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Posts Tagged ‘Carl Sagan’

A general problem with much of Western theology…  is that the God portrayed is too small.  It is a god of a tiny world and not a god of a galaxy, much less a universe.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022 But Don’t Forget It Either
2021 Appreciating Intricacy
I Read It In A Fairy Tale
2020 Insensitive To Silence
Weaker, Sicker And Poorer
2019 Don’t Be Small
2018 Persistence
2017 Are You A Loser?
2016 Constitution And Conscience
2015 Separate, Fearful And Imprisoned
2014 Something Worth Making
2013 Absolutely
2012 Can Do
2011 Wise Criticism

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Hatred corrodes the container it’s contained in.
    —     Proverb
I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.
    —     Mahatma Gandhi
Education on the value of free speech and the other freedoms reserved by the Bill of Rights, about what happens when you don’t have them, and about how to exercise and protect them, should be an essential prerequisite for being an American citizen — or indeed a citizen of any nation, the more so to the degree that such rights remain unprotected.  If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power.  But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us.  In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights.  With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit.  In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.
    —    Carl Sagan
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
    —     Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2022 Or Simple Truths You Don’t Want To Believe
2021 I Never Could Keep A Secret
A Half A Mile Or So
2020 Facing The Truth
2019 How Much Is Your Education Worth?
Is America Ready: Mayor Pete – 2020!!
2018 Disruptive Definition
2017 A History Of Small Insights
2016 Be Uncommon
2015 Ooops!
2014 What Price Freedom?
2013 Remembering Val
2012 Good-bye, Val
Survival Value
2011 Traitors In Our Midst
Life Ain’t Easy

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Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors.  The library connects us with the insights and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all of our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species.  Public libraries depend on voluntary contributions.  I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022 42
2021 Blessings Larger Than Life
Tomorrow She Sails
2020 The Sun Came Out
Not A Wink On Guard
2019 The Importance Of A Deadline
Chaos Is Not Really A New Remedy
2018 History Will Judge Harshly
Father Time, Perhaps?
2017 Odds Are
2016 Prayer, Too
2015 History, n.
2014 See It Sometime
2013 Precious Friend
2012 It Couldn’t Be Done
Feeling Surrounded?
2011 Surprise!

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In fact, the thickness of the Earth’s atmosphere, compared with the size of the Earth, is in about the same ratio as the thickness of a coat of shellac on a schoolroom globe is to the diameter of the globe.  That’s the air that nurtures us and almost all other life on Earth, that protects us from deadly ultraviolet light from the sun, that through the greenhouse effect brings the surface temperature above the freezing point.  (Without the greenhouse effect, the entire Earth would plunge below the freezing point of water and we’d all be dead.)  Now that atmosphere, so thin and fragile, is under assault by our technology.  We are pumping all kinds of stuff into it.  You know about the concern that chlorofluorocarbons are depleting the ozone layer;  and that carbon dioxide and methane and other greenhouse gases are producing global warming, a steady trend amidst fluctuations produced by volcanic eruptions and other sources.  Who knows what other challenges we are posing to this vulnerable layer of air that we haven’t been wise enough to foresee?
    —    Carl Sagan
[The title for this post is a line from a TV series (“Room 222“) which aired from the late 1960’s to mid-1970’s.  One episode on the show dealt with air pollution in Southern California.  The “message” was that if environmental damage “only” kills half the human population, the other half will be able to tell their children:  “Once upon a time…”    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022 A Wonderful Tension
2021 Little And Large Choices
I Got Something To Say
Alternate Reality
2020 When?
2019 Two Guides
2018 A Call For You
2017 Because I Read
2016 On What Matters…
2015 Social Security
2014 Bewitching
2013 Visiting Joy
2012 Dedication To Today
2011 Project Second Chance – Adult Literacy
Turning Coal Into Diamonds

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There is a wide, yawning black infinity.  In every direction, the extension is endless; the sensation of depth is overwhelming.  And the darkness is immortal.  Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce;  but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022 Where One Goes
2021 A Direct Relationship
Another Night Train South
2020 One Person’s Roses…
2019 In The Long-Run
2018 #NeverAgain
Doss II
Doesn’t / Does
2017 Talent Hates To Move
2016 Looking To November
2015 It Isn’t The End
Prospero’s Precepts
2014 Friends
2013 Learning Bitter
2012 Remembrance, Minstrels & Going Off To War
May I Have More Happiness, Please?
2011 There Is No God, But God
2010 Another Running Book…

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It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs:  the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas …  If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you …  On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones.
 
