Look what the Russians built for the Olympics

"Well," he said, "after all, it is the biathlon!"

It is, indeed, rather stupid.

What was the dumbest industrial thing you ever witnessed personally?

That never happened to me!

Here are some doozies:

Well, the MRI scanner in the factory with the fork lift stuck in the magnet bore was a good (or bad!) one. It killed a technician working on it. I wasn't there but I did see the pictures.

The GOES satellite laying on the floor was another. That one you can search with Google "Goes satellite on floor". They have 2 turn and tilt facilities at the Lockheed plant, but only one set of bolts to attach the satellite to the turn/tilt. Bean counters were too cheap to buy two sets of bolts. So, somebody moved the bolts to the other satellite to work on it, then put the bolts back in the other one, but didn't tighten them! Result was BOUND to happen. $135 million goof!

There's a bulldozer gobbled up in a huge rotary shovel.

The two space shuttle disasters might qualify for this, too.

Jon

Amazing story, I never heard about it. I personally blame the operator and not bean counters. They did not tighten the bolts. The bolts were there and installed. Just not properly installed.

Nope. Never say a heavy steel drilling rig catch fire. Never!

Nor can I remember ever seeing anyone at the top of a drilling rig, at least when the rig was operating :-)