Re: Tracing things back (was halfdecade)

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 17:28 -0400 08/03/2002, Justin Parke wrote:
> Along these lines I remember someone telling me the story once of how that
> size of the vehicle which carries the space shuttle can be traced back to
> horse drawn carriages in Roman times, or something.  Has anyone heard
> something similar?
Yes the description which traces the gauge size of our railroads back
to the British, and thence to the width of the ruts in Scottish
roads, which is in turn traces back to the ruts left by the romans
because their chariot wheels were separated by the width of two
warhorses' rumps.

But I've also seen it thoroughly debunked. It may or may not be true.

Hugh
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Hugh Haskell
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<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

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