Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Carl Sagan was one of the greatest people of the 20th Century

I have always felt that.

I remember watching episodes of Cosmos with my stepdad on PBS. Here this nerdy scientist guy drabbed in a brown suit was telling me things like "There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on the earth." and streaming out on scrolled paper as best they could a number so unfathomable that they couldn't even actually do it. Blew my mind. He had a kind of new age vibe but it also made a lot of SENSE. He mathematically predicted life on other planets (borrowed from a colleague at the time) that made it not only probable, but also shed light on the danger WE are in and need to address to sustain the human race. Wow.

Also, he made me think about the world and the worldhood of the world (as such). I believe if there were one pop culture person in my youth that helped me think of things in the world today, it was him.

When we lost Carl, we lost a whole lot more than just a silly "billions and billions" joke.

Yes, I own the DVD set. Yes, I miss him. The world should too.

Link to something cool.

Another cool link.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

...and the War on Terrorism put them back a thousand years...

Antiquation Mechanism. A device that my Liance and I learned about on a program on PBS a few months ago has now gotten more press on Boing Boing and more importantly here. Incredible, proving that Ancient Greece was perhaps the best society humans ever produced. Well, maybe a few slips of the slopes but was more democratic and open to new ideas than our current "free" world. They still don't know how "mass" produced or known this knowledge was or what it was really even used for. A good bet to me would be seafaring. I also bet the schematics were lying in a Library somewhere. Or maybe we need to look toward the East. Still, it is astonishing what history uncovers, when humans were more in touch with the earth and not so driven to not be a part of it. Imagine what is left to discover...

Reading as best I can this holiday season: Hard-boiled Wonderland/End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Spitting sonic rage with: Rio Grande Blood by Ministry

Bopping my holiday head to: Christmas Remixed 1 & 2 from Six Degrees Records

Shameless Music Plugs:

"Cotton" Dick Clinton plays The Mall

Noble Chicken plays Lump of Coal