What’s the source for this? Googling “Not 1982” is not helpful… I did find the following amusing quote though:
His engineers were once consulting [Tsar Nicholas] as to the expediency of taking the line from St Petersburg to Moscow by a slight detour to avoid some very troublesome obstacles. The Tsar took up a ruler and with his pencil drew a straight line from the old metropolis. Handing back the chart he peremptorily said “There, gentlemen, that is to be the route for the line!”
I wonder if Nicholas was acting in the same spirit as King Canute and likewise has been subsequently misinterpreted. (I’ve seen the Canute story mentioned as an example of being power-mad.) Nicholas’s intention could have been something like ‘Gentlemen, you were chosen for your competence in engineering and expertise in dealing with such details; I have made my general wish known to you; kindly implement it and do not bother me with what is your job.’
I suppose it would be in bad taste to find that rather amusing. Or at least to admit it.
In circumstances like that I find I have to laugh, if only to keep from weeping.
“The 350-mile detour in the Trans-Siberian Railway was caused by the Tsar, who drew the proposed route using a ruler with a notch in it.”—Not 1982
What’s the source for this? Googling “Not 1982” is not helpful… I did find the following amusing quote though:
“The Trans-Siberian Railway”. In The Living Age, seventh series volume five, 1899
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_the_Nine_O%27Clock_News#Books_and_miscellaneous
My google-fu is strong-ish. Still, not a particularly reliable source.
I wonder if Nicholas was acting in the same spirit as King Canute and likewise has been subsequently misinterpreted. (I’ve seen the Canute story mentioned as an example of being power-mad.) Nicholas’s intention could have been something like ‘Gentlemen, you were chosen for your competence in engineering and expertise in dealing with such details; I have made my general wish known to you; kindly implement it and do not bother me with what is your job.’