It’s his birthday. If you were hoping to celebrate by making an apple pie from scratch, as is customary, I hope you remembered to start your universe preheating well ahead of time. It takes over 13 billion years, you know.
If you forgot, that’s OK. Watch him on youtube or read one of his books, instead.
(Also on Sb)
Kel says
It’s got to be getting about time to re-read The Demon-Haunted World.
Alex says
Happy birthday Carl!
Nomadiq says
I’ll bake the pie if someone else cuts a piece 90 times.
Rev. BigDumbChimp says
Carl Sagan, 1987 CSICOP Keynote Address
Gareth says
I think one should leave the universe to cool for 13 billion years rather than heating it :-)
Atheist Aaron says
I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I hadn’t seen Cosmos as a child. Carl truly made the world a better place for having been in it. For this I will always be grateful.
richardelguru says
I remember years and years and yea… a long time ago when Sagan did the Royal Soc Xmas Lectures, broadcast on (I think) Beeb2.
Ahh! What that guy could do with a tray of mud and a projectile!! :-)
meanmike says
Happy birthday Carl! It is time watch some Cosmos. Not that this is outside my normal behavior.
nazani14 says
If it weren’t for Sagan, I probably wouldn’t be planning to retire to Ithaca, NY, where there are billions and billions of functional brain cells and good senior services. – and where one still bear to be outside for most of the summer.
Talos42 says
The day is pretty much done here in Japan. I’ll have to wait for next year :-/
anthonyallen says
I’m in the middle of The Demon-Haunted World right now.
Happy birthday, Dr. Sagan. The world is a lesser place without you, and a better place for having had you.
Cannabinaceae says
I would like to have been able to share a nice bowl of an herbal preparation that Dr. Sagan was reportedly quite fond of.
Not liking apples or the pies made therefrom, I will herewith celebrate in absentia with said material: Here’s to Doctor X!
greame says
Thank you, Carl. Your words changed my life. At a time when the world needs a voice a reason like yours, you are truly missed.
Kaintukee Bob says
Cosmos is on Hulu.
I suspect my children will be watching some of it today. They’re 2 and 4, but it’s never too early.
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen it in a while. I might just have to watch some tonight, myself.
Ing says
I remember it happening with Hitchens…though we literally had to torture him first.
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
A toast raised in the general direction of the Sagan Memorial Station on Mars, where Pathfinder and its little rover Sojourner are.
Time for some Cosmos Turkey Day week.
Big Boppa says
J says
Coincidentally, I just started Billions and Billions today. Happy Birthday.
Matt B. says
I’m very happy to share a birthday with Dr. Sagan!
Tom Clark says
Totally useless facts: My sister’s birthday was yesterday! We went to an awesome burger place. They did not have apple pies, because they are not a multi-million-dollar corporation bent on making and whoring any product that people will give them money for. The burgers, on the other hand, were in fact made from scratch, universe and all.
scarina says
I am an atheist now thanks to Carl Sagan. I used to be into all kinds of New Age woo, until I took a seminar focusing on genetics and history of race. The first day, our professor assigned the introduction (I think, possibly the first chapter) of The Demon-Haunted World, where he talks about critical thinking and pseudosciences. It was as if the proverbial light-bulb went off above my head and I haven’t turned back since.
Thank you and happy birthday, Carl Sagan!
Random_Lurker says
I was a child when Cosmos first aired, and it no doubt helped shape the person I am today. I’ll be forever indebted, and I’ll always miss Carl.
Predator Handshake says
Very appropriate Google Doodle for his birthday. There’s an invisible dragon there and it does stuff if you click on it, I promise!
greame says
*Pulls out baloney detection kit…* ;)
evilisgood says
I’ve actually been reading “Broca’s Brain,” so that’s a nice coincidence.
Blobulon says
I had to google the apple pie reference. In doing so found out that Carl was a stoner. I had no idea!
Happy Birthday duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.
Brett says
I’ll second Kel, and say that it’s time to re-read The Demon-Haunted World. That was always my favorite Sagan book, and it played a key role in my transition to atheism.
kennyg says
Happy birthday, Carl! You will forever be remembered and honored by rational folk the world over.
outaworkee says
Yeah, it was Broca’s Brain and Dragons of Eden that helped convince me that science was great.
DLC says
Happy Birthday, Carl. we miss you.
have a slice of Pi : 3.1415926/
Marius Rowell says
“A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.”
Carl Sagan”
If only all religions demanded celibacy of all members the world would be a better place in just a few more generations.
