# Ill-conceived instructions and misinformation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 7, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007 "2010-01-07T06:11:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/21 "2010-01-09T03:05:50Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Interesting guess. > > When I was in high school, we got the following announcement. > > “May I have your attention. This is principal Faulks. Paging George Boomer. If George Boomer is anywhere in the building, please come to the principal’s office at precisely one o’clock.” > > We were hearded out of the school a few minutes later. Heh. Same thing happened at my high school, except that it was just calling the [Person’s Name] to the office immediately. Problem was, we actually did have a student by that name at the time. ---
**Author:** ![not\_austin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c68b51/32.png) [@not\_austin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_austin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/22 "2010-01-09T05:48:43Z")
> [@sweetie pea](#): > > I think the same thing happened to us once in church, except the code was, “There’s been a bomb threat. Try to get the children out first.” On a training course a few years back we were given cards by the trainers with random tasks at various points through the days. I was giving a demonstration of how to fold a paper airplane when I was handed a card that read “There has been a bomb threat and you need to get everyone out of the building as quickly and quietly as possible without causing panic.” I merely looked at the class and said “It’s lunchtime… who’s for the pub?”. Room cleared in about 5 seconds. I was then handed another card. “Now get them back” ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/23 "2010-01-09T06:15:09Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Directly behind means immediately behind, not somewhere on the same track. Typically it means 2 minutes behind which is I believe the minimum distance trains are allowed to be in the NYC subway. I’ve heard this announcement several times and the one time when I actually waited for the second train, it arrived \*immediately \*after the first one left. By which I mean as soon as the cars left the platform, the lights from the next train were already visible coming towards us down the tracks. It took one minute or less to arrive. ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/24 "2010-01-09T12:33:39Z")
> [@luv2draw](#): > > Because this particular form might be a code for something else and the employees are trained for it. Like an emergency. They need the police, or a manager or someone is ill, or a code Adam, etc. My mother used to work as an RN. At her hospital, if they heard “Dr. General to (wherever)” overhead, they knew there was a code blue (wherever). Prevented a lot of unnecessary head turning, but the average person did not know to get the hell out of the way of the people with the cart scurrying down the hall… ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/25 "2010-01-09T17:29:37Z")
> [@maisoui](#): > > My mother used to work as an RN. At her hospital, if they heard “Dr. General to (wherever)” overhead, they knew there was a code blue (wherever). Prevented a lot of unnecessary head turning, but the average person did not know to get the hell out of the way of the people with the cart scurrying down the hall… University of Alberta Hospital used to page “Dr. Red” in the case of a fire. However, it was rather obvious that it wasn’t the same as a normal page, being louder and preceded by a loud tone. Now they just have “Code \” for all their emergency pages (I’ve only ever heard Code Blue and Code Red pages, but there are signs various places giving the meanings of various other colours). ---
**Author:** ![enigmatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@enigmatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigmatic)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/26 "2010-01-09T17:49:50Z")
Might not fit exactly with the op as the instructions were fine for their original intended purpose. During a severe drought in 1971 a shipment of seed grain treated with methyl mercury was sent from American stocks to Iraq as part of the aid shipment. The Iraqi farmers were unable to read the warnings or recognise the western warning symbols, and apparently the pink dye that was used on the grain produced pink bread that was particularly appealing to children. The farmers were told not to eat the seeds, but not really given any additional information, and many of the farmers who did heed the warnings assumed that washing the dye out would make the grain safe. Resulted in 40,000 cases of poisoning, several hundred deaths and probably thousands of cases of permanent neurological disorders. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/27 "2010-01-09T18:39:23Z")
> [@](#): > > During a severe drought in 1971 a shipment of seed grain treated with methyl mercury was sent from American stocks to Iraq as part of the aid shipment. 😕 By accident? For some fathomable purpose that I’m too dense to catch on to? As a rather uncharitable solution to poverty and starvation in Iraq (“I know, let’s poison them all with mercury, starving Iraqis die, end of problem”)? As a solution to drought (“OK, shoot charges of this seed grain up into the clouds; the mercury will attract lightning and the seeds will encourage water condensation and the next thing you know, thunderstorm!”)? ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/28 "2010-01-09T18:51:46Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > If they need a particular code that doesn’t get the public’s attention, why are they starting with “YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE…” and getting everyone’s attention? Just announce, “Mr. Brown, your wife is on line 2” or something that’s innocuous but does not ask everyone in the station to think about the “coded” announcement. Its an announcement to let any Masons in the building know to put on their invisible gas masks because the aliens are about to release another batch of obedience spray. ---
**Author:** ![enigmatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@enigmatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigmatic)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/29 "2010-01-09T19:55:59Z")
> [@](#): > > By accident? For some fathomable purpose that I’m too dense to catch on to? As a rather uncharitable solution to poverty and starvation in Iraq (“I know, let’s poison them all with mercury, starving Iraqis die, end of problem”)? As a solution to drought (“OK, shoot charges of this seed grain up into the clouds; the mercury will attract lightning and the seeds will encourage water condensation and the next thing you know, thunderstorm!”)? It was intended as seed grain, the mercury was an antifungal agent that was commonly added to some seeds at that time. Apparently the grain was produced in Mexico and had been building up on the market when the additive was banned in several US states, so when the drought occurred in Iraq a lot was available to send. [Wikipedia Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basra_poison_grain_disaster) If you search on google you can find tons more information but a lot of it disagrees about the death toll and exactly what happened ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/30 "2010-01-10T09:15:50Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > You can never tell which conductor is trying to be helpful and which conductor is a liar In which case you ask how the _other_ conductor would answer the question … ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007/31 "2010-01-10T18:21:45Z")
I just tried to cook up some Ling-Ling brand pot stickers from Costco last night. The instructions say to put them in a skillet, but neglects to say what size. This wouldn’t be an issue, but they specify 2/3 of a cup of water is to be used, instead of saying to fill up to a certain point. Next they say to cook for 8 minutes, but don’t say how high to turn up the burner. It’s not to hard to cook pre-made pot-stickers, and we’re not idiots. Still, I thought it the instructions were essentially useless as written. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-conceived-instructions-and-misinformation/524007.md?page=1)