NASA is pretending to be KSP now:

[Grover]

The best way to engineer is round pegs and square pegs ideaology. Make sure the round ones dont fit in square holes and the square ones dont fit in the round holes. Theres no other way to make something kerbal-proof

[DBT85]

Apollo 13 found out why that was stupid lol.

[NecroBones]

The best way to engineer is round pegs and square pegs ideaology. Make sure the round ones dont fit in square holes and the square ones dont fit in the round holes. Theres no other way to make something kerbal-proof

This is a particularly good technique for designing CO2 scrubbers, to ensure that your astronauts will have to use socks and duct tape to kerbal something together.

[Grover]

Hey i didnt mean literally! What are you guys? A bunch of kerbals with no concept of humour? Oh... The humorous comeback...

Strange i didnt think of Apollo 13 when i typed my last, thats my favourite engineering story to explain why simple is always best. And by simple, i mean making sure the monkey with the pegs shouldnt even want to put the square one in the round hole (half my job is in management), in fact, why not have just round pegs and holes? Which nugget invented those square ones? I bet it was that Bob Kerman... Or maybe Bill...

[[email protected]]

Claymores have "Front Towards Enemy" written on them.

I saw this kind of stuff all the time in the Air Force. We had checklists for everything. A lot of it boils down to task saturation. If I'm running logistics for 7 operations at the same time I simply notate which step I am on with each op. With painstaking care, so I don't do anything stupid, or risk compromising a PL1 asset. Everyone in that capacity has some kind of checklist, and all sorts of wierd common sense warnings are plastered all over the place. Its not because people are stupid, its because someone who is running 7 ops at the same time and has been awake for 26 hours is prone to make mistakes, no matter how professional and experienced they are.

[numerobis]

(Hehe, there was a thread a while ago where first person said "you don't know what NASA does" (or words to that effect), second person said "Nor do you" and the first person posted a picture of their NASA id-card. It's even possible - although unlikely - that I know what I'm talking about sometimes ^^).

I worked at NASA, and I had no idea what NASA did. It's a big organization. Some people are astronauts. Others write contracts. Yet others put rockets together, and an unrelated group designs planes. I was in R&D.

[djnattyd]

That failure... I kept waiting for someone to hit the abort button.

[gbleck]

Not really humor. It's aviation and aerospace check list safety being applied to surgical procedure. Started gaining momentum around 5 years ago.

[Dr-Drunk]

Just thought I'd drop this here. Mind you this was actually made by NASA. Sure interns but still....

[Thiagobs]

When you're tired and overworked, it's surprising how easy it is to attach two things together in a way they're not supposed to be attached...

on the other hand, it's surprising how hard it is to attach two things that ARE supposed to go together, like our old friend USB plug can attest... we all know that USB plugs have 3 sides

[kanelives]

There have been so many mistakes in the Russian space program lately that I suspect sabotage.

As for the "Black side down" humor, I've heard that Army surgeons will routinely write "not this knee" or something similar on a patient's knee so they don't operate on the wrong knee (or other body part). Try that with a civilian doctor and they will probably be insulted.

When my brother has his ACL repaired, before he went into surgery they gave him a marker and said, mark which knee we're supposed to be operating on. That was an extra check of course, it'd already been verified many times.

and yeah the russians really need to work on their self destruct game. I would have blown that up long before it started going sideways.

Edited January 6, 2015 by kanelives

[StrandedonEarth]

My little surgery anecdote was second-or-third-hand info, probably something I read somewhere. The Army approach was a smart idea in a hectic environment, while the civilians probably had a little problem with professional pride. I'm glad to hear that they've seen the light, probably being shone on them by malpractice lawyers.

For a more personal story, my brother had a long fight with Worker's Compensation because their doctor said his right leg was fine. *facepalm* His LEFT leg had the problem.

[Grover]

I worked at NASA, and I had no idea what NASA did. It's a big organization. Some people are astronauts. Others write contracts. Yet others put rockets together, and an unrelated group designs planes. I was in R&D.

Is your real name Werner? Does this mean kerbals play KSP? Mind blown...

[NecroBones]

Oh yes, as far as I'm concerned, the only way to make something idiot-proof is to design it to be physically impossible to go together any way but the right way. If it can be done wrong, someone will.

When you're tired and overworked, it's surprising how easy it is to attach two things together in a way they're not supposed to be attached...

on the other hand, it's surprising how hard it is to attach two things that ARE supposed to go together, like our old friend USB plug can attest... we all know that USB plugs have 3 sides

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--oVTS07RH--/18ixbwhjud1zxjpg.jpg

And this is one of my long-time favorites as well, describing the other side of the problem. While the standard USB connector can't go in the wrong way, it's also badly designed because it's not obvious at a glance which way it is supposed to go, and often doesn't seem to fit when you get it right. A lot of that could have been avoided if they had made the connector trapezoidal instead of rectangular, like the smaller USB variants, or completely orientation-agnostic like Apple's lightning connector (which I think the newer USB standards are working toward, IIRC).

