmas." One aspect of this holiday involves the exchange of gifts among friends and family members. In one such exchange, I recently acquired a well-regarded nonfiction book from a major publisher, titled Mill Town. Written by a former resident of Mexico, Maine, it examines the long-term health and environmental effects of paper manufacturing in the town of Rumford, Maine.

On page two of the book, the following sentence appears:

"In the deep grottoes of the past, the great polar ice cap melted into glaciers, and its calving mass crawled north, carving long, deep ruts that became the lakes and rivers of Maine." [italics mine]

Reading the above filled me with surprise. I had always believed that the continental ice sheets of North America's last glaciation had moved from north to south, not south to north. And indeed, subsequent research seems to confirm that my original concept was correct. As unlikely as it seems, it appears that the quoted sentence is--and it gives me no pleasure to write these words, not wanting to cause unhappiness to the author or editors associated with the book's production--flatly incorrect.

This is knowledge that we will all have to live with from now on. I hope and pray that there are no other books out there that contain factual errors. But sadly, that possibility cannot be ruled out.

Be safe, everyone.