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| 5 buttons that should never have been pressed | 5 buttons that should never have been pressed |
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| As the world gets increasingly gadget-ed up, and more of us manage our lives by pointing, clicking, scrolling and selecting, the possibilities for error have become terrifying. Previously confined to the quirky columns of free newspapers, stories of inadvertent email forwards and accidental private photo shares have become commonplace. Many of us have now been to that dark place. Sometimes the damage is repairable, sometimes it isn't. As its name hints (ho ho), "Reply all" has a lot to answer for. | As the world gets increasingly gadget-ed up, and more of us manage our lives by pointing, clicking, scrolling and selecting, the possibilities for error have become terrifying. Previously confined to the quirky columns of free newspapers, stories of inadvertent email forwards and accidental private photo shares have become commonplace. Many of us have now been to that dark place. Sometimes the damage is repairable, sometimes it isn't. As its name hints (ho ho), "Reply all" has a lot to answer for. |
| But pressing the wrong button isn't just a hazard for office workers. Let's look at some of the ways a slip of the finger has resulted in embarrassment – or far, far worse. | But pressing the wrong button isn't just a hazard for office workers. Let's look at some of the ways a slip of the finger has resulted in embarrassment – or far, far worse. |
| • French député Henri Guaino, an opponent of gay marriage who so fears the union of same-sex couples he even wrote book about it, managed to vote in favour of equality this week. "There were three buttons flashing, and I pressed the wrong button," he is quoted as saying. Unfortunately for the annals of comedy, he was able to reverse his vote by talking to administrators later that day. | • French député Henri Guaino, an opponent of gay marriage who so fears the union of same-sex couples he even wrote book about it, managed to vote in favour of equality this week. "There were three buttons flashing, and I pressed the wrong button," he is quoted as saying. Unfortunately for the annals of comedy, he was able to reverse his vote by talking to administrators later that day. |
| • Being elected to public office obviously isn't a guarantee of dexterity. Last year, Becky Carney, a state legislator in North Carolina and tireless anti-fracking campaigner inadvertently made the practice legal by pressing the wrong button while voting at the end of an exhausting day. Unlike Guaino she wasn't able to rectify the mistake. Oops! | • Being elected to public office obviously isn't a guarantee of dexterity. Last year, Becky Carney, a state legislator in North Carolina and tireless anti-fracking campaigner inadvertently made the practice legal by pressing the wrong button while voting at the end of an exhausting day. Unlike Guaino she wasn't able to rectify the mistake. Oops! |
| • More immediately terrifying was the mistake apparently made by a co-pilot on board an All Nippon Airways flight in 2011. The captain left the cabin for a comfort break, leaving his or her colleague in charge (for understandable reasons, a cloak of anonymity has descended on the unfortunate pair). On the captain's return, the co-pilot accidentally flicked a switch controlling the plane's rudder instead of one opening the cockpit door. The plane dived 1900 metres in 30 seconds, but thankfully, no one was seriously injured. | • More immediately terrifying was the mistake apparently made by a co-pilot on board an All Nippon Airways flight in 2011. The captain left the cabin for a comfort break, leaving his or her colleague in charge (for understandable reasons, a cloak of anonymity has descended on the unfortunate pair). On the captain's return, the co-pilot accidentally flicked a switch controlling the plane's rudder instead of one opening the cockpit door. The plane dived 1900 metres in 30 seconds, but thankfully, no one was seriously injured. |
| • The world of social media naturally provides fertile ground for gut-wrenching, cringe-making mistakes. Among the most famous is that made by US legislator (you may be able to detect a pattern here) Anthony Weiner. Weiner mistakenly tweeted, as the New York Times decorously put it, a "sexually suggestive photograph of a man from the waist down, in nothing but underwear". It was assumed to be Weiner himself, and was intended as a private communication with a woman from Seattle. The lesson from Weiner's experience, however, is that rehabilitation is possible. This week he's being touted as a possible successor to Michael Bloomberg as mayor of New York. | |
| • Probably the biggest potential button boo-boo has been with us for much longer than voting computers and Twitter. The possibility of unintended nuclear armageddon entered the public consciousness once the US and the Soviet Union decided to put their nuclear missiles on "hair-trigger" launch systems. As yet, no one's accidentally pressed any of those buttons (you'd know about it). But fears of accidental war have surfaced again recently because of tensions between North Korea and its immediate neighbours. And if you think it's all a bit far fetched, remember that a Soviet satellite malfunction in 1983 nearly turned the Cold War hot. | • Probably the biggest potential button boo-boo has been with us for much longer than voting computers and Twitter. The possibility of unintended nuclear armageddon entered the public consciousness once the US and the Soviet Union decided to put their nuclear missiles on "hair-trigger" launch systems. As yet, no one's accidentally pressed any of those buttons (you'd know about it). But fears of accidental war have surfaced again recently because of tensions between North Korea and its immediate neighbours. And if you think it's all a bit far fetched, remember that a Soviet satellite malfunction in 1983 nearly turned the Cold War hot. |
| There but for the grace of God, eh? Happy tweeting/voting/launching! | There but for the grace of God, eh? Happy tweeting/voting/launching! |
| (Oh, and tell us what buttons you've accidentally pressed in the thread below.) | (Oh, and tell us what buttons you've accidentally pressed in the thread below.) |