[tshaddox]

Pumped hydro is really cool. Also really bad when it fails:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taum_Sauk_Hydroelectric_Power_...

> ... catastrophic failure of a triangular section of the reservoir wall and the release of 1 billion US gallons (3,800,000 m3) of water in 12 minutes. The sudden release sent a 20-foot (6.1 m) crest of water down the East Fork of the Black River.

> A broad swath of dense forest was washed away and scoured to bedrock by the escaping flow.

A tidbit that will be interesting to any programmer or engineer: one of the causes of the failure was that the high-water gauges were moved to above the height of the dam wall because someone was annoyed by false positives.

[jashephe]

Taum Sauk is unusual in that the dam fully surrounds the upper reservoir (i.e. the lake was made from scratch), although certainly all types of dam can fail.

[bigiain]

All types of dams can be shittily maintained:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville_Dam_crisis

[bqmjjx0kac]

Sounds like they hired Homer Simpson to operate the plant.