[Assam] Trivia

[Ram Sarangapani]

Hi Uttam,

I am sorry, I didn't provide any clue. But I had expected at least one khar
khowa Texan would respond :).

Well this chicken is really not the spicy variety, but comes real close.

This "Chicken" should be of great interest to people interested in maritime,
in physics, and the rather gutsy way huge ships and tankers are handled by
the Houston Ship Channel. The Houston Ship Channel is the 2nd largest in the
world (what is the largest?), but it is narrow.

>From what I know, that while the channel is narrow is quite long, and
basically, only locally trained experts, who know the Houston Ship channel
well, pilot the ships thru the channel. All ships coming in from any where
HAVE to be piloted to the channels by these guys. They are paid huge amounts
by international shipping companies for the enormous risk taken and for
getting their ships thru safely.

The authorities on the other hand "make sure" that two ships going headlong
toward each other are set in motion. (only 2 ships can barely, just barely
pass by each other).

The term "Chicken" is a common phrase in Texas (maybe US) - like cutting it
too close while driving fast or jumping from one vehicle to another (while
in motion) - illegal, but done.

As for ships, it seems a huge ship needs at least 7 miles to stop, but the
distance between two oncoming ships is just half a mile or so. Seems a lot
of space - but not really enough when we are talking about ships.

The ships are (it seems) steered toward each other purposely - and it is
shocking, that the ships really do not crash into each other because the
water between them pushes them back, and away from each other.

For those interested, the first link is a time lapse of ships navigating the
channel (just fantastic), the second is a better and a more accurate
outline.
The Houston ship channel is the only place in the world that this happens
and if you read the link, it seems even veteran ship captains sweat bricks
when think of the HSC.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oneeighteen/2443170048/in/photostream

http://www.kennebeccaptain.blogspot.com/2008/04/texas-chicken.html

Enjoy,

--Ram da


On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 9:00 PM, uttam borthakur
<uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in>wrote:

> Ram Da
>
> I scrolled down like the proverbial Sardarji, but found no clue!
>
>
> Uttam Kumar Borthakur
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Ram Sarangapani <assamrs at gmail.com>
> To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world <
> assam at assamnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, 4 September, 2008 10:45:29 PM
> Subject: [Assam] Trivia
>
> A quick trivia.
>
> What is a "Texas Chicken"?
> This is supposedly world famous.
>
> --Ram
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