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Carl Sagan Blog-A-Thon
I made this identical post last year, but I made it a few days too late to officially make the blog-a-thon, so I am simply reposting it this year.
My feelings haven't changed in a year :) Although I did read a very nice biography on Carl Sagan last month written by William Poundstone and learned a bunch of things about the man I never knew before. I recommend the book highly to anyone interested in knowing more about Carl Sagan.
Otherwise, here is the same post you saw 360 odd days ago with a few slight edits:
Joel Schlosberg posted a request for bloggers to post any stories they might have about Carl Sagan in honor of the eleventh anniversary of his death (which is tomorrow).
Carl Sagan was and continues to be a huge influence on my life and my writing, but I am sure many, many people can say that about the man. Probably not a lot can say this though: I named my son after him.
Sagan Michael Robert Hiebert was born eleven years ago, November 27, just a few weeks before Carl Sagan passed away. At the time of my son's birth, Carl Sagan was at the Seattle Cancer Clinic and I sent him a letter along with a picture of my boy. I never did hear back, but I like to think he might have read it before he went.
So this is to Carl Sagan -- here's hoping he got at least one thing wrong and that he's somewhere right now knowing a little more about the universe than he did when he was here (he was a devout atheist through his life, right up until his untimely death).
He's very much missed.
erdnase out.
My feelings haven't changed in a year :) Although I did read a very nice biography on Carl Sagan last month written by William Poundstone and learned a bunch of things about the man I never knew before. I recommend the book highly to anyone interested in knowing more about Carl Sagan.
Otherwise, here is the same post you saw 360 odd days ago with a few slight edits:
Joel Schlosberg posted a request for bloggers to post any stories they might have about Carl Sagan in honor of the eleventh anniversary of his death (which is tomorrow).
Carl Sagan was and continues to be a huge influence on my life and my writing, but I am sure many, many people can say that about the man. Probably not a lot can say this though: I named my son after him.
Sagan Michael Robert Hiebert was born eleven years ago, November 27, just a few weeks before Carl Sagan passed away. At the time of my son's birth, Carl Sagan was at the Seattle Cancer Clinic and I sent him a letter along with a picture of my boy. I never did hear back, but I like to think he might have read it before he went.
So this is to Carl Sagan -- here's hoping he got at least one thing wrong and that he's somewhere right now knowing a little more about the universe than he did when he was here (he was a devout atheist through his life, right up until his untimely death).
He's very much missed.
erdnase out.
(Anonymous)
thx for this post
(Anonymous)
New Year
My favorite Saganism was in the book Contact when the character asked the alien if there was anything that intrigued and fascinated them. I probably remember wrong as I read it 20 years ago, but the answer was something along the lines that if you expressed PI in binary and arranged the dots as a picture, there was some secret message.
In other words, the deep atheist (like me, your long time atheist friend) contemplated the possibility of a creator.
Another line of thought, Nick Bostrom postulated that the odds are overwhelming we are living in a Star Trek style Holodeck:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_r
Other possibilities include time loops and other weird concepts that imply inevitability to our destiny.
Let's get together in the new year. I moved and the new office is on granville above the sky train - it's easy to get to if you want to drop by during the week for a beer(s) on me.
Cheers!
Steve v
My son's name is Sagan, too.
http://mygoddlessdrama.blogspot.com/200