See other Science/Tech Articles
Title: AN INTERESTING HISTORY LESSON.
Source:
email
URL Source: [None]
Published: Jun 27, 2008
Author: email
Post Date: 2008-06-27 16:06:53 by Rotara
Keywords: None
Views: 202
Comments: 5
Railroad tracks. This is fascinating. Be sure to read the final paragraph; your understanding of it will depend on the earlier part of the content. The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and En glish expatriates built the US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did t he wag ons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and Englan d ) for their legions The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matt er of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a Specification/Procedure/Process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?' you may be exactly right. Imperi al Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' as ses.) Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed th e SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's ; most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else.
Poster Comment: Explains everything. ;-)
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Rotara (#0)
In other words, it's still stuck in the '60s.
Keisha Brown, 21, from Chicago, whose mother has a nightgown with a picture of Obama on it, said, “Everything will be different now.”
Best answer yet! ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Does not. Had the dumb Romans used Belgian horses we would have a much wider and better railroad system. What dummies. See.
Does not. Had the dumb Romans used Belgian horses we would have a much wider and better railroad system. What dummies. See. Haaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha!!! So true!! ~
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Kewl, the Luddite in me grooves on this.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's ; most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass
#2. To: Tauzero (#1)
Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else.
#3. To: Rotara (#0)
Explains everything. ;-)
#4. To: Cynicom (#3)
Explains everything. ;-)
#5. To: Rotara (#0)
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest