Because the use of a Big Red Switch would bring down a computer in an uncontrolled fashion, getting the machine up and running again could be a nontrivial and time-consuming task. On some mainframe designs, the emergency power-off switch would immediately physically disable the machine's power supply. The term has also sometimes been used for the power switch on IBM PCs.

In hacker jargon, the shutdown button or power switch on a computer, especially the red 'emergency pull' switch on IBM mainframe operator consoles.

Firing or detonating a weapon, typically a nuclear device.

Help call in emergencies or for disabled persons.

A shut-down switch for catastrophic circumstances to avert further damage or to cause it, e.g., an 'emergency power-off' button.

The broad spectrum of political perspectives informs our understanding not only of the past but also of the present. These visual editorials reflect multiple viewpoints conveyed by a wide variety of artistic approaches, including the classic cross hatching techniques of Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast, the sweeping brush work of Ding Darling, the rich crayon line work of Rube Goldberg and Bill Mauldin, and the painterly styles of contemporary cartoonists Paul Conrad and Patrick Oliphant. From the nineteenth century's Gilded Age to recent times, political illustrations have appeared in magazines, editorial pages, opinion pages, and even on the front pages of American newspapers. He used the word “illustration” to describe the enormous talent and craft that went into a work of art produced to capture a moment in time. Cartoonist himself, collected more than 16,000 political cartoons by hundreds of the leading creators of the 'ungentlemanly art,' a phrase that is commonly used to describe this type of graphic satire.

Do not press the red button cartoon