oo8 | Specifications | Audio/Open

[autodidacticrobogirl]

The U.S. standard railroad gauge is 4 feet, 8.5 inches.

[And now it's time to play the 'lets pretend that never happened' game!]

That's actually a pretty odd number to use. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates. The first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. In addition, the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. So why did the wagons have that particular odd 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.

The first really long distance roads in Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. The ruts in the roads, which everyone had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels, were first formed by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for, or by, Imperial Rome, they were naturally all standard in the matter of wheel spacing. The U.S. standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

...

There's a reason why I'm officially banned from philosophy conferences.

Comments

Audio

[ntjstapwn]

Huh. Interesting bit of trivia.

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, it seems that beurocracies and specifications are the only truly immortal things.

Re: Audio

[ntjstapwn]

Buerocracies certainly seem to run like they can take as much time as they want.

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Ever try stopping one? It's ridiculous.

Re: Audio

[ntjstapwn]

No. They're a necessary evil; I just try to avoid them when possible.

[thenotmagician]

...What?

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Zeke. hi.

[Awkward pause]

Hi, Zeke.

[thenotmagician]

Heeey Kim.

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Uh.

[Fuck why are emotions so hard?]

How are. You?

[thenotmagician]

I'm great. Y'doin' better?

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

I'm fine. Keeping busy.

[thenotmagician]

Welp, that's a good idea. Otherwise y'might go crazy. Too much vacation.

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

I d--... yeah.

[thenotmagician]

So, what'cha been keepin' busy with, eh?

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

How long have you been on the boat, Zeke?

[thenotmagician]

Over a year, why?

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

And how old were you, when you got here?

[thenotmagician]

[SOB he hates talking about his age]

Twenty-seven. Y'goin' somewhere with this?

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Yes. How tall were you, then?

[thenotmagician]

I... guess five foot eleven or somethin'. I dunno.

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

How tall are you now?

[thenotmagician]

Th'fuck am I supposed ta know that?

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Go measure yourself. I'll wait.

It's....Kind of....important.

[She's such a stalker.]

[thenotmagician]

Alright, alright. I'll go do that.

[Zeke turns off the comm to find some way to measure himself. He's back in around 30 minutes]

Five foot eleven.

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Hm. Thank you.

[click! Kim's easily distracted into rudeness, in case you hadn't found out, Zeke]

[ audio ]

[lilyground.livejournal.com]

[... 6_9]

What?

[ audio ]

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

[Sigh. Lily again]

People who are taught stupidly don't usually fix how stupid they are.

[ audio ]

[lilyground.livejournal.com]

Oh.

[...]

Why not? Don't they know they're stupid?

[ audio ]

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Oh, they do. But there's a lot of them all being stupid together, so they can't stop until most of them decide to do so together.

But nobody's going to stop being stupid because they all think they're smarter than that. They're embarrassed to act intelligently, because they're afraid of looking stupid in front of the others.

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

Alright, I'll bite. What's a railroad?

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

It's an outmoded form of bulk transportation. Big cars on wheels run along a rail, propelled by a coal-powered steam engine.

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

Coal. [Wait, he knows this one. Give him a second.] Fossil fuel, right?

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Barbaric, isn't it?

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

Every civilization has to start somewhere, I guess.

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

That doesn't make it fine when those civilizations excuse self-destruction with their own ignorance as if "It was an accident!" means something.

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

I guess I can take solace in the knowledge that my civilization's self-destruction wasn't an accident then.

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Mine wasn't either. [both of them] Willful blindness isn't the same as actual blindness. Usually.

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

In the end, does it really matter? It's gone one way or another.

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

How do you want to die, Cale? Got a preference?

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

Old age.

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

And the fact that you want to live a long time then die peacefully doesn't affect your opinion on civilizations that commit suicide?

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

It's not how a civilization died that matters. It's what people do to pick up the pieces afterward that matters. Some do it. Some don't. [Oh yes, he's bitter.]

Audio

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Extinction changes the path, but not the direction.

Audio

[acosmiccastaway.livejournal.com]

You've got that right.

[Text]

[booze]

You should be officially banned from any conference. Period.

[Audio]

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

Social events are a waste of time, anyway.

Besides, the roboticists think they can do better.

[teethofneedles.livejournal.com]

There's also a reason no one cares.

[autodidacticone.livejournal.com]

That you have no ambition isn't my problem.