June 5, 2012

The Transit of Venus

In 1768 Captain James Cook left London in the Endeavour  Bark heading to Tahiti to record the Transit of Venus.

I left my office today at 4:30 to get to Hermann Park, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science to do the same.

We both had problems.

Capt Cook had cannibals.

I had traffic.

Capt Cook ran out of water.

I ran into crowds:


Capt Cook ran into violent indigenous populations.

I ran into lines:
 

Capt Cook had to chart the unknown coastline of the Southern Continent.

I had to find a place to park.
 

But we both saw the Transit of Venus.

Like this:
 

and this:
 

Then I had to go and have a beer, leaving behind these lines. Just like Capt Cook had to head back to London to drop off his findings, before he let Captain Bligh head back to Tahiti to pick up some breadfruit.

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3 comments:

  1. I'm not sure who had it worse... You or him. But you got to have beer, so I'm going to tip it towards The Captain for having it worse in the end!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Probably.

    And I didn't die at the hands of violent residents of the Sandwich Islands!

    At least, not yet...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's an easy fix... Stay away from the Sandwich Islands. Opt for the Soup Peninsulas instead.

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