X-Virus-Scanned: clean according to Sophos on Logan.com Return-Path: Sender: To: lml@lancaironline.net Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:35:54 -0400 Message-ID: X-Original-Return-Path: Received: from smtp102.sbc.mail.mud.yahoo.com ([68.142.198.201] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.0.9) with SMTP id 1136394 for lml@lancaironline.net; Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:34:12 -0400 Received-SPF: none receiver=logan.com; client-ip=68.142.198.201; envelope-from=elippse@sbcglobal.net Received: (qmail 71268 invoked from network); 1 Jun 2006 16:33:27 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO Computerroom) (elippse@sbcglobal.net@75.15.133.242 with login) by smtp102.sbc.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; 1 Jun 2006 16:33:26 -0000 X-Original-Message-ID: <000701c68599$1dc61890$f2850f4b@Computerroom> From: "Paul Lipps" X-Original-To: "Marv Kaye" Subject: More technicalities X-Original-Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 09:33:29 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 >> 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 English >> 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. >> >> Okay! Why did the wagons 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 England) > 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 a like in > the >> matter of wheel spacing. >> >> The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches, then, is >> derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war > chariot. >> >> And bureaucracies live forever. >> >> So the next time you are handed a spec and told we have always done it > that >> way and wonder what horse's ass came up with that, you may be exactly > right, >> because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to >> accommodate the back ends of two war horses. >> >> 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 SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at >> their factory in Utah. >> >> The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a > bit >> fatter, but the SRBs 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. >> >> The SRBs 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? >So what horse's ass can we blame kts on?