DID YOU KNOW......
Here is something that is very interesting, educational, historical, completely true and hysterical - all at the same time.....
The US standard railroad gauge (width between the tworails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedinglyodd 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.
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 wheelspacing? 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 spacingof the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots first formed the initial ruts, which every one else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot. 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 theImperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses. Thus, we have the answer to the original question.
Now the twist to the story...
There's an interesting extension to the story about railroad gauges and horses' behinds. When we see a SpaceShuttle 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 SRBsare made by Thiokol at their 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 line from the factory had 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 is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, the major 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 back!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Chinese (ZEN) Fables
* The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he coulduse a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked theman where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, "There isa pond near my house that is full of frogs --millions of them. They allcroak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!"
So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmerwould deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for thenext several weeks.
The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurantlooking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. the restaurantowner said, "Well ... where are all the frogs?" The farmer said, "I wasmistaken.There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!"
Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember,it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problemsalways seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at nightworrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a millionfrogs croaking?Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take acloser look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.
=======
* The Turtles
A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. Turtles, being naturally slowabout things, took seven years to prepare for their picnic outing.Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place for their outing.
During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal forthem at last! For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked thepicnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discoveredthey had forgotten the salt.
A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After alengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home.Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtlewhined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on onecondition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consentedand the little turtle left.
Three years passed and the little turtle had notreturned. Five years ...six years... then on the seventh year of hisabsence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced thathe was going to and begun to unwrap a sandwich.
At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a treeshouting, "SEE! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt."
Some of us waste our time waiting for people to liveup to our expectations. We are so concerned about what othersare doing that we don't do anything ourselves.
======
* The Pretty Lady
Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk weretravelling together. They came to the bank of a river and found theridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty ladywho was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. Thebig monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back.
The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk."How can big disciple brother carry a lady when we are supposed toavoid all intimacy with females," thought the little monk. But he keptquiet.
The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monkfollowed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monklet the lady down and they parted ways with her. All along the way forseveral miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the bigmonk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about the big monk inis head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the bigmonk had no inclination to explain his situation.
Finally, at rest-point many hours later, the little monk could not standit any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk."How can you claimyourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch afemale, especially when she is very pretty. All your teachings to memake you a big hypocrite." The big monk looked surprised andsaid, "I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"
This very old Chinese zen story reflects the thinking of many people today.We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, theyirritate us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot ofhurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous. But like the littlemonk, we are not willing to let them go away. We keep on carrying thebaggage of the "pretty lady" with us. We let them keep on coming backto hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony. WHY? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the"pretty lady". We should let go of the pretty lady immediately aftercrossing the river, immediately after the unpleasant event is over. Thiswill immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over. It'z just that simple.......
* The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he coulduse a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked theman where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, "There isa pond near my house that is full of frogs --millions of them. They allcroak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!"
So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmerwould deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for thenext several weeks.
The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurantlooking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. the restaurantowner said, "Well ... where are all the frogs?" The farmer said, "I wasmistaken.There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!"
Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember,it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problemsalways seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at nightworrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a millionfrogs croaking?Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take acloser look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.
=======
* The Turtles
A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. Turtles, being naturally slowabout things, took seven years to prepare for their picnic outing.Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place for their outing.
During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal forthem at last! For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked thepicnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discoveredthey had forgotten the salt.
A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After alengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home.Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtlewhined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on onecondition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consentedand the little turtle left.
Three years passed and the little turtle had notreturned. Five years ...six years... then on the seventh year of hisabsence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced thathe was going to and begun to unwrap a sandwich.
At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a treeshouting, "SEE! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt."
Some of us waste our time waiting for people to liveup to our expectations. We are so concerned about what othersare doing that we don't do anything ourselves.
======
* The Pretty Lady
Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk weretravelling together. They came to the bank of a river and found theridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty ladywho was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. Thebig monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back.
The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk."How can big disciple brother carry a lady when we are supposed toavoid all intimacy with females," thought the little monk. But he keptquiet.
The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monkfollowed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monklet the lady down and they parted ways with her. All along the way forseveral miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the bigmonk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about the big monk inis head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the bigmonk had no inclination to explain his situation.
Finally, at rest-point many hours later, the little monk could not standit any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk."How can you claimyourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch afemale, especially when she is very pretty. All your teachings to memake you a big hypocrite." The big monk looked surprised andsaid, "I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"
This very old Chinese zen story reflects the thinking of many people today.We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, theyirritate us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot ofhurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous. But like the littlemonk, we are not willing to let them go away. We keep on carrying thebaggage of the "pretty lady" with us. We let them keep on coming backto hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony. WHY? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the"pretty lady". We should let go of the pretty lady immediately aftercrossing the river, immediately after the unpleasant event is over. Thiswill immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over. It'z just that simple.......
DID YOU KNOW.............?
* People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.
* On an average, half of all false teeth have some form of radioactivity.
* Despite the hump, a camel's spine is straight.
* Penguins can convert salt water into fresh water.
* A bird 'chews' with its stomach.
* The U.S. motto, 'In God We Trust', was not adopted as the national slogan until 1956.
* Ducks will only lay eggs early in the morning.
* One cubic foot of gold weighs more than 1,200 pounds!
