NIH to Postdocs: You Have Ten Years to Get Your R01

Well that was quick. I was just appreciating that the “Early Stage Investigator” (ESI) designation is significantly different from the older “New Investigator” (NI) designation in NIH-speak. There is now a Guide notice out to clarify.

Why is this a "gaffe" or a "mistake"?

This is an honest question. The following picture has been all over the Sb’ers’ blogs since brought to our attention by one brilliant guy (awaiting permission to link-Update: It was Ed).

Bora titled his post “Oooops!” and called it a gaffe. Ed calls it a “FAIL“. Nick thinks it is “a funny“. The timesonline even picked up the story. [update: forgot to mention the LOLzies thread over at Grrl’s place]
It is a juxtaposition that draws the eye, I’ll grant you. Might even result in a double-take. But many bloggers and their commenters seem to think this is a mistake, gaffe or embarrassment of some kind.
Why?