Happy Birthday, Carl – I do miss the xmas lectures.
carolw says
Happy Birthday, Carl. You are missed.
greame says
@26 Blobulon
If this isn’t what you found, you can read his annonymous essay by Mr. X on cannabis use.
While I’m at it I’ll share a few of my favorite Sagan links…
If anyone hasn’t seen them, check out the Carl Sagan Tribute Series on Youtube.
For a great little comic story, check out Carl Sagan and his Fully Armed Spaceship of the Imagination as he battles astrology.
And see Carl Sagan invade internet memes
NitricAcid says
Now I’m craving apple pie. I loved the book Cosmos as a child, but found that his accent ruined the show for me.
Lynna, OM says
Steve Benson, grandson of mormon prophet/seer/revelator Ezra Taft Benson, took the time recently to debunk several claims that Carl Sagan believed in UFOs, alien visitors to earth, and so on. Having debunked mormonism, Benson is skilled at debunking other myths.
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,329534,330662
Excerpt:
Carlie says
John Denver interviews Carl Sagan on the Tonight Show. They talk about Voyager and Mars and stuff. It’s pretty much just fantastic.
peterh says
I have several of Sagan’s books as well as the Cosmos DVD set; The Dragons of Eden and The Demon Haunted World are the two I seem to revisit with regularity and with relish. Sagan was certainly a great communicator of the mind’s wonderful propensity for wondering and learning. He is certainly missed and remains deeply appreciated.
summerminor says
I was raised in a strict fundamentalist christian family, but I had the good fortune to have an uncle that often offered to babysit me as a child. His version of babysitting usually involved watching Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, or reading their books. Those explanations of the universe filled my heart far more than the biblical teachings I got the rest of the week ever did. Thank goodness for good men who understand how incredibly amazing the universe is, without some big boogie man in the sky to make it so.
Carlie says
Fuck yeah Carl Sagan, the tumblr.
SimBri says
After reading about him on sites like this I looked for Cosmos on YouTube a couple of months ago. I was instantly hooked and watched them all in a couple of days. Someone above said they were put off by his accent, but I found his voice almost hypnotic. Great stuff. I think I’ll have to pick up one of his books now.
Carlie says
Wait, I actually wanted to link to this fuck yeah Carl Sagan tumblr. Who knew there were multiples?
johnnymorris says
I’ve had Cosmos on my phone/laptop/tablet for over a year. lol Is awesome. I love the soundtrack so much- it is freaky. I love the far out videos too
myeck waters says
I have the sound of the Cosmos series on my sleepytime playlist – for some reason astronomy and cosmology TV shows bliss me right out and are among the few things I can fall asleep to.
My only complaint with Cosmos is when I wake up in the middle of the Betty and Barney Hill UFO incident – the rhythmic thunking of the windshield wipers can make me momentarily panic.
Father Ogvorbis, OM: Delightfully Machiavellian says
I credit Cosmos and Connections with showing me how to explain complicated ideas without dumbing them down. Very useful in my job. Thank you, Carl Sagan.
cyberCMDR says
Carl Sagan:
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
Take that, Creationists!
davidallee says
Happy Birthday Carl!
NitricAcid says
That reminds me- I ought to make sure my copy of Cosmos is somewhere my kids can reach it….
Jason says
Just bought Demon-Haunted World yesterday and started reading it to celebrate the occasion. I’ve read portions of it online and in anthologies and have been meaning to get around to reading the whole thing. Loving it so far.
Like many others commenting, Cosmos was very important to me. It elevated my interest in science despite going through a few years where I had family and peer pressure to stay Christian. And so it played an indirect role in the fact that I was able to emerge from my teenage years with a desire to be rational and a distaste for those who want to tell me that all the answers we need have already been revealed.
magistramarla says
My husband e-mailed me from work after he read this, asking me to make an apple pie. I agreed, but he has to do the difficult part when he gets home – coring, peeling and slicing the apples.
I’ll make two, and I’ll have an interesting story to share with mt gourmet group tomorrow evening.
magistramarla says
A quick addendum to my last response – it is still early in the evening of Nov. 9 in California!
Joe says
sorry but
>> Happy Birthday, Carl. we miss you.
>> have a slice of Pi : 3.1415926/
is unfortunately inaccurate. pi to that precision is 3.1415927
I am truly sorry for being such a pettifogger
magistramarla says
I now have two homemade apple pies in the oven.
Happy Birthday, Carl Sagan!