    —    Carl Sagan
 
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On This Day In:
2022 You Ought To Be Having Fun
2021 Democrats Talking To Republicans
  Talkin’ To Myself And Feelin’ Old
2020 You Are Not Late (Yet)
2019 Too Difficult To Try
2018 Hold Fast
2017 The Only Real Security
2016 Time Said
2015 If Only Common Sense Were More Common
2014 PTI
2013 What Now, Then?
2012 Big C, Little B
  Duty, Honor, Country
   

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Very few scientists actually plunge into the murky waters of testing or challenging borderline or pseudo-scientific beliefs.  The chance of finding out something really interesting — except about human nature — seems small, and the amount of time required seems large.  I believe that scientists should spend more time in discussing these issues, but the fact that a given contention lacks vigorous scientific opposition in no way implies that scientists think it is reasonable.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 Let Yourself Soar In 2022
Where You’re Concerned
2020 The Most Dynamic Link
Looking Forward To 2021
2019 A Proud Assertion
2018 Ask #45 About Anything
2017 Playing Makes Sense
2016 And Fathers, Sons
2015 My Suspect Confidence
2014 Disguised Blessings
2013 Be
2012 The Only Way to Win
2011 Honest Writing

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For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.
    —     Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 Being Constantly Great
Hopeful Realization
2020 Sapping Joy
Blew Out My Flip-Flop
Really Wheelie
2019 Word Up
2018 But Much Is Worth Learning
2017 Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016 Starting To Stumble
2015 Begin Combat
I Am A Runner
2014 Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013 Additions
The Object Of Instruction
2012 Telling Her
2011 On Torture

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The truth may be puzzling.  It may take some work to grapple with.  It may be counterintuitive.  It may contradict deeply held prejudices.  It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true.  But our preferences do not determine what’s true.  We have a method, and that method helps us to reach not absolute truth, only asymptotic approaches to the truth — never there, just closer and closer, always finding vast new oceans of undiscovered possibilities.  Cleverly designed experiments are the key.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 Fighting New Guitar Fever
Bad Trades In The Tunnel
2020 Give And Gain
Can We Talk For A Second
Almost Ready To Take A Breath
2019 Transfiguration
2018 2018 Mid-Terms
Praying For A Blue Tsunami Election
2017 Islam Is Not The Enemy
2016 A Checkered Past, A Checkered Future
2015 Preferences
2014 Have You Taken The Pledge?
2013 Nurture Tolerance
2012 Election Day – Please Hear What I’m Not Saying
2011 Mostly Strange, Always Blue
What Is It You Want?
2010 MSNBC, Bring Back Keith !!!
Value..
Worse Still…
Afraid So…
Making It
Don’t Jump Small
Time
Push!!
I’m Still Here… (A Message To Keith Olbermann)
Choose
Not Yet…
Mean Too
Still Building (and Planning)
Hangin’ High
Always…

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Science is much more than a body of knowledge.  It is a way of thinking.  This is central to its success.  Science invites us to let the facts in, even when they don’t conform to our preconceptions.  It counsels us to carry alternative hypotheses in our heads and see which ones best match the facts.  It urges on us a fine balance between no-holds-barred openness to new ideas, however heretical, and the most rigorous skeptical scrutiny of everything — new ideas and established wisdom.  We need wide appreciation of this kind of thinking.  It works.  It’s an essential tool for a democracy in an age of change.  Our task is not just to train more scientists but also to deepen public understanding of science.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 Experience A Simple Whatever
A Thousand Kisses
2020 Talking Politics With Trump Republicans
In Another Lifetime
2019 People Will Come
Change Is Here…
2018 Be My Hero – Vote Tomorrow!
He Was All Of Us…
2017 Black And White
Advice For #DumbDonald
2016 Mirror, Mirror
2015 Speaking With Forked Tongue
2014 The Code
2013 Eventually Formed
2012 Remember To Vote Tomorrow
2011 It Sounds Like Chaos Theory To Me

