>> For example, the transit system that takes you over a pit full of 
>> liquid radioactive waste. Why would any sane engineer design a system 
>> this way? 
> 
> You mean in the opening sequence of HL1? It should have been obvious it 
> was a broken tank.  In Opposing Force, you go past it later as a 
> different character and it has been patched up (badly).  Loved that part.

Mmm, really?

> Don't forget the giant fan that can only be switched on from underneath 
> the blades, with the ladder out going up past the blades, requiring you 
> to run out before they get up to speed.

Oh yeah, THAT! I mean, dude, WTF?!

In some places, it's clear that structural damage has occurred. In 
others, there simply seems to be a shocking lack of basic safety design. :-P

>> And what the hell is the deal with that "surgical unit"? o_O
> 
> Which one? That I don't recall.

I *think* it's in Questionable Ethics, or it might be Vicarious Reality. 
Either way, you battle your way through a marine-infested set of test 
labs which also house those huge alien warriors. At one point you find a 
group of scientists hiding in a lab, but they can't get out because 
"Simmons turned on the surgical unit" - which consists of two rotating 
blades that you have to sneak past to get to the controls to turn the 
thing off. WHY would you design a system this way??

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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