Kentucky Derby

[billhoward]

Good Magic, trained by Chad Brown '00, places (finishes second) in the Kentucky Derby in a field of 20 horses, by 2-1/2 lengths. The last place horse was 73-1/4 lengths back. Talk about precision vs. importance of fractions and decimals.

Pregame story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/horseracing/2018/04/30/trainer-chad-brown-hopeful-good-magic-earns-him-derby-win/34408833/

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Good Magic, trained by Chad Brown '00, places (finishes second) in the Kentucky Derby in a field of 20 horses, by 2-1/2 lengths. The last place horse was 73-1/4 lengths back. Talk about precision vs. importance of fractions and decimals.

Pregame story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/horseracing/2018/04/30/trainer-chad-brown-hopeful-good-magic-earns-him-derby-win/34408833/

Is a length a precise unit to start with?  Are all horses the same size?

Yeah, I know:  God damn engineers!

[billhoward]

A length in horse racing is 8 feet.

You're also perhaps aware that a horse's ass directly correlates to the width of railroad track at 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches (USA), based on the axle width of ancient Roman carts. There is a long history detailed online about this usually with the punch line, "And that explains why it's accurate to say, 'What horse's ass built this road?'" Except that it's mostly legend. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/horses-pass/

[Swampy]

A length in horse racing is 8 feet.

You're also perhaps aware that a horse's ass directly correlates to the width of railroad track at 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches (USA), based on the axle width of ancient Roman carts. There is a long history detailed online about this usually with the punch line, "And that explains why it's accurate to say, 'What horse's ass built this road?'" Except that it's mostly legend. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/horses-pass/

+1 ::deadhorse::

And to think this weekend, at the ILT, I was trying to explain to my grandson what I love about having attended an Ivy League school.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

A length in horse racing is 8 feet.

You're also perhaps aware that a horse's ass directly correlates to the width of railroad track at 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches (USA), based on the axle width of ancient Roman carts. There is a long history detailed online about this usually with the punch line, "And that explains why it's accurate to say, 'What horse's ass built this road?'" Except that it's mostly legend. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/horses-pass/

+1 ::deadhorse::

And to think this weekend, at the ILT, I was trying to explain to my grandson what I love about having attended an Ivy League school.

Well, at least we know that theory is a load of horseshit.