Posts tagged Carl Sagan
What’s not to love about a choral suite inspired by and set to the words of the great Carl Sagan? Kenley Kristofferson penned this beautiful work using the late Sagan’s inspiring writings as his lyric. You can see more details about the three movements here, but here’s Kristofferson’s take on Sagan’s influence:
“Carl Sagan has taught me how beautiful science and the universe can be, and that understanding something enriches the experience, but doesn’t take away from the mystery that draws us to the big questions of life. He taught me that the sciences are beautiful; the natural world is elegant; and for such small creatures as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.”
I couldn’t agree more :) This is music to travel through the cosmos by, if, perhaps, only in our minds.
Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy.
Last minute packing for NYC…
After changing plans a million different times, I’m now leaving tonight for an overnight bus trip to NYC. I’ll get to Manhattan in the morning, where I’ll meet up with Dani (puckerman) and her friend Keri. Then we’ll be hitting up the Harry Potter Exhibit before eventually going to the Glee concert at the IZOD Center. I can’t believe I actually coughed up the money for last-minute nosebleed seats, but I have a feeling it’ll be worth it. Then the next day will be full of sight seeing and enjoying the city before I catch my bus back home at 5pm.
I’m trying to pack everything I’ll need into a backpack since I’ll only be there for 35 hours, but even that is proving to be difficult. I’m currently reading two books (something I can really only do when one is fiction and one is non), so I’ve squeezed Paper Towns by John Green (Nerdfighters!) and Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan into my backpack. I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of reading on the bus ride back home.
Well, time to go take a quick shower since I’m definitely not going to be getting one tomorrow morning. Fun fact: This will be the 4th time shampooing my hair today. (Once this morning, twice when I was getting my hair cut, and then one last time now before leaving for the bus station. Yeah. I don’t know what I’m doing either. Fun fact #2: I never use conditioner. It makes my hair feel un-clean, and yet my hair is still really soft all the time. What even.)
Bye, Tumblr! See ya soon.
We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it’s forever.
Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and ‘animals’ is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them — without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.
The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot animated.
Who needs a religious figure when you have Carl Sagan? Seriously, please go read any of his books. You will learn far more about what it means to be a human being living on this “mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam” than you ever could learn from a religious text.
Carl Sagan On Evolution
Stop What You’re Doing And Watch The Hell Out Of This of the Day: “The Frontier is Everywhere” — breathtaking fan-made NASA promo video, lovingly compiled by YouTuber damewse, and “narrated” by Carl Sagan.
In all of their brilliance, NASA seems to have forgotten to share their hopes and dreams in a way the public can relate to, leaving one of humanities grandest projects with terrible PR and massive funding cuts. I have a lot of ideas for a NASA marketing campaign, but I doubt they’d pay me even minimum wage to work for them.
Dear NASA: Don’t mess this up.
[tit.]
Carl Sagan: A Universe Not Made For Us
Come on, people, open your eyes. Existence is so much more than just us. We’re giving ourselves too much importance, when in reality, we are just a speck of dust in the grand scheme of everything.
Noted elsewhere
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Saying Goodbye to THE OFFICE - A Show That Changed My Life
THE OFFICE changed the trajectory of my life. It’s not often that one can say that about...
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literally don’t care about anybody in dogfight except for lindsay mendez but i already posted her singing “pretty funny” so here is...
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It’s LOVE. RT @ericstonestreet: Oh yay. (x)
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Robert - 20 - Virginia
Nice to meet you. ♥
This is where I share the things that I find fascinating, inspiring, & purely entertaining, as well as give you a peek into my personal life. I hope you enjoy!