[ArmchairGravy]

Well there are many things to get right pre launch that people may overlook. Best try to nip it in the bud early. This Russian Proton had it's yaw control guidance package put in upside down, despite the big red arrows showing the correct orientation. I read it alleged somewhere that the technician used a hammer to "make it fit".

I've had this launch. "Why is my navball brown, not blue? Why am I spinning so much? Great, now my ship just came apart. Hello, ground."

[RW-1]

There have been so many mistakes in the Russian space program lately that I suspect sabotage.

As for the "Black side down" humor, I've heard that Army surgeons will routinely write "not this knee" or something similar on a patient's knee so they don't operate on the wrong knee (or other body part). Try that with a civilian doctor and they will probably be insulted.

Actually, they did that on my mother's surgery, and not more than 5 people besides the doctor came in to ask what knee they were working on before taking her out.

I myself, left a post it note on my butt for my 1st colonoscopy - "This hole" as, for apparent reasons, I did not wish to wake up in recovery with one hell of an earache... doc loved it. I suggest the same for anyone else undergoing the procedure.

[InterCity]

As a patient of reconstructive ankle surgery, I can attest that hospitals actually do this.

As a soon-to-be doctor, I can confirm I do that myself and that I'm not alone. When one opeares a dozen of people a night, sometimes it's hard to realize what's right and what's left. We are people, too, and none of us wants to screw up.

[airelibre]

There have been so many mistakes in the Russian space program lately that I suspect sabotage.

As for the "Black side down" humor, I've heard that Army surgeons will routinely write "not this knee" or something similar on a patient's knee so they don't operate on the wrong knee (or other body part). Try that with a civilian doctor and they will probably be insulted.

I'm pretty sure it's standard anywhere for an X to be marked on the side to be operated.

- - - Updated - - -

Well there are many things to get right pre launch that people may overlook. Best try to nip it in the bud early. This Russian Proton had it's yaw control guidance package put in upside down, despite the big red arrows showing the correct orientation. I read it alleged somewhere that the technician used a hammer to "make it fit".

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/07/parts-installed-upside-down-caused-last-weeks-russian-rocket-to-explode/

Rocket scientist eh, not all they're cracked up to be.

[klesh]

As a soon-to-be doctor, I can confirm I do that myself and that I'm not alone. When one opeares a dozen of people a night, sometimes it's hard to realize what's right and what's left. We are people, too, and none of us wants to screw up.

As a potential patient, if you told me you played KSP I would need to see your ship designs and savegame before I let you touch me.

[StrandedonEarth]

I'm pretty sure it's standard anywhere for an X to be marked on the side to be operated.

I think that's a somewhat new S.O.P. that hospitals started to enforce to cut down on malpractice suits.

The video says Bob Rivers but I thought Weird Al did it first. I remember hearing it some 15 or more years ago

[bdito]

Remember when NASA lost one of their Mars orbiters because the builder made the software using imperial units while NASA's guidance computers were using metric. lol

[Kowgan]

Oh yes, as far as I'm concerned, the only way to make something idiot-proof is to design it to be physically impossible to go together any way but the right way. If it can be done wrong, someone will.

And this is one of my long-time favorites as well, describing the other side of the problem. While the standard USB connector can't go in the wrong way, it's also badly designed because it's not obvious at a glance which way it is supposed to go, and often doesn't seem to fit when you get it right. A lot of that could have been avoided if they had made the connector trapezoidal instead of rectangular, like the smaller USB variants, or completely orientation-agnostic like Apple's lightning connector (which I think the newer USB standards are working toward, IIRC).

On the USB note, I stopped having problems with that pretty quick. I always have a quick glance at the front side of the plug, check the little (usually-white) rectangular piece, and make sure it's on the opposite side of the other rectangular piece on the USB Port. They just want to handshake each other.

Yeah, that's ridiculously obvious, but it seems many people don't do that. But it's faster and less stressing than flipping it twice or more.

[Steambirds]

I mark the right side of all of my USB devices with a little drop of white out or tape. I dunno why you guys have not tried something similar to this.

[NecroBones]

On the USB note, I stopped having problems with that pretty quick. I always have a quick glance at the front side of the plug, check the little (usually-white) rectangular piece, and make sure it's on the opposite side of the other rectangular piece on the USB Port. They just want to handshake each other.

Yeah, that's ridiculously obvious, but it seems many people don't do that. But it's faster and less stressing than flipping it twice or more.

Yeah, I do the same thing, but I despise being forced to do so.

[samstarman5]

-video of cool explosion-

This is a good example of what could happen to you if you forget to switch your pilot control to stability assist after using retrograde to land, only a lot slower.