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If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
    —     Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 Are We Talking About Health Insurance / Oil Companies, Facebook Or Faux News?
When MTV Was Young (And Fun)
2020 Resting
A New Day Just Means We Continue The Struggle (With A Smile)
2019 One For Two
Why Trump Insults Pelosi and Schiff
2018 The Worst
2017 #DonTheCon In The Oval Office
2016 Are You Like #AmnestyDon And Sarah Palin?
2015 Begin Today
2014 Look Again (At Life’s Illusions)
2013 None Knows
2012 Yet
2011 No End In Sight
2010 Back At It…

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Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
    —     Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 I’ll Keep Trying To Anyway
She Knows
2020 Respond
Still Trying To Adjust
2019 The Limits Of My Knowledge
2018 Even Tiny Progress
2017 Real Conservatism
2016 The Business Of Life
2015 Alone Again, Naturally
2014 Agreed
2013 Smile From Your Heart!
2012 Like You
2011 Got Days?
2010 K9 Humor – Has Anyone Seen My Setter?  (Must read!!)
A Longer Blog Than You Want To Read (Probably)
2009 Back and Forth and Round Again…

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If you take a look at science in its everyday function, of course you find that scientists run the gamut of human emotions and personalities and character and so on.  But there’s one thing that is really striking to the outsider, and that is the gauntlet of criticism that is considered acceptable or even desirable.  The poor graduate student at his or her Ph.D. oral exam is subjected to a withering crossfire of questions that sometimes seem hostile or contemptuous;  this from the professors who have the candidate’s future in their grasp.  The students naturally are nervous;  who wouldn’t be?  True, they’ve prepared for it for years.  But they understand that at that critical moment they really have to be able to answer questions.  So in preparing to defend their theses, they must anticipate questions;  they have to think, “Where in my thesis is there a weakness that someone else might find — because I sure better find it before they do, because if they find it and I’m not prepared, I’m in deep trouble.”
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 No Profit Without Risk
And One For Me
2020 He’s Forgotten About Drugs And Rock ‘N Roll
2019 I Still Walk Daily
A Windy Monday
2018 No Religious Test, Yes Religious Ban
2017 Looking At #DumbDonald
2016 No Great Thing
2015 Happy Memory
Of Two Minds
2014 Sums
2013 Memories & Binging
Admiration Due
2012 Choices Matter
2011 Acceptance Is The Key
2010 Just A Permanent Crease…
Bodily Functions

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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.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 The Truth Shall Keep Us Free
Let Your Hair Down
2020 But What About Tomorrow’s Blog Post?
2019 Don’t Forget Obstruction Of Justice
An Honest, Unvarnished Assessment
2018 #45 And The Republicans Are Pretending (So Far)
2017 Made
2016 Halves
Accepted Fraud
2015 Even The Little Ones
2014 Who’s On First?
2013 No Equal Measure
2012 A Single Host
2011 No Exemptions
2010 Memories Of KSA – Inside The Fire

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We wish to pursue the truth no matter where it leads.  But to find the truth, we need imagination and skepticism both.
    —    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021 Broaden The Circle
The Phone Keeps Ringing
2020 Stay Gentle
2019 Immoral #45
2018 From My Soapbox
2017 The Single Most Effective Thing For Health
2016 A Trumpet Solo
2015 Potential Is A Heavy Burden
2014 Fear Not, Weep Not
2013 Half Way There
2012 Sacrificed Any Lately?
2011 The Value Of One’s Character
2010 Intervals
On Being Human
Non-predictive Emergence
Events
Bodily Functions
Standing Thoughts
Sent Home Is Better Than Fixed

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