Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
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Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
After Saturday's disaster in Hawaii, it's being reported this morning that Japan just called a similarly false alarm.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/01 ... -missiles/
Call me what you will, but my first (and last) thought is that this backdrop of false alarms would make a very convenient cover for a preemptive nuclear strike against North Korea. ("Hey, we were just responding in kind to what we thought was an incoming missile.")
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/01 ... -missiles/
Call me what you will, but my first (and last) thought is that this backdrop of false alarms would make a very convenient cover for a preemptive nuclear strike against North Korea. ("Hey, we were just responding in kind to what we thought was an incoming missile.")
- Cortopassi
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Has there been any talk at all that maybe someone has hacked these systems?
If any country is nuts enough to launch a nuclear weapon in 2018, vs. just there for deterrence, well, that would be the biggest mistake in the history of mankind.
If any country is nuts enough to launch a nuclear weapon in 2018, vs. just there for deterrence, well, that would be the biggest mistake in the history of mankind.
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
At least in Hawaii, it seems to have been the result of somebody selecting "nuke alert: not a drill" from a drop-down menu instead of "nuke alert: a drill".
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Wouldn't that be something if bad user interface design ended up causing the downfall of civilization...
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Not publicly, but it's a very popular conspiracy theory.Cortopassi wrote:Has there been any talk at all that maybe someone has hacked these systems?
One mistake is understandable (although taking 38 minutes to retract it still raises all kinds of questions).
Two mistakes by completely different systems within just a few days is... pretty insane.
Personally, I suspect there's a lot more to the situation than officials are letting on.
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
I found this article to be extremely informative about the situation in Hawaii:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... ts/550520/
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These aren’t like text messages, where a sender can dash off a quick sorry my bad if they mistype. IPAWS notices have a specific format, which must be composed formally and in advance. Audio files for broadcast notices must be recorded or generated and uploaded. Often, this has to be done by special software on special equipment.
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https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... ts/550520/
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These aren’t like text messages, where a sender can dash off a quick sorry my bad if they mistype. IPAWS notices have a specific format, which must be composed formally and in advance. Audio files for broadcast notices must be recorded or generated and uploaded. Often, this has to be done by special software on special equipment.
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- Kriegsspiel
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
It would be fitting if the planet were reduced to radiated ash because some tired warrior-nerd clicked the wrong button on a computer screen.
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Don't they have confirmation dialogs for things like this? For something as important as a nuke alert, I'd think they not only have that but also a two-person confirmation system (e.g. generate a code which someone else has to confirm).
Ridiculous that poor GUI design can have such disastrous results, but then just look at EHRs in medicine. People have died because of those things (I know of two such deaths personally).
Ridiculous that poor GUI design can have such disastrous results, but then just look at EHRs in medicine. People have died because of those things (I know of two such deaths personally).
- Ad Orientem
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
They need to step up their game if they really want to scare the crap out of people. Text messages just don't do it for me. On the other hand, hearing this, even on YouTube, makes the hair on my neck stand up.
https://youtu.be/m3LGopSVju4
https://youtu.be/m3LGopSVju4
- dualstow
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
It's a serious issue, of course, but just to lighten the mood a little:
{ https://boingboing.net/2018/01/18/pornh ... e-sca.html }
{ https://boingboing.net/2018/01/18/pornh ... e-sca.html }
9pm EST Explosions in Iran (Isfahan) and Syria and Iraq. Not yet confirmed.
- Kriegsspiel
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
I wondered what the fuck was wrong with these people's lives in Hawaii that they were shooting sauce at 7 in the morning. Then I realized oh... that graph is in EDT, not Hawaii time.
- Kriegsspiel
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Nope, Hawaiian time.
Faith in humanity maintained near all time low.
Faith in humanity maintained near all time low.
- Kriegsspiel
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
I'll concede that maybe some people feel the need for squeeze before work now that sexually harassing people is frowned on.
- dualstow
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
And of course, Japan broadcaster NHK issued a false warning recently.
Maybe everyone's just a little too panicky, subsequently keeping their fingers too close to that button.
Maybe everyone's just a little too panicky, subsequently keeping their fingers too close to that button.
9pm EST Explosions in Iran (Isfahan) and Syria and Iraq. Not yet confirmed.
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Update from Hawaii: it now looks as though it wasn't a drop-down menu problem; the person sending the alert DID believe there was a real threat.
It seems the real problem is that the announcement that plays for the people who actually send the alert contains the words "this is not a drill", even when it's a drill, which is supposed to be known by the presence of the words "EXERCISE, EXERCISE".
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... alse-alert
It seems the real problem is that the announcement that plays for the people who actually send the alert contains the words "this is not a drill", even when it's a drill, which is supposed to be known by the presence of the words "EXERCISE, EXERCISE".
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... alse-alert
- Kriegsspiel
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Oh for goodness' sake, just eliminate the humans from the process entirely and turn over the nuclear decisions to a DoD-controlled supercomputer.
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
Is weed legal in Hawaii?Xan wrote:Update from Hawaii: it now looks as though it wasn't a drop-down menu problem; the person sending the alert DID believe there was a real threat.
It seems the real problem is that the announcement that plays for the people who actually send the alert contains the words "this is not a drill", even when it's a drill, which is supposed to be known by the presence of the words "EXERCISE, EXERCISE".
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... alse-alert
Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
An idea for another way for Korea to play out, after watching the Olympic opening ceremony -
South says to North, OK we want a piece of those nukes. We will fund them 50%, and they are under joint North South control. If USA doesn't like it, they don't get any smartphone screens. We grant you, the Kim ruling family, immunity from prosecution for all past crimes, but not if you pull any crap in the future.
South says to North, OK we want a piece of those nukes. We will fund them 50%, and they are under joint North South control. If USA doesn't like it, they don't get any smartphone screens. We grant you, the Kim ruling family, immunity from prosecution for all past crimes, but not if you pull any crap in the future.
- Kriegsspiel
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
So this might be fun; if you were to be obliterated in a nuclear tussle, where in your usual day would you like to be?
The bad news arrived, as all news seemingly does now, as a smartphone push notification. But this notification looked and sounded different than most. It was, in fact, an emergency alert from the state government. The form of the alert was not a radio wave or an electronic signal, as in decades past, but computer code. Attached to the alert was an audio file with a recording of a synthesized male voice, for the vision-impaired. “The U.S. Pacific Command has detected a missile threat to Hawaii,” the voice said. “A missile may impact on land or sea within minutes. This is not a drill. If you are indoors, stay indoors. If you are outdoors, seek immediate shelter.” The stilted tone of the robot voice was all the more eerie, tasked as it was with effectively announcing the impending death of whoever heard it.
...
Managers at Starbucks and McDonalds, in the style of British cavalry officers in Crimea, ordered workers to stay on duty, missiles be damned! One young woman responded with a definitive anti-endorsement of an Oahu confectionary chain, writing: “DON’T TELL ME THIS MISSILE THING IS REAL I AM NOT DYING AT COOKIE CORNER.”
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/blame-the-computer-pein
- dualstow
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Re: Now a SECOND False Nuke Alarm
bed.
9pm EST Explosions in Iran (Isfahan) and Syria and Iraq. Not yet confirmed.