hax

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Portlandia

hax @hax5/30/2023, 6:09 PM

Tom (tired of the computer)@masklayer

Pendell @pendell5/30/2023, 6:13 AM

Visited the Fort Worth Water Gardens which is one of the most comically dangerous places I've ever seen in my life

To be absolutely clear: people have died here, on more than on occasion. It's like the whole place was designed to be The Last Water Slide You Ever Ride or something. There is nothing stopping you from falling off of these steps and onto slick rock and sliding all the way to the bottom besides your own balance.

Pendell @pendell5/30/2023, 6:16 AM

in the center there's this very disgusting pool

apparently if you jump into it, you'll get sucked to the bottom by a powerful drain that will keep you down there until you drown. this is known because it's happened to people. the city's response has always been "well don't do that."

#fort worth #fort worth water gardens #water gardens

walking mirage @atomicthumbs5/30/2023, 8:06 AM

EDIT as of 11:35 AM Pacific: this was previously a low-effort joke post, but I'm retracting it after looking up what actually happened because it's fucking horrifying, and with that knowledge the joke proves to be hideously tasteless bordering on offensive. The comments on this post prior to this edit were made when it was a joke and none of them knew the details unless they went and looked it up, so don't judge them based on that. I'm locking shares so this one doesn't go any further.

AutHAMn Leaves @literalHam5/30/2023, 2:15 PM

new hypothesis: this kind of public safety nightmare is to Texas what exceptionally dangerous fauna is to Australia. Just a local hazard

hax @hax5/30/2023, 6:09 PM

this is not a place of honor...

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in reply to @pendell's post:

mint @mintexists5/30/2023, 12:21 PM

Couldn't they put some sorta horizontal chain link fence under the surface so you can't get sucked in

Pendell @pendell5/30/2023, 2:13 PM

they could, yeah. but they haven't, as far as I'm aware.

Internet Janitor @internet-janitor5/30/2023, 5:05 PM

Its danger is a crucial component of its allure.

Even if it looked the same, people would know.

@SpammyV5/30/2023, 5:08 PM

Hey, they went ahead and ruined the original design by shutting half the fountains off by the muder pool! You can't say that they haven't done anything! They just put in the extremely dangerous murder pool to begin with and no one ever asked "Hey what if someone like, fell in?"

walking mirage @atomicthumbs5/30/2023, 6:58 PM

apologies for making a tasteless joke in response to this yesterday and then following it up with a horrifying narrative to make up for it

Pendell @pendell5/30/2023, 7:10 PM

You're good! I mean, there is some comedy to it, but only the darkest of gallows humor, the kind where you just have to laugh at how over the top the incompetence, danger, and tragedy all is. That was where the tone of my original posts was coming from, just kind of a stunned "wow this is real, this really happened and they just haven't really changed anything huh"

in reply to @atomicthumbs's post:

Cliff 🦖 Pervocracy @pervocracy5/30/2023, 1:06 PM

oh my god I looked it up and a whole family of four got sucked down into the drain, holy shit

apparently it was only supposed to be 3 feet deep but they filled it up to 9 feet anyways, this is really some quality public safety

Bad Quail Games // G. Michael Truran @Bad-Quail5/30/2023, 2:07 PM

oh hey, Logan's Run.

cyberdoe systems @onethirdxcubed5/30/2023, 2:24 PM

That's all gonna be covered in extremely slick algae too. I slipped on a dam spillway once, barely caught myself on a concrete lip

astra★@lunettian5/30/2023, 2:39 PM

i used to go to this place when i was a kiddo and i just kissed my wife and told her i'm glad to be here

@flintlock-media5/30/2023, 3:22 PM

Is there like, a specific reason this place was designed and made this way? And why they don't want to make it safer? Even if it costs money to make it safer, don't they charge admission to see it? Or is it just a free deathtrap that anyone can go see. I am so confused.

walking mirage @atomicthumbs5/30/2023, 5:40 PM

Acclaimed New York architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed the gardens as an artistic rendering of mountains, rivers and waterfalls. Johnson told a biographer that he designed the largest fountain with "an element of danger."

note that the danger wasn't supposed to be real; it was supposed to be a feeling that visitors would get

the actual danger came because the city cut staffing to the park, which led to park operators deepening the pool to twice its recommended depth; debris blocking 50% of the intake meant that the pumps malfunctioned if it was any shallower. this combined with the blocked intake created suction that ended up killing three kids and an adult as they tried to rescue a little kid who fell or jumped in.

i joked but it is actually horrifying

@secrets5/30/2023, 3:55 PM

idk man you gotta know what you signed up for when you're walking into The Vortex

Adell @Adell5/30/2023, 6:31 PM

I want to swim in the forbidden hot tub