It came across to me at the web:
http://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack W. Drews" <vinttr4@geneseo.net>
To: "Marx Christian tr4-racing" <chris@tr4-racing.de>
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Fot] HORSE bottoms, dimensions, a Space Shuttle
> Good one!!! :)
>
> At 07:29 AM 2/14/2007, you wrote:
> >.....and how it belongs together......
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >The Space Shuttle and the Horse's Rear End
> >
> >
> >Say friend, did you know that the US Standard railroad gauge (distance
between
> >the rails) is 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches.
> >
> >That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?
> >
> >Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads
were
> >built by English expatriates.
> >
> >I see, but why did the English build them like that?
> >
> >Because the first railway lines were built by the same people who built
the
> >pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
> >
> >Well, why did they use that gauge in England?
> >
> >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 their wagons use that odd wheel spacing?
> >
> >Because, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagon wheels would
break
> >on some of the old, long distance roads. Because that's the spacing of the
old
> >wheel ruts.
> >
> >So who built these old rutted roads?
> >
> >The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for
the
> >benefit of their legions. The Roman roads have been used ever since.
> >
> >And the ruts?
> >
> >The original ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying
> >their wagons, were first made by the wheels of Roman war chariots. Since
the
> >chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the
matter
> >of wheel spacing.
> >
> >Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States
standard
> >railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches derives from the original
specification
> >for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.
> >
> >And the motto of the story is Specifications and bureaucracies live
forever.
> >
> >So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's
ass
> >came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman
chariots
> >were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two
> >war-horses.
> >
> >So, just what does this have to do with the exploration of space?
> >
> >Well, there's an interesting extension of the story about railroad gauge
and
> >horses' behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on the launch pad,
there
> >are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank.
These
> >are the solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at a
> >factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might 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 from the factory runs through a tunnel in the mountains. The
SRBs
> >had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than a
railroad
> >track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
> >
> >So a major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced
> >transportation system was originally determined by the width of a horse's
ass.
> >_______________________________________________
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> >Fot@autox.team.net
> >http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
>
> uncle jack
>
>
>
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