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A major Space Shuttle design feature was determined over 2000 years ago |
• Big Brother at work - just a small percentage of the population is scared about it... :
 Apple FaceTime and Big Brother »
• Ordinary Roman carts were constructed to match the width of Imperial Roman war chariots because it was easier to follow the ruts in the road left by the war chariots. The chariots were sized to accommodate the width of two large war horses, which translates into our English measurement as a width of 4' 8.5". Roads throughout the vast Roman empire were built to this spec. When the legions of Rome marched into Britain, they constructed long distance imperial roads 4' 8.5" wide. When the English started building tramways, they used the same width so the same horse carriages could be used. And when they started building railways with horseless carriages, naturally the rails were 4' 8.5" wide. Imported laborers from the British Isles built the first railways in the Americas using the same tools and jigs they were used to. Fast forward to the US Space shuttle, which is built in parts around the country and assembled in Florida. Because the two large solid fuel rocket engines on the side of the launch Shuttle were sent by railroad from Utah, and that line transversed a tunnel not much wider than the standard track, the rockets themselves could not be much wider than 4' 8.5." As one wag concluded: "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 two horses' arse." :
Chosen, Inevitable, and Contingent »
• This infographic exhibits pioneers in the field of programming, along with the history and current statistics of various programming languages :
Designing The “World Of Programming” Infographic »
Author: Asterisk, for AZ10.com ~ 14 Jun 2010
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• Cory Doctorow fooled by phishing »
Apple's iPad is a serious threat to individual freedom? - Stallman on Apple's iPad: a serious threat to individual freedom : Stallman: "The iBad? A serious threat to individual freedom" » Here's how Cory ...
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• Futuristic interface elements »
TCP/IP geniuses, and personal mobility - BBN had a big contract to implement TCP/IP, but their stuff didn't work, and Joy's grad student stuff worked. So they had this big meeting and this grad student in a T-s ...
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• Steve Jobs got cyborg vision? Already? »
Probabilistic rules of inference? - It does feel almost like the beginning of the Internet, you can see that sensor computing is going to be important and useful, but it's not possible to see in advance just ho ...
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• They took away her mobile phone »
Geotagging, technology, privacy, and amputated virtual limbs - An acquaintance of mine has a teenage daughter. Like most teens in this century she spends her day texting her friends, abbreviating her life into ...
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• Way more exciting than the iPad! »
Besides the Nexus One and mini space shuttles - The Nexus One? Google is doing this for developers, not consumers : No, Google will not subsidize the Nexus One (for now) » The X-37 "mini space shuttle" wi ...
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• Tales of 3G Mobile »
Do you ever read at the checkout counter? - Steel velcro, eBook readers and funny 3G Mobile European carriers tales. USB Modem Sticks for 3G Mobile Broadband in Europe... well, Italy: - Laughing with European c ...
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• Keyboards of the future »
From Battlestar Galactica - A strange keyboard as seen in one of the first episodes of Battlestar Galactica, the 2004 TV series created by David Eick and Ronald D. Moore (re-imagining the Battlestar Galactica t ...
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