Mistake proofing, or making things “idiot proof” as some engineers crudely call it, is a process in which a factor is designed in so as to prevent mistakes from occurring. Here are some examples from daily life that you may have encountered from time to time.Filing cabinets can fall on you due to the altered center of gravity if you opened all the drawers at once. So they are designed in a way that makes it possible to open only one drawer at a time. This occasionally gets frustrating, but is actually a safety feature.
The old 3.5 inch floppy discs had a beveled corner which had to be on the right as you stuck the disc into the slot of your computer. This kept people from putting discs in upside down.
The safety bar on my push lawn mower is there so that I can’t stick my hand into the blades while the motor is running. The motor cuts off when I let go of the handle.
Circuit breakers keep you from putting too many electric devices into an outlet that would draw so much current it melts the wires and causes a fire. This is a wonderful safety feature which we take for granted.
The little hole near the top front of a sink is a mistake proofing device that keeps you from flooding the house by accidentally leaving the water running with the trap closed.
OK, now that we know what it is to make something mistake proof, what can we do to mistake proof the rest of our lives? How can we have mistake proof relationships? Is there some way to mistake proof our marriages? Ever notice how some men and women always get involved with the wrong kinds of people? How do they do that? Is there a safety feature that can be injected into social relationships that keeps such bad pairings from occurring? Can we mistake proof our social encounters so as to avoid wrecking a good time we've had together?Wouldn't it be great if we could mistake proof our tongues so we never said things that hurt people or caused misunderstandings?
How can we mistake proof our hiring processes in business, so as to always get the right person for the job?
And what were hanging chads all about in Florida? Was there not enough thought given to making those election ballot machines mistake proof? If voters screwed up somehow, the blame must be laid at the feet of those who created the voting machines.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could mistake proof our elections so we don’t ever elect the wrong people?
I’ve read that there are quite a few instances in which the wrong person has been put in prison for a crime he or she did not commit. And sometimes, as it would appear happened in the O.J. case, the guilty party gets away with murder. How can we mistake proof our justice system?
Inquiring minds want to know.
4 comments:
>>>>>>>>And what were hanging chads all about in Florida? Was there not enough thought given to making those election ballot machines mistake proof? If voters screwed up somehow, the blame must be laid at the feet of those who created the voting machines.
A "hanging chad" is a hole almost completely punched out, but still connected by a little bit. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hanging+chad
A paper punch that's a bit dull will do the same, sometimes, unless you punch it twice, from two different angles. If you try to tear the "chad" off, it might tear wrong, and leave a gaping hole. It's better to punch it twice from two different angles, but of course that's impossible with a ballot in a voting machine.
It's easy enough to tell that someone tried to punch a hole there, if someone wants to tell. The Supreme Court didn't, and stopped the hand recount.
It has nothing at all to do with the designers of the voting machines, or mistakes made by the voters. (Except for those voters who actually did vote for Bush, that is,)
Yes, I knew what the chads were, but your explanation certainly eliminates all doubts, in the event we had them.
Sometime between now and the election I plan to express my concerns about e-Voting. We'll see what happens... Hope you had a nice birthday.
>>>>>>>>Yes, I knew what the chads were, but your explanation certainly eliminates all doubts, in the event we had them.
I'm sorry you missed my point. I was replying to your post that laid the blame at the feet of the voters, and I was attempting to point out that hanging chads were not caused because voters "screwed up".
A US voter has to wait in line to vote, on a work-day besides, and is only given one ballot. If the voter pulls the lever, and the machine only partially punches a hole through the ballot, that is not a mistake of the voter. The voter isn't allowed to take the ballot out of the machine, look at it to see if the hole is all the way punched through, then if it's not, stick it back into the machine, and pull the lever again. He pretty much has to depend on the vote-counters having some integrity.
Hanging chads were probably not the fault of the machine manufacturer either, since these were old machines.
The fault belongs to those who decided not to hand-count the hanging chads, and thus make up for the deficiencies of the old machines. Hanging chads are just as reliable an indication of the voter's intention as are fully punched holes.
Yes, I failed to infer what you were intending... Lo siento.
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