Carl Sagan - a 10 year memorial

[Argonavis]

Carl Sagan died ten years ago. Below is an interesting article that recalls Sagan’s contributions to planetary research, the public understanding of science, and the skeptical movement.

http://www.csicop.org/si/2007-01/sagan.html

Amongst the big ideas he promoted were the greenhouse effect and SETI, as well as promote planetary science when it was neglected by most astronomers.

[bojan]

10 years already........ time flies :-(

[Adrian-H]

i just got carl sagans complete cosmos series recently last month on my birthday from my girlfriend.

i first watched cosmos in january, when she borrowed her brothers copy for me to watch. she had been telling me about it for along time, and how she used to watch it when she was young.

now that ive finally seen the series i must say that it is an extremely compelling series by carl sagan, i have never seen any astronomy program so informative before.

the cosmos series is about as old as me.. i am greatfull that i have a copy of the full series.

i would highly recommend watching it to any astronomy enthusiast. or even science lovers.

i think id like to show it to my mum too, when i get back to australia, i think she would find it amazing.

i salute carl sagan:thumbsup:

[DobDobDob]

Can you find out where your girlfriend got them from, or perhaps someone has a link to them for sale somewhere?

[xelasnave]

It is unfortunate that great men like him have to follow behind "movie stars" and "sports heroes". Dam a culture that sees exceptional persons such as this great man recognised by only those interested in much the same thing. Before making yet another Batman movie or even doing King Kong again would it be unreasonable to expect that such a great man be presented to the public at large with a hollywood block buster so the kids can see what a real hero looks like, I for one would be happy for some better heros to be embraced by our shallow culture.
alex

[DobDobDob]

I would love to purchase his complete collection - but where??? :doh:

[sejanus]

make sure to buy the book "cosmos" as well.

[DobDobDob]

At last, I found it, check out:
http://www.astronomyonline.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=118&ProductID=1608&cid=-1 (http://www.astronomyonline.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=118&ProductID=1608&cid=-1)

this is a must fathers day present, but wait....that's too long to wait...:rolleyes: I must come up with another nefarious scheme to get my loved ones to express EXACTLY how much the love me, lets say $265.00 worth :whistle:

[Argonavis]

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-0296770-2978322?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cosmos+sagan

but be prepared to dig deep in your pockets

[DobDobDob]

Thanks I found a local supplier just moments before you posted yours :D

[sejanus]

it's cheaper on amazon, my copy landed was $170 or so.

[xelasnave]

When in Real Estate I was invited into many homes. Huge and humble. Rather than look at their furniture or projected lifestyle I looked simply at their book shelves for that told me everything I needed know about the people behind the image they projected to the rest of the world, their profession or work, their hobbies even what they expected for their children, book form part of us .... another funny story.. after leaving a barristers chambers with a client going thru a run down on how the next days battle may go I was intrigued by the clients observation.... "he must be a very clever man...did you see all those books on the shelves behind him!"... still some people do read them rather than decorate with them.
alex

[Adrian-H]

pretty sure she got it from amazon, you are gonna love it, if you havent seen it allready..


couldnt agree with your more alex about the hollywood thing, its a shame isnt it? hollywood dosent set a good role for society eather..

[DobDobDob]

That a substantial saving, thanks for the heads up on that :thumbsup:

[DobDobDob]

Might I be so bold as to add something to your very fine sentiment, which I have condensed into your final sentence above.

Rather than the books per se, it is the words contained within them, Words are the singularly most powerful weapon we possess, without a firm command of words and their meanings, you simply won't succeed in life (yes I heard the story of the Iron Baron who couldn't sign his name), I mean generally.

One of the most brilliant men who ever lived (IMHO) Earl Nightingale http://www.earlnightingale.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=19 (http://www.earlnightingale.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=19) espoused that if we learned just one new word (and it's meaning) per day, we would enrich our lives beyond compare. I have tried to follow that edict ever since I read it. :P

[xelasnave]

Good old Earl.. he has helped many people find themselves and sucess:thumbsup: .
I must confess I have gone the other way somewhat to try and use simple and common words as often words carry diferent meanings in different circles. For example when suggesting to David he had a pretty good life, I can use the term, dog, not sly dog or sly old dog. Although each have a differnt meaning in different circles, the responce can tell you much. A "dog" in the stock exchange is smarter than a "bear" or a "bull". Sly Dog seems to play more in "girl boy" things, and "sly old dog" in more manipulative areas. Use the term "dog" to an ex con is about the worst insult you can offer. Thats from observing others and is unrelated to personal involvement in any of the worlds mentioned:D . My little helper up home goes off if you call him "dirt bag" :eyepop: as that was what they warders called him and I guess it wore thin after the years..geez I dont even know how long or what he went in for:) .. still words are so powerful Ron as you correctly observe. Learning a new one every day is a good idea but even with that my vocab. will go done with age I expect:lol: :lol: :lol: .
alex

[DobDobDob]

Alex, you've done it again, you have this wonderful talent for hijacking threads and getting me to follow, and then turning it around to make it look like I'm the culprit :P

The moderators are on to you and can see through your nefarious plot :whistle:

I'm not going to be a party to your off topic raves anymore, regardless oh how hypnotic and alluring your tempting titbits are. :doh:

[xelasnave]

Well I will round it off with the observation that books written about or by great men such as Carl Sagen are worth having in ones library:thumbsup: .
alex

[DobDobDob]

Amen to that brother :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: