One of those tiny ads on bottom of the Times front page today:

FOR THE RECORD: AL SIEGAL'S 46-YEAR tenure is ending, but his influence is not. The Times regrets the loss.

It's kind of sweet, really. Siegal is the longtime standards czar at the Times, he's retiring from the paper, and, as he's the guy who oversees the paper's corrections, it's fitting that the tribute is phrased as a correx. But here what we can't figure out: Who would pay to run such a thing? His family? His employers? Did reporters take up a collection to buy the ad space? And is today his actual retirement day?

So many questions, so little willingness to make phone calls. Anyone know anything?

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