Just stumbled across the Wordpress iPhone app. I can now post to this little blog from my phone. How good is that !

Did you know one of the most advanced features of the US Space Programme was determined by the width of a horse’s arse.

The axel width of Roman chariots was two horse arses wide. Over time, the chariot wheels dug deep ruts in the roads. All subsequent chariots, carts and later carriages had to stick to that same axel width to ensure the wheels turned in the well established ruts. Longer axels would wreck the vehicle as one wheel rode in the rut and the other bumped along the bank.

English carriage makers therefore standardised their axel design to the old Roman rut widths. With the industrial revolution, carriage makers made trams and then trains. They did so using the tools and measurements of their trade.

English engineers went on to build the American railways. They did so using their old measurements. American railway tracks are therefore 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches apart. This measurement came from those old Roman roads.

Now, think of that space shuttle. One of the fastest and most technically advanced vehicles around. Each shuttle has two giant booster rockets attached to the main fuel tank. These are called solid rocket boosters, or SRBs.

Well, the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch pad. The railway line goes through a mountain tunnel which is slightly wider than the railway tracks. The rocket designers wanted bigger boosters, but were restricted by the width of that tunnel.

So a principle design feature of the US space programme was originally determined by the width of a horse’s arse…

Adds a whole new meaning to the term legacy systems !

I’ve always been a huge fan of the BBC. They do so many great things and are just so good. Now, they’ve just unveiled their Creative Archive project. Basically, any UK TV licence holder can access footage from the BBC archive and “find, share, watch, listen and re-use the archive as a fuel for their own creative endeavours. In other words, you can rip, mix and share the BBC.“. How good is that. Genius !

Awesome set of photos taken from the air… desktop wallpaper anyone ?

What were you thinking just then ? Danish photographer Simon Hoegsberg asks this question with his new ‘Thought Project’. He approached strangers in the street asking what their last thought was… He recorded their words and took their picture. Simple idea, brilliantly done…

Tired of saying it with flowers ? Well, thanks to a funky Japanese innovation, you can now get a bean plant which sprouts to reveal a special message…

It comes with a choice of message, like “Good Luck” and “I Love You” inscribed through the embryonic plant with a laser beam. When it grows, you see the message. How fab is that !

Wow ! The world would surely be a poorer place without the French. Traditional Anglo-French rivalry tends to distort our view of France and her achievements. But, they sure know how to build in a spectacular fashion.

President Jacques Chirac has just opened the world’s highest road bridge in southern France. The Millau bridge is over 300m tall and stretches to a whopping 1.5 miles long. That’s one hell of a bridge. Apparently, Norman Foster, the architect, curved the bridge to allow motorists a better view…

Commentators lament that a project like this would never get off the ground in Britain. We seem to lack the vision and courage to say ‘let’s make it magnificent’. Media whinging and carping at the costs of large scale public works make British politicans wary of being bold and building big. Take attitudes towards the Dome and some of the millenium projects or the new Scottish Parliament. Even the Gherkin has been criticised for being half full. Some tabloids have even been whining about the costs of the 2012 Olympic bid…

Time for the hacks to shut up and for us to learn something from the French and start building big for the sake of it !

Oh Wow… bought a microscope yesterday. Bit geeky I know, but what the heck ! It’s a fantastic piece of kit with a max 640X magnification. You can see amazingly small detail - this picture is of a human hair !

Yesterday I sat transfixed, watching the heartbeat of a tiny tiny bug. The intricate detail and structure of this miniscule world is breathtaking.

It’s just incredible what you can see. My own blood cells are strangely awesome. Cells, bugs, leaves, dust, milk all look totally alien and other worldly. I’d no idea there were so many weird creepy crawlies in a tweezer full of damp moss.

Rigged up the camera so I could take photos and film through the scope. That’s kinda the idea. To poke a camera into a world so small that we are barely aware of its existence. What could it reveal…

A fascinating new world to explore…. watch this space, I’ll post pics and clips.

Australia has stunning natural beauty and awesome scenery. Here’s a fantastic photo gallery of Australia’s natural beauty… enjoy !