Just a question of standards

soot_seeker_2

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.h

Ron Schroeder

JUST A QUESTION OF STANDARDS

Does the statement, "We've always done it that way" ring any bells...?
The <?xml:namespace prefix = u1 />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 wheel 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 alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches 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 **** 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 ****.
And you thought being a horse's **** wasn't important ??

Brad White_27

Brilliant, Bruce

That explains a lot. A LOT.
I love it when the dots connect.

Brad

S Ebels

I've heard that one before

And I've always wondered if it is a true fact. I guess I wouldn't doubt it.

Bob W._3

Works for me. I love trains.

John Ruhnke

Hmmmm.....

It makes me wonder what I have been up against.

Great story!

JR



To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

singh

not true

but a good story,one that's been around for a while. be careful what you
cut and paste,it's exactly the same from one site to this.
now for the story.
yes,english roads dating from the ruts left by romans are in existence,when
the "iron horse"replaces the wagon and many of the old roads were reused for tracks,but they had sifferent sizes,until stepenson who became a major player in english rails began using more of his trains only across the country.
in the u.s after the civil war, we also had different sizes,but the english were slighty ahead of us by then in railroad technology, we did import from them, by the early 20th century we we exporting our trains to them. hence the need for the standard width.
as for the space shuttle, which implies it was designed around two horses arses,as in two over paid nasa engineers. as for the tunnel ,well no tunnel exist between utah and the cape that nasa uses for transport of its boosters,and no train is "slighty" larger than 4'8 1/2" but much larger,@ 10' wide is the typical car width, and this tunnel also assumes its only a single track tunnel.
can some of the story be accurate,possible, is it entirely true?,most likely not,what it makes is an entertaining story and a play on words which made this story last for the last 25 years. If it was said as a fact, Did you know the width of a rocket booster is based.... Most of us would forget it,and get bored. Its really an attempt to make fun of our government institutions such as nasa and engineers,I mean horses asses. : )

jerry scharf_3

I resemble that remark

Overpaid NASA engineers. Well, a PHD and 10 years my get you $65k, but maybe not. The director of NASA Ames research center when I was there had a PHD in aeronautics, managed a staff of 1800 civil servants and around 2500 contractors, and made $93K. Left for the aviation industry and more than tripled his salary plus benefits.

There's this funny law that no civil servant is allowed to make more than a freshman congressional representative. No one in congress wants to change the law (wonder why) and so every civil servant in the US has compressed salaries as they rise in the ranks. So there is this push to raise the salary of congress to allow for more money to civil servants, but the public only hears that congress is raising it's salaries again...

I will say that I had the honor of working with some truely brilliant people at Ames. There were also some dreadful bureaucrats. I was a contractor, and made more than my civil servant counterparts. I'm sure my contractor boss with about 15 technical reports made more than the director of Ames.

jerry

John Ruhnke

Wow..............

Jerry,

I didn't know they paid you guys so poorly.

65k is not much.

I complained about how I am not making enough money. With my mortgage and in the area I live in, if I earned a salery of $65k for a few years, I would lose my house. No wonder the DOE has problems. They can't afford anyone good to work for them. My house is middle class, 2300 square feet thats all.

JR

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

singh

performance based pay

I guess a civil servant pay is smaller than the private sector.But most choose to be civil servants for the other benefits. Where else can you get a raise every year just for showing up .As you may know the current adminisration wants to change that,he beleives there is a better way to spend our tax money.The better you perform the bigger your raise,as in the private sector.The problem is who decides who gets to be the judge of that.
What is a G-12 making these days?
Did not want to offend you, I think the pay is not enough,just trying to explain what the story above is implying.

Jim_13

Don't kid yourselves. There are other forms of additional compensation that are supplied other than just salaries. Free air travel, health insurance and pensions that rival corporate benefits. There's more to compensation than a salary.

soot_seeker_2

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.htm

Glen

another bit of trivia -

my apologies - but I get so many of these - the above post included: even if there is a modicum of truth ...... it makes you wonder!



In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb".

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered
into the English language.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone

Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.

Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

Coca-Cola was originally green.

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king in history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand

Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.

Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by
ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the
bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the
rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.





Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not,
you can read it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd
waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan
mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and
lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.



Amzanig huh?



~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~

At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow

singh

plausible

Now there's a bit of truth.
Especially the elbow thing,

Did weezbo right that last paragragh?

Weezbo

*~/:)

It cmae froom onea my ealrier attepmts to commuincate using the English Language

singh

BTW

The diameter of the SRB on the space shuttle is 12.17 feet in diameter.
149.16 feet long and weighs 192,000 pounds.

Brian (Tankless)

Nostrodamus predicted

Morton Thiocol, fact, maybe :O)

Google knows

Brian.

Glen

N0 -

but he came to mind instantly! :-)