SPACE SHUTTLE ENGINEERING

Before I attempt a return to a discussion of governments, I thought it might be interesting to put the following trivia on line. It was sent to me some time ago and I thought it was interesting; and a further. but somewhat obtuse lesson in understanding history and it continuing impact on the modern world.

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?

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.

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 wheel spacing?
 

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 spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. And bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a spec and told we have always done it that way and wonder what horse's ass came up with that, you may be exactly right, Because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

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. 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?

GOOD NEWS--BAD NEWS

Arizona is poised to gain considerably from this years Presidental election results. It appears that Sen. Obama and the Democratic bosses have chosen Arizona Governor Napolitano and Representative Grijalva for Cabinet posts. This means that those vacant State positions will need to be filled. By precedence, the Governor's position will fall to the AZ Secy of State, a Republican (of little note and questionable abilities) and possibly the Representative' position may be filled by appointment (possibly from the new Governor). 

The Bad news side of this is that, I believe, the new Cabinet appointees are probably not the strongest and best people for their new positions. The appointments apparently are either a sign of few good choices available, or at worst just another payoff to political friends for services rendered to the Democratic party and the election. This view is further strengthened by the apparent selection of Sen. Clinton to be Secy of State; a position that I fully believe is not within her capabilities and is not warranted by any perceived abilities. 

Certainly there must be other more capable people for these positions within the Democratic sphere of influence! (Sen Lieberman for Secy of State?)

WHEN???

When will this country return to its senses. It seems as if we have lost our ability to reason. A few examples:

1. A man was just elected President who's only qualifications are that he is old enough and a natural born citizen. All of his other qualities are totally lacking in Presidental material (poor english but how else to say this?). He has no significant legislative capability, administrative skills, or relevant work experience.

2. The present President did a reasonably good job for about 7 1/2 years until he was suddenly accused of being totally incompetent. Some may argue differently, but, he was in charge during a period of improved economic times, low unemployment, startling DOW Jones Industrial increases, Successful completion of a military operation and correction of the ensuing peace process (review the Post WW2 European trials and tribulations including the long cold war era) The down turn in the economy began within (approximately) 6 months of the election. Note also that a major cause for some of our prob lems occurred after the DEemocratic party captured the House of Representatives leadership.

3. After the new President Elect ran on a platform of CHANGE he is now shown that the only apparent change will be from Republicans to Democrats (insiders all). 

4. The public media has become so biased and blind to objectivity, that we now do not know what is truth and what is fiction. 

5. There is real danger of the average person becoming placed in jeopardy further by having rules and laws enacted that will severely limit gun ownership. 

6. There is little being done to stem the tide of illegal immigration in this country. This problem has escelated in recent years to the point that the Mayor and Chief of Police of Phoenix, AZ are having a giant dispute over the activities of the Maricopa County Sheriff's policy in aggressively trying to enforce the laws against Illegal people. 

7. The USA has embarked upon further military missions to other countries without consideration for the consequences. We are becoming the aggressor in some of these operations and cannot fully justify the cost in wealth and lives.

8. The Government is now throwing money (quite recklessly in my opinion) at every misfortune that occurs (New Orleans, Banks, Wall Street, Mortgages in default, Auto makers and other ill advised businesses). AND no one is effectively monitoring the expenditures or where the money is being obtained (do I hear printing presses operating in overtime).

This is just a start.  Sooner or later we will have to pay for this mess.

FACES IN HILL

I have passed by this area many times. It is located on highway US 60 not too far from Superior, Arizona. To me the image is quite intriguing. Notice that there appears to be more than one face in the rocks.

NEW CAMERA

Thanks to my youngest daughter, I now have purchased a new camera. There is a marked difference between the new one and old one. Don't be fooled, the old camera was a far cry better than a Brownie Hawkeye or the Tintype machine of older days, but the difference in operation of the new one versus the old one is significant. The old one was a inolta Diamage 7 with 5.2 MEGA Pixcell resolution. The new camera is a Nikon D90 with 12.3 MEGA Pixcell resolution. Lots of updates that makes it clearer and faster. See the new picture from the new camera of our Bassett, Sara.

Please understand that this picture was taken by someone who has more closeup pictures of his thumb than anything else.

Next I shall attempt to return to the Governments assessment.

LAST HURRAH?

The US election concludes tomorrow. I still feel that the election process is flawed by being too long and too much money and energy is being spent. I am not in favor of Sen. Obama and feel that his election would be a grave error for this country. I also feel that Sen McCain is probably not the best choice but the lesser problem for us. 

Here are some comments from various political cartoonists that also see some problems (certainly not Arizona's Steve Benson)

SINGLE LEADER GOVERNMENTS

A single leader government, by my definition is one where there is one man (or woman) in charge who controls all aspects of the government. They sometimes will have advisors who are subservient to his will. I consider most tribal organizations, absolute monarchy, and a subset of the absolute monarchy [dictatorship] to be the principle forms of this type of government. 

The major difference between the absolute monarchy and the dictatorship lies in how the leader views himself. The absolute monarch believes in his power as being from a right due to his family or position in the social hierarchy. The dictator rules by his ability to control the subject population through military or theocratic principles.

Tribal organizations usually involve very limited populations due to the inability of one man to control larger numbers of people. (thirty or fewer subjects). Beyond these small groups, tribal organizations become less stable and tend to develop sects or clans within the tribe. Loyalty to the tribal leader is not strong. 

The need for longevity often will cause dictatorships to last only so long as the primary leader is alive and can exert strong influence. Transition of this type of government often results in revolution.

Absolute Monarchies can survive due to the ability of the leader to develop a chain of succession. The chain must remain unbroken in order for the government to survive.

All of the above organizations are dependent upon the personalities of the leader and his ability to maintain strength; usually military power and police forces. These societies do not tolerate dissent among the population and are usually characterized by strong repression tactics.