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 as 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' ases.) 

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 as. And you thought being a horse's as wasn't important? Ancient horse's as*es control almost everything.

Waited for the “wide as yo momma” punchline, was disappointed!

Doc67 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2024 2:15 pm

pissontheroof wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:07 am Not sure where to stick this item ;
But talk about a “ train wreck “ starts at 2 minutes 20 seconds in

I thought you were referring to his presenting skills, which are also a train wreck. If you're listening Mr B, here's some tips:

1. Stop moving your head from left to right. It inexplicably starts when you introduce yourself, and never stops for more than a few seconds:

2. Stop lifting your thumbs up from your Dr Spock like hand position. In fact, get an iPad and hold that and pretend to tap it, whatever it takes to lose those hands and thumbs;




3. Those eyebrows... raising both at the same time is one thing, but they have a mind of their own, up goes one, down goes the other but they never settle on a level and are soon out of sync. Getting your head straight from the start might help. Shaving them off may be an option. Or maybe just stop with the endless facial exclamations?

4. You can speak slightly faster than cretin-speed. When you speak so slowly you over-emphasise and it sounds too hammy to the listener.

Other than that, it was great!

P.S. I've taken your logo at its word.

The comments on gesturing are warranted. However, I think his delivery is not intended for ones like you and I who understand English. It is a great speed for those who might use his segment to learn English. It's a little bit like Khmer, where if you watch the news, it is nothing like the common vernacular, but it is accurate..........

ordinary golfing behavior