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disasters caused by bad handwriting
FROM TIME magazine:
Doctors' sloppy handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually. It's a shocking statistic, and, according to a July 2006 report from the National Academies of Science's Institute of Medicine (IOM), preventable medication mistakes also injure more than 1.5 million Americans annually. Many such errors result from unclear abbreviations and dosage indications and illegible writing on some of the 3.2 billion prescriptions written in the U.S. every year.
Why Your Doctor Can't Write: The Problem and a Solution
By Donna Connell
I have noticed that students try to write the number “4” without picking up the pen or pencil. The result when written quickly resembles a badly formed 9 with an open top. Similar difficulties happen with the nubmer “8” which has a compressed top circle, making the result look like a misshaped “6”. The number “2” can look like Z, the number 9 can turn into a Q or other shape and the number “5” sometimes lookes like a capital S. When I point this out to students, some of them say, “I know what I wrote.” The purpose is only for them to communicate to themselves, not to the world or to the teacher who is checking their addition or calculation.
Here’s what some of my students have told me. “ It doesn’t matter.”
So, handwriting doesn’t matter? Perhaps we need to do a google search of “disasters caused by bad handwriting” or “mistakes that happened because the handwriting was illegible.”
I FOUND A HANDWRITING PROBLEM in this article about software problems:
Software errors cost the U.S. economy $60 billion annually in rework, lost productivity and actual damages. We all know software bugs can be annoying, but faulty software can also be expensive, embarrassing, destructive and deadly. Following are 20 famous software “disasters” in chronological order:
1. Mariner Bugs Out (1962)
Cost: $18.5 million
Disaster: The Mariner 1 rocket with a space probe headed for Venus diverted from its intended flight path shortly after launch. Mission Control destroyed the rocket 293 seconds after liftoff.
Cause: A programmer incorrectly transcribed a handwritten formula into computer code, missing a single superscript bar. Without the smoothing function indicated by the bar, the software treated normal variations of velocity as if they were serious, causing faulty corrections that sent the rocket off course. (more) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_1
2. Hartford Coliseum Collapse (1978)
Cost: $70 million, plus another $20 million damage to the local economy
Disaster: Just hours after thousands of fans had left the Hartford Coliseum, the steel-latticed roof collapsed under the weight of wet snow.
Cause: The programmer of the CAD software used to design the coliseum incorrectly assumed the steel roof supports would only face pure compression. But when one of the supports unexpectedly buckled from the snow, it set off a chain reaction that brought down the other roof sections like dominoes. (more)
3. CIA Gives the Soviets Gas (1982)
Cost: Millions of dollars, significant damage to Soviet economy
Disaster: Control software went haywire and produced intense pressure in the Trans-Siberian gas pipeline, resulting in the largest man-made non-nuclear explosion in Earth’s history.
Cause: CIA operatives allegedly planted a bug in a Canadian computer system purchased by the Soviets to control their gas pipelines. The purchase was part of a strategic Soviet plan to steal or covertly obtain sensitive U.S. technology. When the CIA discovered the purchase, they sabotaged the software so that it would pass Soviet inspection but fail in operation. (more)
4. World War III… Almost (1983)
Cost: Nearly all of humanity
Disaster: The Soviet early warning system falsely indicated the United States had launched five ballistic missiles. Fortunately the Soviet duty officer had a “funny feeling in my gut” and reasoned if the U.S. was really attacking they would launch more than five missiles, so he reported the apparent attack as a false alarm.
Cause: A bug in the Soviet software failed to filter out false missile detections caused by sunlight reflecting off cloud-tops. (more)
5. Medical Machine Kills (1985)
Cost: Three people dead, three people critically injured
Disaster: Canada’s Therac-25 radiation therapy machine malfunctioned and delivered lethal radiation doses to patients.
Cause: Because of a subtle bug called a race condition, a technician could accidentally configure Therac-25 so the electron beam would fire in high-power mode without the proper patient shielding
YES, many of these errors were software problems, but the first one involved HANDWRITING.
RESULT: Clearly the young people reading this page will say, “See, handwriting matters only for doctors and software engineers. It doesn’t apply to me. I’m going to be a _____.” If the student says, “pilot” or “lawyer,” then it’s time to look up “disasters caused by a lawyer’s bad handwriting.”
Reasons to Beef Up Your Handwriting
Although most attorneys can offload their notes, official pleadings, and even client communication to digital alternatives, there are some places where handwriting is still king:
- Law school notes. Yes, there are still some nutty Luddite professors who will bar all devices with a power button from the classroom. If you have one of these provincial professors, it's time to get some legible handwriting.
- Your signature. E-signatures are a thing, but you'll definitely be called upon to sign in blue ink on at least a jillion documents in your career. And remember, your signature can say a lot about you.<
- Court forms/orders. Courts with fairly frenetic calendars will often ask attorneys to fill out forms or court orders on-the-fly, which may call for you to write in your client's name, contact information, or even your own information. You don't want a TRO to be unenforceable because you failed to legibly handwrite your client (or the defendant's) name.
And if you're preparing to take the bar exam, add a few handwritten essays to your studying repertoire. Computers have a terrible sense of dramatic irony, and you should be prepared to handwrite for at least one section.
Good handwriting isn't a relic for the legal profession; it can still prove invaluable to many attorneys in a pinch.
- See more at: http://blogs.findlaw.com/greedy_associates/2014/01/do-attorneys-need-good-handwriting.html#sthash.txWKKk9P.dpuf
Nevertheless there are some interesting things that we can point out.
The Meaning of Ugly Handwriting
Ugly handwriting can indicate a certain amount of emotional baggage.
Many ugly writers tend to be emotionally volatile – even bad tempered as we can see in the sample above. Ugly handwriting can also indicate a lack of stability and a number of other things too.
Sometimes, ugly handwriting can be an indication of low self-esteem or insecurity; but it can also show autonomy and a desire to be judged on your own merits rather than conform to the standard way of doing things.
The Consolations of Ugly Handwriting
For those of us who are members of the club of ugly handwriters, there are a few consolations.
Ugly handwriting is always individualistic because this type of writer is an independent thinker. You will notice that this writer does not always fit in with the expectations of society.
Ugly handwriting often goes with creativity and sometimes it can be a sign of eccentricity too.
Paganini the great violinist belonged to this category and he was certainly eccentric and undoubtedly creative.
So, if you class yourself as an ugly writer don’t despair! Some of the ugliest writers have been highly creative or exceptional people in one way or another. Beethoven and Napoleon had awful handwriting and Freud’s handwriting was quite ghastly!
Geniuses with Ugly Handwriting (Free Ebook)
I have written a short ebook to show you that many geniuses, creative artists and highly intelligent people had ugly handwriting too – so you are in very good company.
The handwriting samples in the book belong to some famous geniuses and I show you how to identify the unmistakable signs of intelligence and creativity.
The free ebook is info@graphology-world.com
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