[OT] Terminal width (was: OpenOffice question)

[Ted Roche]

On 04/05/2010 05:26 PM, Benjamin Scott wrote:
>  (Or maybe it does; hypothetical situations are
> tough to analyze.  :)  )
>   
In theory, hypothetical situations are easy to analyze. In reality,...

> In that vein: WRT short text messages (SMS, microblogging, etc.), is
> there any reason to suppose 140 characters shouldn't remain the limit
> forever, even if the technology changes to allow more?  Maybe 30 years
> from now, "140 characters" will have a historical footnote mentioning
> the original SMS implementation, much like we footnote "80 columns"
> with a mention of IBM punched cards.
There is a wonderful essay that explains that modern railroad track
gauge is based on wagon wheel width, which in turn is based on the
tracks left by a horse team, which in turn harks back to the Roman's
hitching of pairs of horses. Hence railroad gauge is the width of two
horses' asses.

Snopes says nope,
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp
but the thought is still worth a chuckle.

-- 
Ted Roche
Ted Roche & Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com