When Our Computer Systems Make Us Stupid. (This is very good)

January 19, 2008

For years, the River Nile flooded each year, and rich sediments came down the river. Farmers would use this as free fertilizer, making the Nile River Valley one of the most fertile in the world. The Aswan Dam -- built at enormous expense -- stopped that flooding.

So now there were no natural fertilizers for the farmers. Gigantic factories were built to replace the fertilizer. Unfortunately the factories now use nearly all the electricity produced by the dam. The chemical fertilizer is too expensive for most of the farmers, because they were used to getting it free. In the meanwhile, the dam is filling up with sediments.

Full Story: http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/251917