https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6982316529681891328/ The 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? Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, 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 (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) 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, and 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? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything.
嗯，因为英国人就是这样建造铁路的，英国工程师设计了美国的第一条铁路。为什么英国人要这样建造？
因为第一条铁路线是由建造马车电车的人建造的，他们使用的就是这种轨距。那么，为什么 "他们 "当时使用这种轨距？
因为建造有轨电车的人使用了与建造马车相同的夹具和工具，而马车也使用了相同的车轮间距。为什么马车会有那种特别奇怪的轮距？
嗯，如果他们试图使用任何其他的间距，在英国的一些古老的长距离道路上，马车的车轮会更经常地断裂。 你看，这就是车轮车辙的间距。那么，谁建造了那些有车辙的老路呢？
帝国罗马为他们的军团在欧洲（包括英格兰）修建了第一条长距离道路。这些道路从那时起就一直在使用。
那么道路上的车辙又是怎么回事呢？
罗马战车形成了最初的车辙，其他所有人都必须与之匹配，否则就有可能毁坏他们的马车车轮。由于战车是为罗马帝国制造的，它们在车轮间距问题上都是一样的。因此，美国的标准铁路轨距为4英尺8.5英寸，是根据罗马帝国战车的原始规格制定的。官僚主义永不过时。
因此，当你接到一个规范/程序/流程，并想知道 "什么马屁股想出来的？"时，你可能是完全正确的。罗马帝国军队的战车的宽度刚好可以容纳两匹战马的并排而行。(两匹马屁股的距离。)
现在，搞笑的事情来了。
当你看到航天飞机坐在发射台上时，有两个大的助推火箭连接到主燃料箱的两侧。这些是固体火箭助推器，或称SRBs。SRB是由Thiokol公司在犹他州的工厂制造的。设计SRB的工程师们更希望把它们做得更粗大一些，但SRB必须用火车从工厂运到发射场。从工厂出发的铁路线恰好穿过山区的一条隧道，而SRB必须适合穿过该隧道。隧道比铁轨略宽，而铁轨，正如你现在所知，大约有两匹马的屁股那么宽。
因此，可以说是世界上最先进的运输系统的一个主要航天飞机设计特征，是在两千多年前由马屁股的宽度决定的。而你认为马屁股并不重要？古代的马屁股几乎控制了一切。
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The 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? Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, 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 (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) 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, and 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? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything.
Dr. Joerg Storm
All posts here are my personal opinion and not related to my current/ former employer https://www.linkedin.com/in/joergstorm/
好笑还是苦笑 亦或哭笑不得