6 February 2008
Bureaucracies
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: Humor .
Thanks to Cas for bringing to our attention this reminder of how hard it is to dig out an entrenched idea.
RAILROADS
Does the statement, “We’ve always done it like that” ring any
bells? Read this to the end; this is a new one for me.
The U.S. 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 U.S. 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 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 specification and wonder what horse’s ass came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman Army 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 at 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!
4 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
6 February 2008 at 2:56 pm.
This was great. Good day for it. I figured the post I wanted to make would go well here.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Seven Reasons To Support The GOP’s Nominee
Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 10:10 AM
At the same time, Romney and Huckabee ought to begin to note Senator McCain’s lead and urge their followers to recognize that if they cannot come back they and their followers will have to come in and join the party’s eventual nominee. Senator McCain would do well to make a similar statement though his lead is significant and his collapse unlikely. Putting Humpty Dumpty together again cannot wait for St. Paul. Each of the three need to strike some common chords again and again, beginning with why the GOP needs to retain the White House, regardless of who its nominee is.
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/b7d8fd20-1313-4229-a4a7-5325a3815908
Whoever wrote this should listen to us. It isn’t about saving the Republican party. It is about saving the Constitution. If we get someone in the white house who does just the opposite of what we want done then what have we gained? A traitor. I wouldn’t call him a traitor if he just called himself what he is, a democrat.
Ghost Says:
6 February 2008 at 4:47 pm.
Speaking of railroads, Mitt got railroaded yesterday. The establishment is so scared of a change to their good ole boy bureaucracy.
Iffer Says:
6 February 2008 at 5:09 pm.
That was pretty funny!
I needed some humor with all the crap thats been happening
Terrie Soberg Says:
6 February 2008 at 6:04 pm.
Keep ‘em coming, Cas.
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