[BITList] Intriguing History of Technology

[franka]

> /*/Please read all the way to the end.  Suprise, suprise./*/
> /*/Crazy Horse./*/
> Railway Tracks
>
> *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 designed 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 had used for building wagons, which used that wheel 
> spacing.*
>
>
>
>
> **
> *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 
> (including   England ) for their legions. Those 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 matter 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.  In other words, 
> bureaucracies live forever.*
> *So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process, 
> and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?' , you may be exactly 
> right.*
>
> *Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to 
> accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)*
>
> **
>
> *Now, the twist to the story:*
>
>
> *When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will 
> notice that 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 larger, 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, and 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, Horse's Asses control almost everything...*
>
> *...Explains a whole lot of things,*
>
> *doesn't it?*
> *DISCLAIMER:*The information transmitted is intended only for the 
> addressee and may contain confidential, proprietary and/or privileged 
> material. Any unauthorized review, distribution or other use of or the 
> taking of any action in reliance upon this information is prohibited. 
> If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete or 
> destroy this message and any copies.
> 	
>
> FREE Animations for your email - by IncrediMail! Click Here! 
> <http://www.incredimail.com/?id=606431&rui=134506776&sd=20110620>
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/>
> Version: 10.0.1382 / Virus Database: 1513/3719 - Release Date: 06/22/11



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0001.shtml 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 54950 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0007.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 65692 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0008.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 21852 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0009.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 10498 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0010.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 38365 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0011.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 31650 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0012.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 57624 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0013.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 31851 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20110714/0713667f/attachment-0001.gif