How MilSpecs Live Forever!

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 ft 8 1/2 in (1.44 m). That's an exceedingly odd number. Why is that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English ex-patriots.

Why did the English build 'em 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 as they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

OK! Why did the wagons use that wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the 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 roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of breaking their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made by or for Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing (ruts again).

Thus we have the answer to the original question. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 ft 8 1/2 in derives from the original military specification (MilSpec) for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. MisSpecs (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.

A follow-up to this story: When Napoleon marched on Russia, his army made much slower time than planned once they reached eastern Europe because the ruts weren't to Roman gauge. Because they made slower time than planned they got caught in the field in the Russian winter rather than on the outskirts of Moscow. And then, of course, they lost the war.

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 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 ass.

Thanks! :)

 

Expressing Gratitude

Whom should I express my gratitude to?

To myself for having accepted a life here on earth?

Or to my one half - my father?

Or to the other half - my mother?

Or to the womb which bore me for 10 months.... and made me myself...

Or to that blissful moment when I came into this world crying...

Or to the umblical cord....Who first taught me to separate blood relations and be alienated?

The so-called destined fates are fading...

So are the old stupid blind faiths...

I thank umpteem times....

Those dreams that played roulette with my hopes....

(for making me stronger)

(Nandi aarodu njan Chollendu - Aham)

Sons of God, Keep Smiling....

An aspiration that flew like an eagle is no more…
Shattered into so many pieces that it cannot be re-joined…
Who looted it so neat and clean?
So clean that it never had ammunition to take off again….

He fell from the sky, onto Earth
But in dreams the lovely sight of clouds nearby remained
And the clouds sang…
Sons of God, Keep Smiling…
Sons of God, Keep Smiling…
Whatever happens, tomorrow is yet to arrive…

Losing himself, Daring to be weak, he learnt to fly…
Take the sorrows with you, Even pain may become handy…
Sons of God, Keep Smiling…
Sons of God, Keep Smiling…
Whatever happens, tomorrow is yet to arrive…

Split into thousands of pieces was the aspiration when it shattered…
In each of those pieces finding God’s sight…
Sons of God, Keep Smiling…
Sons of God, Keep Smiling…
Whatever happens, tomorrow is yet to arrive…

(Acknowledgement: Allah Ke Bande)

Childhood Ramblings...

At the hand's reach is a child hood.......
Like the first rains of the season, there is a child hood......
fresh as ever... so innocent......
Is the fast flying age becoming like a unmanned cruise?
Like a monsoon wind.. there is a young (inexperienced) age..... swaying in the winds....
Looking for shelter of mother nature...(experience)
Yearning for a strong foot hold to stay to.... to anchor to...like young birds looking for mother's wings to hide into....

But......

Whatever I saw and heard and saw those days... still is afresh in mind...
Whatever promises I heard then, is still afresh in mind...
How can I just ignore and forget it....those sunny days and the spring...

That day, the person who knocked on my heart's door, I still cannot forget...
How can I? Am I supposed to ignore it? I am not sure...
Its like a never fading rainbow in the deepest recesses of my heart...
Like a music that comes back to me as Love....

At the hand's reach is a child hood.......
Like the first rains of the season, there is a child hood......
fresh as ever... so innocent......

In the April Autumn, sitting in my attic, the full moon that I saw blooming as my Love...
It still is afresh in my mind...alive as my first love...

Never fading rainbow that is....Like the blessing of my mother always prevalent in me....

At the hand's reach is a child hood.......
Like the first rains of the season, there is a child hood......
fresh as ever... so innocent......

(Acknowledgment: Ekantham - Kaiyethum doore oru kuttikalam)

Daring to be Weak

Someone close to me, almost like my Mirror, taught me the other day, an interesting line - "Dare to be Weak with someone".... It struck me immediately... So here I am trying to think through it...

Daring to be Weak, happens in few instances... The most important of them is when we feel secure... Security in relationships and instances helps us shed our walls.... To recall JK, the famous philosopher, "The most feared thing by man is Security... we always live in fear... of something or someone, or future... the list is endless.... Even when someone dear and near dies, if you watch closely, the people who mourn by that person's side, always think - "now, who is there for me to replace your void".... funny enough, not for a moment, they think of the person lying dead next to them... even at that point they are thinking about the security that this person provided, which no longer exists... and are worried about it.

So, daring to be weak exists, only when there is a feeling of security....

In other instances, probably the second most important variation of security is - LOVE.... when you really love someone, you forget yourself, so much..... that......... you have only that person in your mind.... be it GOD, or a philosophy, or a person, like your wife, husband, or lover...

In this scenario as well, you dare to be weak... but only with that person :D.... (see,?? security never leaves its place)

My thought goes ever more daring (or weaker) ....hehe

Can one be weak with this whole world...? When will that happen? How can that happen?

hehe, you probably guessed right... "when you don't feel threatened by the world!"

normally, people call this stage as ENLIGHTENMENT.... :)