Of Horses’ Rears, Railroads, and Space Shuttles

It’s not exactly the Act of asking of the Ages. But still, it kinda makes you awe:
How does one create the connection from a roadster’s rear to a Extension Shuttle?
Then again, as luck may have it it is the Question of the Ages.
Either way, it’s an engaging question, don’t you cogitate? I mean, despite the obvious jokes about horses’, er, posteriors, this is absolutely a great suitable to illustrate a very uncompounded, yet powerful acquisition of knowledge technique. What you do, see, is simulate you’re 4 years old.
For those of you who have not old children (or have been around them for more than 2.43 minutes), take a instant and think about what their most *ahem* endearing characteristic might be (sound of clock tick – ding!). Direct you are!
They love to ask, “Why?” And what’s more, every sole freakin’ response you give only serves to revive the feedback bight with yet another “why” examination. Every. Single. Duration.
The funny object is, it’s a technique most consultants find completely useful, too. No, indeed! The main dissimilarity is, we usually remember as formerly known when the person being asked the questions is about to displode… so we close. The beauty of this technique though, is, if we ask enough “why” questions, we’ll in a short time get to the *ahem* bottom of substance. (Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry.)
Have you ever tried it?
I’ll exemplify what I mean with this minute story I not long ago ran across:
Consider… the Railroads
The U.S. pennon railroad gauge (which is the remoteness between the centerline of the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. Now, you may bring into being (or you may not) – that’s an highly odd number. Why on world was that particular measure used? Well, as it turns out, it’s because that’s the way they built them in England, and English people expatriates built the US railroads. But let’s not close there; let’s keep asking “why” and see where it leads.
...
Read more...