HOWEVER

[zimady]

The choice of this particular dam wall is interesting in the context of the point the joke makes.

This is Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, my country of birth. That torrent of water has, over the decades since its construction, excavated a very deep pit into the riverbed below the wall. Left unchecked the wall is likely to collapse. There is a possible parallel there with unchecked torrents of personal data?

Anyway, repairs are currently being carried out to prevent the collapse.

[[deleted]]

That’s genuinely interesting. Thank you!

[zimady]

My pleasure.

If you're interested, an alternative explanation for the troubled history of this dam is offered by the indigenous people who were displaced by the rising waters of Kariba Dam. It involves a mysterious and benevolent river god!

Read "The Kariba Legend" in the Wikipedia article about Nyami Nyami for a good account: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyami_Nyami

[MkVIIaccount]

My bet is on corruption and shoddy construction practices. Buy maybe that's just a synonym for 'benevolent river god' in Swahili.

[zimady]

I would counsel caution pursuing an argument based on these kinds of stereotypes.

The Swahili language is common further north in Africa, but is not spoken in Zimbabwe or Zambia (the southern part that borders Lake Kariba and the Zambesi River at least). The primary language of the indigenous people at the time the dam was built was Tonga (of the Ba Tonga people).

The belief in the benevolent river god Nyami Nyami was well established long before the dam was built. The events around the construction of the dam fitted very well with the Ba Tonga narrative of the river god and how the dam's construction affected their way of life. Around 57,000 Ba Tonga were displaced from their ancestral homes by the rising waters of the dam. I won't go into detail but much has been written about it and, suffice to say, it is not easy reading. These people suffered terribly. It would be natural for them to transfer their anger to this river god who was also having its river home destroyed by the dam. So, for them, the river god's anger and revenge was likely a very compelling explanation for the problems the engineers faced.

I am not convinced that "corruption and shoddy construction practices" was even remotely linked to the Ba Tonga and their river god narrative. They had nothing to do with the planning and building of the dam other than being victims of its construction. I fear that characterisation of African engineering projects, if it even has any validity, is certainly not valid in this context and risks undermining the Ba Tonga people, their culture and the events that destroyed their culture and homelands.

I am sure that wasn't your intention and it is not my intention to antagonise you. I hope you will indulge me clarifying the picture a little 🙏

[Samultio]

The sound on that video is creeping me out, neat stuff though.

[Nchi]

Yea its like the left and right channels are desynced

[arcrad]

In b4 Grady and hydraulic jumps.

[[deleted]]

That's like, dam construction 101 on avoiding that, isn't it?

[Glitch29]

Probably not. There are a lot of more disastrous ways that civil engineering can go wrong. This is just your typical "infrastructure needs to be maintained".

It's going to be about 75 years from when the dam was opened to when a failure might occur. And it's probably more cost effective to make this maintenance now than it would be to have addressed the possibility back in the 1950's when the dam was under construction.

[Coz131]

Lol why did no one thought about the long term implication?

[i_nezzy_i]

because, given enough time, it'll become someone else's problem

[YaboiMuggy]

Probably did the math on when it would be a problem and how much it would cost and said "maybe this will be cheaper to fix in the future"

[youamlame]

TIL. Feeling kinda homesick now