Here we made a "Frosty the Snowman" for Kate.
She wanted several "Frosty the Snowmans."
Eating snow.
Fun in the snow.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Playing in the snow
We are total Californians. We do not enjoy the cold or the snow. We do not know many things snow people know. We don't use the coat hangers and carry our coats throughout church. I am always asking Jen if she thinks I should shovel snow because I have no idea what the proper time to shovel is (and it takes me forever because I have no idea what I am doing). I complain almost every morning in class about how cold it is and beg global warming to kick in. And finally we live with snow outside but it is a special event that Kate goes outside and plays in the snow. Granted it has been a little light on the snow side so far this year, which we have been happy about.
Here we made a "Frosty the Snowman" for Kate.
She wanted several "Frosty the Snowmans."
Eating snow.
Fun in the snow.
Here we made a "Frosty the Snowman" for Kate.
She wanted several "Frosty the Snowmans."
Eating snow.
Fun in the snow.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Cuddling Ty and Funny Face Kate
Right before bed time, Ty was acting very tired and started to rest his head on my shoulder as I held him. We thought it was cute but when he saw the camera he would straighten up and look at the camera.
Almost got it.
There we go. Isn't he a cutie?
Kate wanted to make some funny faces. Here she is learning how to make funny faces.
Almost got it.
There we go. Isn't he a cutie?
Kate wanted to make some funny faces. Here she is learning how to make funny faces.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
In my cost accounting class we are focusing on lean accounting which deals with continuous improvement. One of the tools of lean is called 5 why. You act like a child and keep asking why the problem exists until you find the true root of the problem. You have to do it without a preconception of what you think the solution is before you start. You aren't limited to 5 whys but it usually takes 5 to get to the source. Anyway, the teacher gave a hand out with a good example of a 5 why, more like a funny example. I think it may have been an email forward so sorry if you have already read this.
Railroad
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 English expatriates built the US railroads.
Why did the English 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.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel 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.
Why the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts , which everyone else had to match for fear 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 in 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 rear came up with it?' you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.
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 SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's 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 SRB's 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 rear.
Railroad
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 English expatriates built the US railroads.
Why did the English 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.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel 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.
Why the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts , which everyone else had to match for fear 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 in 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 rear came up with it?' you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.
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 SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's 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 SRB's 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 rear.
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