November 9 is the 76th anniversary of Carl Sagan’s birth, and is celebrated across the globe as Carl Sagan Day (in general, places that celebrate the day do so on the Saturday previous; so, today!). He did more to bring the wonders of the Universe to the world than any other human being, alive or otherwise, and this day should be a holiday.
In honor of that, I present to you my friend Sara Mayhew’s idea of what she plans to do:
Sounds like a good idea to me. If you’re curious about the apple pie thing, try here. It’s Sagan’s best quote, hands down.
I attended a Carl Sagan Day last year in Broward County, Florida and wrote about the experience. Everything I need to say about Carl and his influence is there, so go read it. Also, that same group in Broward is holding an event this year which will be streamed live.
The world may be a poorer place without him, but it’s much, much better place for having had him once in it.
When I was in Florida for Carl Sagan Day, I was happy to see my friend Rachel Dunlop ("Dr. Rachie") from Australia was there too. She was in Miami, heard about the event at the last minute, and drove (on the wrong side of the road) to Ft. Lauderdale to attend.
Rachel is one of the many people who puts together the Skeptic Zone podcast, and she snagged a bunch of interviews at the celebration, including with D.J. Grothe, Randi, me… and my mom. Yes, my mother was there, and D.J. made sure she got to be in the interview as well. You can listen and comment on the podcast, and if you like it why not subscribe to the podcast via iTunes?
My friend, the magician Andrew Mayne, is here at Carl Sagan Day, and told me that he will be live streaming the entire event on UStream! I’ve embedded the video viewer below (hopefully it won’t start playing automatically). If you go to the UStream page Andrew set up there’s a chat room where you can talk to fellow astronomy and space enthusiasts too.
The event starts at noon Eastern time (17:00 GMT) , so those of you not here in person in Florida can still watch, and even virtually participate in this inaugural festival to celebrate Carl Sagan!
A quick reminder: the Carl Sagan Day celebration will be at Broward College in southern Florida on Saturday! Speakers include James Randi, Jeffrey Bennett, David Morrison, and me. There will be lots of stuff for kids and astronomy enthusiasts of all ages. Check my blog post from Monday for more info.
Also, there will be a reception that night at 8:00 p.m. as well. Requested donation is $10. I hope to see some BABloggees there!
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
"If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?" -- Adam Savage, Mythbusters
"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating." -- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising
