Ted Su Random Blog

Nayo

A great unsigned LA singer that reminds me of Sade and Morcheeba.

U2, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

They had me at the first single, Vertigo. Another great U2 album. Funny thing is that I never really liked U2 in the past, especially in the 80s when they thought they were going to save the world, but the last couple of albums have been really good.

Gwen Stefani, Love.Angel.Music.Baby

Wow, much many different styles can she combine here? A seamless mix of hip-hop, rock, new wave, and whatever else makes you move. This is the album that Madonna has been trying to make.

Holly Palmer

An indie singer thats thats sexy, sultry and fun. Kinda hard to describe, but leans to the dance/pop/electronic side of things, so just go check out some of the sound clips.

The Megan Slankard Band, Freaky Little Story

Simple, straight forward folk/alternative-rock. A great singer-songwriter that sounds a bit like a cross between Sheryl Crow and Lisa Loeb.

Joss Stone, The Soul Sessions

An amazing singer. Listening to these songs, you would never guess that she’s under 20, white, and from England. She belts out the classic soul songs like nobody’s business.



Go Betty Go, Worst Enemy

Kinda like The Donnas ‘cus its an all girl punk-pop band, but different. Whereas The Donnas can kick your ass, Go Betty Go are more like the cool little sisters you never had.

Joanna McMeikan, Breaking the Habit

Another one thats hard to describe, but if you like Sarah McLachlan or The Cranberries, check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

Bjork, Medulla

Its Bjork, its weird, there are no instrunments, need I say more?

Flyleaf

A great new band. I really like the whole chick-singer/hard-rock-band thing (like Evanescence), and they do it really well.

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**Disclaimer Start**

Okay, I don’t know how real this is, but still makes for an amusing story. Anyways, this was forward to me via email, so take it with a grain of salt, ‘cus we all know how trustworthy email knowledge is. I actually caught an elementry school teacher passing on one of these email trivia bits to his class, kinda made me cringe as one never knows whats true or not with these emails.

**Disclaimer End**

Bureaucracies and old standards never die…

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?

Because that’s the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates.

Why did the English people 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 use that odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long distance roads, because that’s the spacing of the old wheel ruts.

So who built these old rutted roads?

The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts?

The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Thus, we have the answer to the original questions.

The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.

Specifications and Bureaucracies live forever!

So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse’s ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war horses.

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