History - Tell me why.

American Chuck Wagon Association - ACWA ·
Ronnie Sexton ·

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 ass 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' asses.)

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 ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything......

PECAN PIE BROWNIES

These Pecan Pie Brownies take everyone’s favorite part of the pecan pie, the gooey, nutty filling, and bake it right on top of rich chocolate brownies. The combination of chocolate and pecan pie filling is even better than your classic pecan pie.
https://justcookwell.com/pecan-pie-brownies/?fbclid=IwAR38HAIlyGZY9xVYH0qOQe7wh4hH7-1YUOhdFMmpj0Jobs7hcKQVT7BuByY

PECAN PIE BROWNIES

These Pecan Pie Brownies take everyone’s favorite part of the pecan pie, the gooey, nutty filling, and bake it right on top of rich chocolate brownies. These brownies were out of this world good! The combination of chocolate and pecan pie filling is even better than your classic pecan pie.

It’s a simple recipe. I used a boxed brownie mix (one that makes a 13-inch x 9-inch pan of brownies) to keep things simple but if you have a favorite brownie recipe you can use that. These brownies will be very fudgy because the pecan pie filling soaks into the brownie as it bakes keeping it super moist. The pecan pie topping is the star of the show and I made it using my mom’s pecan pie filling recipe.


INGREDIENTS
1 box Brownie mix , must have instructions for making in 13×9 pan + ingredients listed on the package

PECAN PIE FILLING:
1 cup Sugar
1 1/2 cups Light Corn syrup
4 Eggs
1/4 cup Unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 cups Pecans, roughly chopped

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven according to brownie package instructions.

Whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a small saucepan. Place on the stove top over medium high heat and begin to cook, stirring continuously.

Mix brownies according to package instructions.

Pour brownie batter into a greased 13×9 inch pan and place in oven to bake for 20 minutes. * see note about cooking time below

As the brownies bake the filling in the saucepan should have thicken enough to coat your spoon (about 15 minutes). Stir the pecans into the mixture and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes until the mixture reaches the consistency of runny oatmeal. You want it to be loose enough to pour over the brownies but not liquid.

When the brownies have finished pre-baking remove them from the oven and pour the pecan pie filling over them spreading it out to cover the brownies completely.

Place them back in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the filling only jiggles slightly in the middle when you move the pan.

Let cool to room temperature before cutting.