Let me introduce myself. I am George Oliver Overby Farnsworth and I own Fast and Speedy Trains (F.A.S.T.). We run a train service between the towns of Springfield and Springpond. I recently bought the company from Ada Lovelace and part of the agreement was that F.A.S.T. continue to transport her papier-mache creations between the towns of Springfield and Springpond so she can display them and at- tempt to sell them at craft fairs. We have faithfully done this in a specially designed flatbed rail car. We place her creations in a huge crate (8 feet high, 10 feet wide, and 16 feet long) on top of the flat bed car, and hook it up at the end of the passenger cars. However, Ms. Lovelace is complaining of breakage and whining about the terms of our agreement. I admit there has been a small amount of bapakage, but I think she is being ridiculous. She points to a clause in the contract that says "the center of mass of the crate" which we place on the rail car "shall be kept as low as possible. This is, of course, silly. Rail cars are exceedingly stable, and they almost never tip over. Nonetheless, Ms. Lovelace insisted on including this clause in our contract, as she is under the mistaken impression that it will help to minimize breakage. This "low as possible" clause I simply do not understand, and neither does Ms. Lovelace. That is, she pretends to know enough to make herself a blasted nuisance, but she cannot tell me exactly how to pack the stupid crate. Still, she is willing to accept your interpretation, as a neutral third party, about the best way to proceed. Your help will save us extremely expensive arbitration, so I hope that you can explain the matter to both of our satisfaction. The crate itself weighs 736 pounds. I know enough to understand that the center of mass of the crate is exactly halfway up, at least if the crate is empty. The papier mch creations of the oh-so-artistic A. Lovelace are very light: only 0.65 pounds per cubic foot, so that when the crate it filled to the top (as we prefer to pack it), the crate weighs slightly more than double its empty weight. And in this case, it is easy to see the center of mass must again be halfway up: 4 feet high. If we do not fill the crates say, if we pack the creatures in only halfway up then of course we have to make more trips, which is expensive for us. After all, we only have two engines. But Ms. Lovelace claims that in this case, because the contents of the box are lower, the center of mass must be lower too. How much lower? She in his infinite wisdom cannot tell me. How high should I pack the crate so that the center of mass is as low as possible? She cannot tell me that, either. (Frankly, I think she should go back to her computers and leave the craft fairs alone, but she won't listen to me.) So we turn to you. Can you please explain, in a way that would make sense both to the "Artist" Lovelace, and also to a mere mortal like me, how high I can fill the crate? The next shipment goes out December 1, so please get back to us by then Yours in desperation, G.O.O. Farnsworth Let me introduce myself. I am George Oliver Overby Farnsworth and I own Fast and Speedy Trains (F.A.S.T.). We run a train service between the towns of Springfield and Springpond. I recently bought the company from Ada Lovelace and part of the agreement was that F.A.S.T. continue to transport her papier-mache creations between the towns of Springfield and Springpond so she can display them and at- tempt to sell them at craft fairs. We have faithfully done this in a specially designed flatbed rail car. We place her creations in a huge crate (8 feet high, 10 feet wide, and 16 feet long) on top of the flat bed car, and hook it up at the end of the passenger cars. However, Ms. Lovelace is complaining of breakage and whining about the terms of our agreement. I admit there has been a small amount of bapakage, but I think she is being ridiculous. She points to a clause in the contract that says "the center of mass of the crate" which we place on the rail car "shall be kept as low as possible. This is, of course, silly. Rail cars are exceedingly stable, and they almost never tip over. Nonetheless, Ms. Lovelace insisted on including this clause in our contract, as she is under the mistaken impression that it will help to minimize breakage. This "low as possible" clause I simply do not understand, and neither does Ms. Lovelace. That is, she pretends to know enough to make herself a blasted nuisance, but she cannot tell me exactly how to pack the stupid crate. Still, she is willing to accept your interpretation, as a neutral third party, about the best way to proceed. Your help will save us extremely expensive arbitration, so I hope that you can explain the matter to both of our satisfaction. The crate itself weighs 736 pounds. I know enough to understand that the center of mass of the crate is exactly halfway up, at least if the crate is empty. The papier mch creations of the oh-so-artistic A. Lovelace are very light: only 0.65 pounds per cubic foot, so that when the crate it filled to the top (as we prefer to pack it), the crate weighs slightly more than double its empty weight. And in this case, it is easy to see the center of mass must again be halfway up: 4 feet high. If we do not fill the crates say, if we pack the creatures in only halfway up then of course we have to make more trips, which is expensive for us. After all, we only have two engines. But Ms. Lovelace claims that in this case, because the contents of the box are lower, the center of mass must be lower too. How much lower? She in his infinite wisdom cannot tell me. How high should I pack the crate so that the center of mass is as low as possible? She cannot tell me that, either. (Frankly, I think she should go back to her computers and leave the craft fairs alone, but she won't listen to me.) So we turn to you. Can you please explain, in a way that would make sense both to the "Artist" Lovelace, and also to a mere mortal like me, how high I can fill the crate? The next shipment goes out December 1, so please get back to us by then Yours in desperation, G.O.O. Farnsworth