This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

There are lessons to be learned in our failures.

Touching a hot stove once will teach you to never touch a hot stove again.

But when it comes to the failures of complex systems,

it's sometimes hard to know what went wrong and when.

This is where Tim Harford, also known as the undercover economist and his brand new show

Cautionary Tales, comes in. It's a podcast that brings you stories of awful human

error, tragic catastrophes, daring heists, and hilarious fios. His stories will delight you and if

you're smart they will scare the bejesus out of you, but they'll also make you wiser.

The episode we're hearing today is about a fiasco that is often

blamed on bad typography, hence my specific interest in it, but the full explanation

turns out to be much weirder and more surprising. Here is Tim Harford with cautionary tales.

You've heard this story before. You might even have watched it happening live. 33 million people did.

There they stand, together on stage, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty.

Bonnie and Clyde together again after 50 years.

Even for a pair of veteran Hollywood stars, it must have been a nerve-wracking moment,

yet their task seemed simple.

Open a red envelope, take out a card, and read out the title of the film that had won the Academy

Award for Best Picture.

Beatty opens the envelope.

So far so good.

Then he looks at the cart in his hand.

...