Some have been asking why the Beaker Folk paid so little attention earlier this week to the Transit of Venus.
Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that we were unaware. And we are as full of excitement as the next bunch of pseudo-traditionalist tree-huggers over the discovery that when a small rocky object goes in front of a big shiny object, it makes a small dark dot.
But our belief-system says that we should treat these astronomical phenomena with the same awe and respect that our Beaker foremothers would have done (Beaker forefathers, of course, did what they were told).
And that amount of awe and respect was - precisely none at all. Lacking the simplest set of welder's goggles, the ancient Beaker Folk would never have watched it. Clearly they couldn't have used a Camera Obscura as even the words are Latin.
Besides, it was wet and it was cloudy. We'll wait for a decent astronomical event, like the International Space Station going over. Now that would have awed the Ancients.
I wonder if the real reason was that you were to cheapskate to provide the necessary special spectacles to allow your 'star gazers' to follow the transit.
ReplyDeleteMind you, I didn't bother looking. I get enough spots before my eyes, to want another :(
And it's already up on youtube if someone is really keen.
wel i Triooed tu wasstich t throoouggh my binocl&*r"s' cuondtsee much as it twas bit bri. sctil;no harm dune to my ieyes tho
ReplyDeleteMy friend just used binoculars to project the image on his living room wall. uKViewer, I think you're right!
ReplyDeleteIn my part of the world there was no question of watching it as we are enduring a typical June of rain, drizzle, fog, and once in a while snow. So although I think there is a sky and planets and a sun up there somewhere, that's something I'm rather taking on faith more than observation these days.
ReplyDeleteMitch Benn wondered, on twitter, why Venus needed a van. It took me 2 hours to get the joke. *am a sad old trout*
ReplyDelete