Does Circular Motion Suit the Earth?
Copernicus didn't know what hit him.
Nor did he know what was rustling around in half his robes on the other side of his office, snarling and growling as the robe churned up against the wall.
A note of explanation: Copernicus preferred, especially when he worked at home, to wear his robe around the office. He found he was able to putter around much more effectively, and, by his estimation, he came up with three quarters of his best astronomical work while puttering. What a lot of people don't realize is that astronomy is a good deal of math and puttering, and not just a lot of looking up at the heavens either unaided or with the help of a telescope. Of course, astronomers know this, but then a lot of people aren't astronomers. Or, if they are, they're hobbyists (no offense), who probably don't do the math half of being an astronomer, and prefer to focus on the gazing at the heavens portion of it. Copernicus occasionally showed up at his not-home office in his robes, but this only happened once he got published, and people were more likely to put up with odd behavior from him.
A further note: Usually he worked at home to get away from the hustle and bustle of his regular office, which was overrun by other astronomers, including some assistants he employed to do some of the more boring mathematical stuff, and one he employed to get him coffee, which, in the 1400 and 1500s, was particularly hard to find. It also suffered from an infestation of garden slugs, a collapsed mountain of paperwork, and, though no one knew it, a wombat. His home office was usually quite quiet.
Which is why the blur bounding down the steps and into Copernicus as he got up to get his own cup of hot water (the coffee assistant being at the office) caught Copernicus completely by surprise.
He crawled around the table that dominated the center of the room, and peered around one very imposing wooden leg of the table into the corner and at the swirling robe.
To his horror, what slowly crept out of the folds of the robe was yet another wombat.
disclaimer:
This is a fashionably late issue, as sort of promised last week.
You shall, with any luck, find this issue almost 1/7th more entertaining, to make up for not having had it yesterday. Or possibly last week's issue should have been 1/7th more entertaining, as you had it the extra day. Nonetheless, we hope you enjoyed it. To whatever degree you have calculated it.
Crying baby, gotta run.
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