Corrections to The 2003 World Almanac

Despite being a New York Times bestseller, the 2003 edition of the World Almanac is not without factual inaccuracies.

I have noticed the following errors in the following sections:

Noted Personalities – Composers of Classical and Avant Garde Music
Not included in this section is Walter Beardly, my landlord at the time. Beardly would compose elaborate musical scores and then sing them as he crawled around the building’s vent system. Although this was terrifying in a way words cannot describe, he made a deal with all the tenants that he wouldn’t charge for utilities as long as we didn’t move out and gave him constructive criticism on his compositions from time to time. Although he may not be well known, an almanac can’t call itself an almanac if it it’s not all-inclusive especially when he had such an impact on a single community's musical world.

Nations – South Africa
The entry fails to mention that the currency for South Africa is fingers. This is very significant for not only cultural reasons, but also ethical reasons. Based on their currency system alone, South Africa has managed to provide an answer to a question that has plagued thinkers since the beginning of time: how much is a single human being worth? South Africa’s answer: 10.

Sports- Women’s National Basketball Association
Although not technically wrong, there is a line between being a helpful reference and just wasting paper. With over two pages dedicated to the WNBA, the 2003 World Almanac is guilty of killing and wasting trees.

Price – 19.95
Wrong. Two weeks ago I paid almost double that for this damn almanac. The people behind The World Almanac really need to be able to predict the changing value of the dollar and how much you will pay for an outdated reference when a man pulls you into an alley and holds you at knife point and demands you will pay an inordinate amount of money for said almanac. These things happen.