How the hell could the Americans make this mistake?!

[brizzledrizzle]

They announced an incoming missile alert for Hawaii which is in range for North Korean missiles. The mistake wasn't corrected for nearly 20 minutes according to the BBC.

Apology accepted. Could you please now apologise for Twinkies, McDonalds and Budweiser

I just don't think the joking tone of these comments are in anyway appropriate on a thread about how everyone in the state of Hawaii thought they were going to die.
But this is from the poster who seems to be trying to claim the moral high ground because the op used the phrase 'Americans'

@Icantreachthepretzels Well said.

They are lucky there were no panic suicides

Very much so.
I do wonder if there will be a few extra babies in 9 months time.

I bet no one in Hawaii needed their cardio class this morning.

But on a positive note the residents got an excellent unannounced practice drill

Are you fucking kidding me?? Can you imagine how terrified people must have been??
Utterly gobsmacked, you utter arsehole.

Icantreachthepretzels How is the air up there on the moral high ground?

I wouldn't know Doris I'm not the one trying to claim it.

Icantreachthepretzels Really?

Yeah, I could have said Trump instead 🙄

Doris Yes - really. But out of interest, do you have any actual thoughts about the actual topic under discussion - or do you just want to continue sniping at me because I called you out?

Sorry for the derailment everyone else.

"How the hell could someone make this mistake?" is one thread. "Let's bash the stupid Americans" is another.

It's disingenuous to pretend not to understand that 'the Americans' in the context of the op means the American Administration.

I don't think anyone's saying Americans are stupid. However, the way the US Trump Administration is behaving at the moment is unpredictable and dangerous, which may lead some to think that there is more to this incident than meets the eye.

Oh, and for all our many mistakes and faults, I don't think we have ever elected any Prime Minister who hasn't known how to conduct themselves in a suitably decorous and dignified manner, unlike some.............

I don't think we have ever elected any Prime Minister who hasn't known how to conduct themselves in a suitably decorous and dignified manner,

Please. I'm not sure Theresa May's toadying to Trump is in any way decorous or dignified.

It will also be interesting to hear if there is an excess of heart attacks. I remember, some years back now, reading research reporting higher levels of heart attacks during cup final coverage. I would worry, therefore, that telling a whole population that they're about to be nuked could cause excess deaths, which would not be immediately apparent in the way that suicide would be.

Quite apart from whether there will turn out to be any excess accidents, due to people being distracted by thinking they were about to die. You know, crashing their car, drilling through a power cable, suddenly not able to intubate the non-breathing patient in front of you...

I'm not sure Theresa May's toadying to Trump is in any way decorous or dignified.

Whatever you think of May, she is the very epitome of decorum and dignity in comparison to Trump. Not difficult to achieve, let's face it.

I don't think we have ever elected any Prime Minister who hasn't known how to conduct themselves in a suitably decorous and dignified manner

We just ensure our imbeciles are the Foreign Secretary or the Heir to the Throne

Doris petal, what’s going on?

A derailment.

Quite an effective one.

Not sure why. But easy enough to ignore if people actually want to talk about WTAF just happened?

My heart goes out to the folks in Hawaii. Good grief!

Timeline by the Governor of Hawaii here:

www.staradvertiser.com/2018/01/13/breaking-news/emergency-officials-mistakenly-send-out-missile-threat-alert/

Although the state emailed that the alert was a mistake at about 8:25 a.m., they did not issue a cell phone alert correction — the way many residents first learned of the bogus alert — until about 38 minutes after the initial mistake.

MarmaladeIsMyJam

Apologies if I offended you, but I stand by my point. People don’t prepare for situations such as these until something like this happens.

Yes I am sure it was terrifying, and many people probably thaught that there time had come. But a nuclear strike is survivable for the majority.

(That Honolulu Star Advertiser link above has quite a lot details and reaction.)

I'm sick of this war of words between the US and NK. Any other countries it would have been resolved by now with UN peacemakers or whatever. There doesn't seem to be any sort of diplomatic activity at all. Scaremongering bastards, we shouldn't have to have all this worry.

“It was a procedure that occurs at the change of shift which they go through to make sure that the system is working, and an employee pushed the wrong button.”

I guess it’s a pretty simple system with no safeguards,

I wonder if it was a hack. I'm guessing that all the different elements of identifying and responding to a nuclear attack, or generating a strike, are on separate systems. I also assumed, perhaps erroneously, those elements would be multi-stage, requiring cross-checking by human actors and systems - so not as simple as 'just pressing a button'.

So, perhaps it was a drill that went a little awry, or a hack. either way, it's potentially a security leak of some kind.

Doris is, I think, either derailing, dim, or drunk - and possibly best ignored.

I bet a few families are going over there backup plans

Hawaii is a popular holiday destination and this is the summer holiday period for many people who live "Down Under". I know a few people who are there right now.

Judging by my Facebook feed, what became quickly apparent is that most hotels have zero contingency plan for this sort of thing. For tens of thousands of tourists, there was no "going to your basement" or getting out of town. You just sat there for 40 minutes until the cancellation alert came through and wondered if you were going to die half a day's flight away from your home and loved ones.

People don’t prepare for situations such as these until something like this happens

How is a missile strike survivable for most people?

I’m assuming you mean bunkers of some sort? Stockpiling food? What about people on low income? What if they are in hospital? Work? College? Shopping? With no time to get home? Collect children/spouses/family.

Can you not grasp how terrifying that must have been to see that message on your phone?