Corrections from the past week.

Corrections from the past week.

Corrections from the past week.

Slate's mistakes.
June 11 2004 12:12 PM

Corrections

In a June 11 "Left Field," Dave McKenna originally misstated the real name of a wrestler with the stage name Animal. He was Joe Laurinaitis, not Don Kernodle.

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In the June 11 entry in "Dispatches From Colombia's Paramilitary Stronghold," Toby Muse incorrectly referred to vallenato music as harmonica-based. In fact, it is accordion-based.

In a June 10 "War Stories," Fred Kaplan mistakenly said that Yuri Andropov had ordered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Leonid Brezhnev, although seriously ailing, was still general-secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at that time.

In a June 9 "Gaming" column, Clive Thompson mistakenly described the Fear Effect series of games as the "Fear Factor" series.

In the June 9 "Jursiprudence," Dahlia Lithwick stated that "Johnnie Cochran defended police misconduct victim Abner Louima." In fact, no criminal charges were ever brought against Louima; Cochran didn't defend him but rather represented him in a civil suit. Cochran's name was also originally misspelled "Cochrane."

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In a June 8, 2004 entry in the "Book Club" on The Jane Austen Book Club, Stephen Metcalf mistakenly referred to Long Island as the setting of The Virgin Suicides when actually the setting was suburban Michigan.

The June 6 "Today's Papers" Avi Zenilman originally and incorrectly stated that one of the ministers fired by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon belonged to the National Religious Party. In fact, both ministers were members of the National Union Party.

In the June 3 "Movies" review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, David Edelstein originally misidentified the source of the comment on the gloominess of the Dementors as being Harry Potter when in fact it was Ron Weasley.

In a May 19 "Webhead" column, Clive Thompson incorrectly stated that a lithium-ion battery would not need oxygen to burn and that the fire could not be smothered. In fact, the battery's chemicals can react with air or water to catch fire, but the fire could be put out with sand, sodium chloride powder, or copper powder. Thompson also incorrectly defined the word "exothermic," which means "giving off heat."

If you believe you have found an inaccuracy in a Slate story, please send an e-mail to corrections@slate.com, and we will investigate. General comments should be posted in "The Fray," our reader discussion forum.