* A killer whale's heart beats 30 times a minute under water, 60 times a minute on the surface.
* Cats cannot taste sweet things.
* Up to the age of six or seven months a child can breathe and swallow at the same time. Adults cannot do this.
* Airports that are at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.
* Turkeys can reproduce without having sex.
* Jimmy Carter is the first U.S. President to have been born in a hospital.
* You are about 1 centimeter taller in the morning than in the evening!
* 25% of your bones are located in your feet.
* Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents.
* When you walk down a steep hill, the pressure on your knees is equal to three times your body weight.
* Males sweat 40% more than females.
* A kangaroo cannot jump if its tail is off the ground.
* Identical twins do not have identical fingerprints.
* People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.
* On an average, half of all false teeth have some form of radioactivity.
* Despite the hump, a camel's spine is straight.
* Penguins can convert salt water into fresh water.
* A bird 'chews' with its stomach.
* The U.S. motto, 'In God We Trust', was not adopted as the national slogan until 1956.
* Ducks will only lay eggs early in the morning.
* One cubic foot of gold weighs more than 1,200 pounds!
* A killer whale's heart beats 30 times a minute under water, 60 times a minute on the surface.
* Cats cannot taste sweet things.
* Up to the age of six or seven months a child can breathe and swallow at the same time. Adults cannot do this.
* Airports that are at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.
* Turkeys can reproduce without having sex.
* Jimmy Carter is the first U.S. President to have been born in a hospital.
* You are about 1 centimeter taller in the morning than in the evening!
* 25% of your bones are located in your feet.
* Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents.
* When you walk down a steep hill, the pressure on your knees is equal to three times your body weight.
* Males sweat 40% more than females.
* A kangaroo cannot jump if its tail is off the ground.
* Identical twins do not have identical fingerprints.
* THOTS & HUMOR- 2006*
- It is a good rule in life never to apologise.
- The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.
- Technology is the art of arranging the world in such a way that we do not feel the need to experience it.
- In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
- Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love at all seasons, that is the only difference between humans and animals.
- When you don’t have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it’s sex. When you have both, it’s health.
- Sleep is good, death is better; but of course, the best thing would be never to have been born at all.
- I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
- Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
- The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.
- If you want to make God laugh, tell him your future plans.
- The secret of a good speech is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and having the two as close together as possible.
- Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
- Nowadays, advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
- If you can tell the difference between good advice and bad advice, you don’t need advice.
- The strongest man upon earth is he who stands most alone.
- The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is.
- Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
- The most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for example.
- A book is a success when people who haven’t read it pretend they have.
- The advantage of being clever is that it’s easy to play the fool. The opposite is much more difficult.
- Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone may be looking.
- We enact many laws that manufacture criminals, and then a few that punish them.
- An expert is a man who doesn’t know all the answers, but is sure, that if he is given enough money, he can find them.
- Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
- The future is the past, returning through another gate.
- Our generation never had a chance. When we were young they taught us to respect our elders, and now that we’re older, they tell us to listen to youth.
- By the time a man realises that may be his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.
- One reason that history repeats itself is that so many people were not listening the first time.
- In a war of ideas, it is people who get killed.
- My life is in the hands of any fool who can make me lose my temper.
- Life is like the Olympics; a few men strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others sell ice cream and souvenirs to the crowd, and some look at the show and see how and why everything is done.
- Love is an ocean of emotions, entirely surrounded by expenses.
- What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.
- How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you happen to be.
- Only some of us can learn by other people’s mistakes. The rest of us have to be the other people.
- It is a good rule in life never to apologise.
- The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.
- Technology is the art of arranging the world in such a way that we do not feel the need to experience it.
- In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
- Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love at all seasons, that is the only difference between humans and animals.
- When you don’t have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it’s sex. When you have both, it’s health.
- Sleep is good, death is better; but of course, the best thing would be never to have been born at all.
- I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
- Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
- The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.
- If you want to make God laugh, tell him your future plans.
- The secret of a good speech is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and having the two as close together as possible.
- Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
- Nowadays, advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
- If you can tell the difference between good advice and bad advice, you don’t need advice.
- The strongest man upon earth is he who stands most alone.
- The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is.
- Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
- The most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for example.
- A book is a success when people who haven’t read it pretend they have.
- The advantage of being clever is that it’s easy to play the fool. The opposite is much more difficult.
- Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone may be looking.
- We enact many laws that manufacture criminals, and then a few that punish them.
- An expert is a man who doesn’t know all the answers, but is sure, that if he is given enough money, he can find them.
- Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
- The future is the past, returning through another gate.
- Our generation never had a chance. When we were young they taught us to respect our elders, and now that we’re older, they tell us to listen to youth.
- By the time a man realises that may be his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.
- One reason that history repeats itself is that so many people were not listening the first time.
- In a war of ideas, it is people who get killed.
- My life is in the hands of any fool who can make me lose my temper.
- Life is like the Olympics; a few men strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others sell ice cream and souvenirs to the crowd, and some look at the show and see how and why everything is done.
- Love is an ocean of emotions, entirely surrounded by expenses.
- What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.
- How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you happen to be.
- Only some of us can learn by other people’s mistakes. The rest of us have to be the other people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)