Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Math Is Harrrrrrrd

Someone wasn't thinking:

The capsizing of the Golden Ray cargo ship off the Georgia coast two years ago, which resulted in more than $200 million in damage, was caused by incorrect calculations about the vessel's stability, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.

It didn't help that a couple watertight doors had been left open, which made the problem go from bad to worse much faster than it had to.

1 comment:

Auntie Ann said...

Have you heard the one about the Los Angeles bomb squad blowing up a neighborhood? They incorrectly estimated the weight of some explosives by more than a factor of two. They thought they had less than 17 pounds, it was actually 42. The priming charge alone was a pound or two, and the contained vessel they blew it all up in could only take 25. The lid landed a block or two away. They brilliantly set off a pressure-cooker bomb on a city street.

The LAPD now promises to actually weigh explosives before blowing them up.