How Did This Happen?

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My DH became an electrical engineer in 1987. He worked in R&D for 15 years, went back to university and did an M.Sc. in Materials, a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (specialization being nanomaterials). He taught a mandatory 2nd year course on materials during that time. One of the quiz questions was related to the tensile strength of rivets and what would happen if this requirement was miscalculated (the question related to airplane structure--I can't remember the question, but I do remember one student's answer, and I quote, was "Planes would fall from the sky and people would die." My DH's observation from the time he went to school and 2005-2009 was that there was a definite "dumbing down" of courses (which he observed during the 5 terms he taught the course, test questions had to be rewritten and materials revised so more student passed) and that students did not have to take mechanical drafting, technical writing, or other courses he had to take. He doesn't need a computer-generated CAD drawing--he can draw his own. The point being, the tool doesn't necessarily demonstrate the person understand the methodology behind generating the drawing. He had students who had to repeat the course 5 times and still had not passed it by the time he completed his Ph.D.
 
There is a band shell on a military post in Va built overlooking the parade field. The problem is the shell is built backwards and faces away from the field. It was built in the 1970's and is still there today. Everyone concerned had to know that it was wrong, but apparently that's the way the plans were drawn, and no one saw fit to correct.
 
There is a band shell on a military post in Va built overlooking the parade field. The problem is the shell is built backwards and faces away from the field. It was built in the 1970's and is still there today. Everyone concerned had to know that it was wrong, but apparently that's the way the plans were drawn, and no one saw fit to correct.

That brings to mind a quote:

"We have a breakdown in communication"

I saw a joke once that showed a construction crew digging this really deep hole with scaffolds around it. One of the people at the top of the hole was screaming into the hole "Stop Digging!, We had the plans upside down!" It was supposed to be a very tall building.
 
Speaking of stupid engineering and construction mistakes, here's one that's a little on the lighter side...

271-construction-lead-14.jpg
 
steve, your urinal pic, (snl style) together with the spontaneous outpouring of my mind's visuals, has me smiling....a procession of scenarios taking place in that corner.... :)
 
There have been costly technological blunders....such as when they put the Hubble Telescope into orbit they found out that the images were distorted, to put it simply. They apparently used metric and American standard formulas and the numbers got crossed somewhere resulting in the main mirror not being ground to spec.
I imagined they would have at least tested the optics before loading it onto the Shuttle.
 
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