The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas-covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think that this to be the normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.
Douglas Adams in The Scientific Indian Science Fiction Anthology
- Charles Wilkes (Wikipedia)
Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship’s captain, and explorer. He led the first United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War (1861-1865), he commanded USS San Jacinto during the Trent Affair incident in which he stopped a British Royal Mail ship and forcibly removed two Confederate diplomats, almost leading to war between the United States and United Kingdom.