Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

The Ship of Theseus is a classic philosophical thought experiment that asks whether an object that has had all of its parts replaced over time is still fundamentally the same object.  The problem takes its name from the ship that Theseus, a legendary Greek hero, used to sail to Crete to slay the Minotaur. Bing AI Image The story goes that after returning to Athens, Theseus' ship was preserved by the Athenians, who gradually replaced all of its parts as they decayed over time. The question then arises: if all of the parts of the ship have been replaced, is it still the same ship? Or is it a new ship altogether? The Ship of Theseus problem has puzzled philosophers for centuries and raises fundamental questions about the nature of identity and change. Is identity based on the object's material composition or on its function? If all of an object's parts are replaced, does it lose its identity and become a new object? These questions have real-world implications beyond philosop...

I once read a story sent through an email chain which I've seen pop up every now and again, which asserts the fact that two horses standing side by side are roughly 5 feet apart is the reason that is the standard gauge of railroad tracks is 4'8 1/2". Created with Bing AI It isn't true , or at the very least there's far more that can be said on how standard gauge came into being. For example, the Southern Railway had a 5' gauge originally . I found this from a Trains forum posts which is one of a few of these stories to go around. I apologize in advance for the rough editing. Railroad gauge     Fascinating Stuff . . .   Railroad Tracks   The U.S. 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 designed the U.S. Railroads.   Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail l...

On March 7, 1958, a routine freight train departed from Manitowoc, WI headed for Two Rivers, about 8 miles northeasterly along Lake Michigan.  The train consisted of nine cars loaded with a variety of goods, including lumber, aluminum and sand. What should have been a simple journey quickly turned into a the plot of a movie when the crew decided to take an early morning breakfast break. Thankfully, other than the sinking of the engine and two box cars, there were no injuries, and as there was little in the way of elevation change or curves along the branch, unlike the disaster that occurred at  Lac Megantic, QC , there was no damage beyond the aforementioned consist. The crew that stopped for breakfast had not properly secured the train before leaving. As a result, the train began to move on its own, picking up speed as it traveled down the tracks. Despite efforts to catch up with the train and bring it to a stop, the crew was unable to do so. "This photo shows Chicago and No...