This is a time for looking back, and looking ahead.  Two years ago, on March 5, 2008, one Jeff Deck got into his car and drove southward, leaving behind his home for over two months, on a mission to forever change the world.  Yes, we've reached the two-year anniversary of the Typo Hunt Across America.
  Soon, we'll begin setting dates for our second hunt (folded into a book tour).  TEAL's come a long way.  It's fun to think back to Jeff's minor expectations.  He figured he'd just see the country, correcting typos as he went, and that his immediate friends would be amused by his blog postings.  That maybe a few interested folks would find it, too.  I remember how startled we were by phone calls from people who wanted to put us on TV.  I was interviewed for an article in my hometown paper as I was only just really coming around to the importance of the mission--I'd only come along for the road trip!
  Oh, and then there was the thing with the Grand Canyon folks, and our criminal records were written, complete with typos in the court documents.  So TEAL had to go into hiding, and yet even that served as a--perhaps necessary--incubation period.  And now...we've written a book, which comes out in 152 days.  Other things are in the works, too.  TEAL is going to grow still more in the coming months.  Be ready, just in case we need some help--we may soon be issuing a call to action or two (or more).  We've only just begun...

March Forth! (...a pun, not a typo)

On Saturday, I reached a milestone that many others in the history of the world, whether from famine, disaster, overdose, war, or creeping pestilence, have not been able to reach.  If I were to drive off a cliff today, my death would still be accounted "tragic" by the newspapers, but perhaps not nearly as tragic as that of someone twenty-nine or younger.  Yes, folks, your humble narrator has now put three decades behind him.

Maybe I’ve got a few years left in me, though. In fact, we heard from a good number of people during our typo hunt who expressed their surprise that we were twentysomethings who actually cared about spelling and grammar. They’d previously thought that guardianship of the language would come to a close with their own generation. I believe there are misconceptions all around about which demographic cares about what. People predicted that we would find more typos in the South than the North, or in rural areas as opposed to urban enclaves, but our typo hunt revealed that truly everyone can and does make mistakes. Now I must reveal the truth about the age demographics of typo hunters: young and old citizens alike care about a better future for spelling. Right now, 56% of the people on the TEAL Fan Page on Facebook are 34 or younger. 17% are 24 or younger. In fact, the striking statistical gap is gender, not age: about two-thirds of TEAL fans on Facebook are women. But that may simply be due to the surpassing handsomeness of Benjamin and myself.

Ever since TEAL began, I’ve talked with many people in college or high school who appreciate our mission and would like to carry it forward themselves. Right now, students across North America are weeding typos out of school newspapers and yearbooks. They’re editing their homework and term papers on PCs and Macs, with a technical facility that I just barely caught the beginning of back in the nineties when I was in high school. I think that from my vantage point of thirty, looking at both my junior and senior counterparts, I see ample reason to believe that typo eradication is a cause for all ages.

On Newsweek's website there was recently a sharp little article about a sort of "smart card" for health care information.  Basically, all your health data is loaded up on a card that you'd keep in your wallet and carry at all times.  Not only would this be useful in emergencies when someone's incapacitated--a doctor swipes it and has the patient's medical history immediately--but it could help with what is arguably a larger problem: all that bleepity bleep bleepin' paperwork.

But wait, there's more.  And here I'm going to pull the paragraph right out of the article so you can read it for yourself:

"Mount Sinai in New York City, one of the nation's largest hospitals, might be the earliest adopter of the technology, beginning experiments in 2003. "We had a problem with identifying patients across different Mount Sinai institutions," says Paul Contino, the hospital's vice president of technology. With more than 3.7 million patients in its database, there were hundreds of patients with shared names; it was difficult to know whether the John Smith who showed up at the emergency room in Manhattan was the same one who had recently visited the clinic in Queens. One illegible digit in an address or phone number could throw off the whole verification system. This was not only risky to patients, but it was also incredibly costly for the hospital: in 2006 Mount Sinai spent $1.8 million just to clean up its records."

You can find the full article here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233657

$1,800,000 for one (albeit larger) hospital, for one year.  Clarity counts, clearly.

Hey, speaking of jobs, the company I work for requested that I pass on word of an opening for some lucky editor-type in the New Brunswick/Rutgers, New Jersey area.  Always good to hear about new opportunities in these embattled times.  So here you go:

Print Production Assistant for Leading Medical News Publication!
Physician’s Weekly, a leading medical news service and custom healthcare publishing company, is seeking a Print Production Assistant to join its Englishtown, New Jersey office.  As the Print Production Assistant, you will have the opportunity to play a significant role in helping Physician’s Weekly to grow its business by coordinating the production of weekly and monthly print-pieces from final copy through printing and distribution. You will have the important responsibility to ensure that production schedules are maintained for multiple projects with concurrent deadlines. You will also have the opportunity to support the efforts of the Production Manager and act as backup to this position as needed.  This is a great opportunity for someone to work closely with the Production Manager to become involved in all cycles of print production.
Requirements
•    2 – 3 years experience in publishing and/or related field
•    Very strong attention to detail and exceptional time-management skills
•    Proven ability to meet deadlines
•    Complete proficiency of Microsoft Office software and Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign)
•    Proofreading experience and experience in a Mac-based environment preferred

Interested? Please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , attaching a current resume and a cover letter explaining why you would be a good fit for the job.  Please include the title of the position being applied for and your desired salary requirements.
Learn more about Physician’s Weekly by visiting us at www.physweekly.com and www.patientedu.org.

About M|C Holding Corp.
M|C Holding Corp. (MCHC), http://www.mcholdingcorp.com, was established in 1994 and has become a leading provider of medical education solutions for healthcare professionals around the globe. M|C has been accomplished by bringing  learning and networking opportunities to our audiences through some of the most recognizable brands in the industry. M|C Holding Corp’s five portfolio of companies include M|C Communications, a U.S. non-CME operating company and owner of the Pri-Med brand;  Pri-Med Institute, a U.S. accredited provider of education for medical, nursing, and healthcare professionals; Physician’s Weekly and Pri-Med Patient Education Center, U.S. publishing companies; and Pri-Med Educational Programmes LTD, a European operating company. MCHC's innovative approach of bringing together, through live and digital forums, physicians with experts in the field, their peers, and industry has helped build the Pri-Med community to over 210,000 healthcare professionals. Physicians engage with Pri-Med and its partners and sponsors through a portfolio of offerings including live conferences, digital forums, and robust collaborations with the leaders in healthcare.