Thread context
2 posts in path
Parent
post 9c3fcd41-4739-4859-8d22-1a40550cce5a on poa.st
Open
on poa.st
Open ancestor post
Boosted by
Terry
@Terry@poa.st
I like digging in the dirt and trebuchets.
poa.st
I like digging in the dirt and trebuchets.
poa.st
@badneighbor@poa.st
·
Jan 03, 2026
@ACL9000@poa.st My dad was an electrical engineer working on Venezuela's new reactor back in the early 80s. They were a US firm and the intent was they would get it up and running and transfer it to the locals, I think. I was a baby at the time.
They removed a bunch of relay switches to safely perform a test on a boiler. They'd remove the relay and set it down on the floor directly below where it went.
One of the locals didn't like "the mess" this made and reinstalled all the relays. No one knew he did it. They performed the test, there was an explosion, and several people died.
My dad's company immediately shipped him and the rest of the US workers back to the states, came up with some bullshit cover story, and that was that. There's a wikipedia article about it, and I probably just violated some NDA, but my dad's dead and at this rate that power plant's about to be a pile of rubble anyways.
Also my dad got hepatitis (the one that turns your eyes yellow) while he was there because he ate chicken from a food cart.
View full thread on poa.st