This giant model stopped a terrible plan

If you don't know Tom Scott, he has done a great video 4mn vide on the model where you can see it in action: ▶ this video

Yeaaaah, like that wouldn't have any unintended consequences. Meanwhile, I find this more interesting: link The Army Corps of Engineers literally built a scale model of the San Francisco Bay Area, and they used it to figure out that damming the SF Bay was a very, very bad idea: ▶ this video

> It’s reminiscent of the plan suggested by a school teacher, to dam the San Francisco Bay, which was taken seriously enough to be modeled to scale by the military. For those unaware, I learned of this plan via this short Tom Scott video. Fascinating. ▶ this video (4:33)

I don't think we can change the fact that people generally listen to what actors (and other charismatic people) have to say. This is nothing new. For a local example, San Francisco's John Reber, and the plan he pushed to turn the Bay into a freshwater lake ( ▶ this video is a good video to watch). For a state (California) example, there's Arnold Schwarzenegger. For a national (US-level) example, there's Ronald Reagan. For what it's worth, Harrison Ford seems to be a stand-up guy. For example, his reaction when he accidentally landed his private plane on an airport taxiway: link So, rather than saying "Stop listening to <insert charismatic group here>", it's better to engage with and educate them.

Tom Scott has a great video[0] about a similar attempt to dam the San Francisco Bay that got a lot closer to actually happening. So see if it was practical, the US Army Corps of Engineering built a giant scale model of the SF bay and put a dam on it to see what would happen. [0]: ▶ this video

My favorite example: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model, a functional 128,000 sq. ft. hydraulic model of the San Francisco Bay. link ▶ this video