Posted on 01/15/2018 8:46:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday, an employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency settled in at the start of his shift. Among his duties that day was to initiate an internal test of the emergency missile warning system: essentially, to practice sending an emergency alert to the public without actually sending it to the public.
It was a drill the agency had started with some regularity last November — around the time Hawaii reinstated its Cold War-era nuclear warning sirens amid growing fears of an attack by North Korea — and so, while the tests were not yet routine enough to be predictable, they were not entirely new either, according to an agency spokesman.
Around 8:05 a.m., the Hawaii emergency employee initiated the internal test, according to a timeline released by the state. From a drop-down menu on a computer program, he saw two options: “Test missile alert” and “Missile alert.” He was supposed to choose the former; as much of the world now knows, he chose the latter, an initiation of a real-life missile alert.
“In this case, the operator selected the wrong menu option,” HEMA spokesman Richard Rapoza told The Washington Post on Sunday.
Around 8:07 a.m., an errant alert went out to scores of Hawaii residents and tourists on their cellphones: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” A more detailed message scrolled across television screens in Hawaii, suggesting, “If you are indoors, stay indoors. If you are outdoors, seek immediate shelter in a building. Remain indoors well away from windows. If you are driving, pull safely to the side of the road and seek shelter in a building or lay on the floor.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"Fire Commissioner Robert J. Quinn ordered a celebratory five-minute sounding of the city's air-raid sirens. The late-night wail, at a time when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's threat to bury America was still fresh, frightened tens of thousands of area residents. Many rushed to the streets. Others herded hysterical children to shelter. "We had seven children under 9 and woke them all up when the sirens screamed," said Mrs. Earl Gough of the South Side. "We said Hail Marys together in the basement." Quinn apologized but also argued that the incident provided "a very good test" of the area's readiness, which he found wanting. Mayor Richard J. Daley claimed Quinn acted in accordance with a City Council proclamation that "there shall be whistles and sirens blowing and there shall be great happiness when the White Sox win the pennant."
You point is probably EXACTLY what happened. They brought up the wrong event and just “okay” buttoned their way through.
One of the things my system does, for example, is that it will make deletions a positive action. This means that if you are just clicking through you will answer the “hold” question incorrectly and the data will not be deleted.
Confused by Test missile alert” and Missile alert.
Why you never hire by the quota system.
Hmm?
Given the explanation is honest, the problem with the Hawaii incident may not be user error per se, but an “ergonomically” incorrect computer graphics user interface (GUI) design.
More specifically, depending on if the missile options in the drop-down menu are next to each other, sometimes, when the computer has better things to do than to closely track mouse movements in a drop-down list, I actually have to momentarily pause for the computer to catch up and hilite the selection under the cursor before clicking.
Otherwise, another option may get selected.
Other times, when I’m in a hurry, and the selections in the drop-down menu have somehow moved closer to each other, I clumsily click the wrong option.
Again, I wonder if the missile alert options in this case are next to each other in the drop-down menu?
There are several options for programmers to make the right selection fail-safe, employing optional modifier keys for example. But if GUI ergonomics are where the problem really is then this issue may be a root GUI design problem.
Oh, yer one o' those judgmental conservatives, huh?
Democrats cannot even trusted to push the right button.
My guess is the person simply did not read what they were doing. They just pushed the button.
In our “drills” every message starts with “ this is a drill.” And, no buttons are pushed to avoid this crap.
A Dem fuctionary in a Dem state just ‘War of the Worlds’ their entire statewide voter base.
At least they are now NOT in charge of more important buttons.
It’s harder to order an On Demand movie.
This story can’t be true. Jamie Lee Curtis said it was Trump’s fault and that’s all that matters.
I wonder if that dimwit walk that back yet on Twitter?
So I hear they reassigned that Miyagi characters nephew who pushed the button.
They put him in charge of Honolulu rail project.
(an inside joke for the kamaaina)
zig
No.
Apologies to any freepers who may be competent government employees, but I have to say that I have almost NEVER encountered a competent government employee and I deal with them all the time. Blithering fools in most cases.
The employee was breaking Walnuts and hit the button by mistake , TWICE
If they shot a rocket and it hit a dolphin would it have been on porpoise?
“Wave of panic????????????????????
You are not alone.
George Webb comments...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg_yE89Nx94
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