Televangelists - Last Week Tonight
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1. St. Francis Dam, 1928
Self-taught engineer William Mulholland built this LA dam on a defective foundation and ignored the geology of the surrounding canyon. He also dismissed cracks that formed as soon as the reservoir behind it was filled. Five days later, it ruptured, killing 450 people and destroying entire towns (along with Mulholland’s career).2. Kansas City Hyatt walkways, 1981
Walkways crisscrossing the hotel’s multistory atrium collapsed, domino-style, raining debris and hundreds of people onto the packed dance contest below. The cause: grossly negligent design and use of beams that could support only 30 percent of the load.3. Vasa, 1628
Three hundred years before the Titanic, the Vasa was the biggest sailing vessel of its day. The overloaded ship ruled the seas for all of a mile before she took on water through her too-low gun ports and promptly capsized.4. Northeastern US power grid, 1965
A single protective relay tripped in Ontario, overloading nearby circuits and causing a cascade of outages that left 30 million homes without power for up to 13 hours. A fragile, redundancy-free design ensured that it would happen eventually.5. McDonnell Douglas DC-10, 1970s
Nearly a thousand people around the world lost their lives while the kinks were being ironed out of this 290-ton competitor to Boeing’s 747. Blown-out cargo doors, shredded hydraulic lines, and engines dropped midflight were just a few of the behemoth’s early problems.6. Firestone 500 tires, 1970s
These steel-belted radials allowed water to seep under the tread, which caused the belting to rust and the tread to separate, typically at high speeds. Dozens of deaths later, Firestone blamed consumers, then recalled 10 million tires.7. Purity Distilling Company tank, 1919
You gotta keep your molasses somewhere – how about a rickety tank 50 feet tall and 90 feet in diameter in the middle of Boston? The structure was painted brown to hide the leaks. Eventually it burst (possibly exploding from fermentation), sending waves of molasses up to 15 feet high into the city and killing 21.8. Skylab, 1973
America’s first space station was hopelessly damaged at launch because designers failed to account for the aerodynamics of the meteoroid shield and solar panels. When crews weren’t busy making repairs, they complained of the extreme heat on board.9. Citigroup Center, 1978
Last-minute changes to structural braces of this Manhattan tower left it vulnerable to collapse in high winds. With a hurricane bearing down on the city, builders rushed to strengthen it by welding 2-inch steel plates over 200 weakly bolted joints.10. R101 airship, 1930
Seven years before the Hindenburg disaster, the British thought 5.5 million cubic feet of hydrogen in a bubble of fabric would make for a fun way to get around. On her maiden flight, the airship’s cover was blown open by wind, and from there it was oh-the-humanity city.– Christopher Null
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I didn't watch the video and so I have no idea why you responded with those but I do know the Kansas City Hyatt walkways is a classic engineering disaster which we discussed in school (informally. I was in electrical, not civil, engineering) it serves as a sobering reminder of how seriously engineers must take their jobs and the consequences if we don't.
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.... I don't get Cals response?
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I don't either
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Really? I did.
Anyway I did watch the video. There are some real assholes out there in the world of televangelism. And I think John Oliver is very good. As opposed to the shrike that took over for Colbert.
WSS
www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons -
Who took over for colbert?
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That trevor noah is likely going to be the death of the Daily show
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No one took over for Colbert. The Colbert Report ended.
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What was the point of Cals response then Steve?
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No one took over for Colbert. The Colbert Report ended.
The Colbert Report was replaced Woody. By another show.
That was your best offering?
WSS
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What was the point of Cals response then Steve?
Oh I suspect you could guess but let me venture that yes there are some bad televangelist out there in the world. There are also some bad engineers.
Sound like a good guess?
WSS
www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons -
Took over for Colbert and another show taking the Colbert Reports slot are two different things.
Larry Wilmore has his show in that slot now.
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Steve got it. Trying to ridicule all TV evangelists by posting about the worst
of them... if fine with woody, but he doesn't like the same tactic
used on engineers. Kinda obvious...
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What was the point of Cals response then Steve?
Oh I suspect you could guess but let me venture that yes there are some bad televangelist out there in the world. There are also some bad engineers.
Sound like a good guess?
WSS
Oh I suspect you could guess but let me venture that yes there are some bad televangelist out there in the world. There are also some bad engineers.
Sound like a good guess?
WSS
Umm... I guess. If by bad you mean "bad at their jobs" then sure. If by bad you mean "actually a bad person" then that's probably true too.
But I must have missed the examples of engineers preying on the stupid/desperate with religion, basically acting as conmen, to this scale.
If Cals response was an attempt to say "well this thing you like is bad too!" he did a pretty poor job of it.
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Steve got it. Trying to ridicule all TV evangelists by posting about the worst
of them... if fine with woody, but he doesn't like the same tactic
used on engineers. Kinda obvious...
Steve got it. Trying to ridicule all TV evangelists by posting about the worst
of them... if fine with woody, but he doesn't like the same tactic
used on engineers. Kinda obvious...
Engineers aren't supposed to save souls, have moral high ground or preach the coming of the lord. Invalid comparison in my opinion.
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The content is different, but the logical structure of the argument is the same. I simply
flipped the setup structurally, only I used engineers. Turnabout is fair play.
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Except it really isn't Cal...
These televangelists are purposely taking advantage of people for monetary gain. The examples you posted were terrible accidents.
The scale of this real issue vs your made up one aren't the same either.
I think you're just reaching at something here because I posted a thread that puts part Christianity in a negative light. Are you trying to defend their actions?
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I don't defend these televangelists but because they are wrong does not make Jesus or the bible wrong. Most people have enough discernment to see their phoniness but they do prey big time on the shuts ins and elderly which is sad.
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