Reply #6: It was great and sad = Miss you Carl!

[Synnical]

Judy and I had a late lunch and arrived around 5PM.

The event was spread out over several buildings at the BCC college, but everyone was charming, helpful and smiling.

We were able to listen to Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomy Blog) who talked about asteroids and comets and the difference twixt the two. He was charming, and apparently quite the movie buff. He stated that he held "The Pale Blue Dot" Essay by Sagan as one of the most important pieces of lit in American history. Also talked about how NASA and GOOD Science in general needs more funding from the Feds, which I totally agree with.

Then David Morrison (senior scientist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute) spoke via Skype about being a student of Dr. Sagan's and his personal relationship with Dr. Sagan. Spoke about how Sagan was instrumental in the "new" field of astrobiology. Because Sagan was not only an astronomer, but also a biologist, and wanted to learn about how planets formed. He told us that Carl never learned to type and all those early books he "wrote" - were spoken into a dictaphone and transcribed! And this is why Sagan's books "read" so well.

Then, James Randi spoke. He made me tear up. He's 81 and going thru chemo, kept mentioning "chemo brain", said he'd just had his monthly chemo shot, but would not have missed this event for anything. He was funny, insightful, endearing, interesting, as always. He received a standing ovation from a couple of hundred people.

What made me tear up? Randi (he's very tiny now, thin and barely taller than the lectern; bald with a white beard) is still a fabulous entertainer. He spoke about reading a "great astronomy joke" on his computer. "I believe Andrew {his protegee} was there when I read it. Andrew asked me what was wrong because I had my hand out." Pause. "I was just about to call Carl."

He finished with, "Carl is still with us."

And Carl's contributions are.

Randi made it clear he is an atheist. That is, and I'm paraphrasing, "One who finds no evidence to believe and lives life with no belief in deities." (Just checked dictionary.com and it's wrong again. I think Randi quoted Webster. )

Many audience members asked if Dr. Sagan was an atheist or an agnostic.

Dr. Morrison suggested Sagan might have been a deist, but definitely did not believe in a bearded guy in the sky.

Randi stated that Sagan was comfortable with agnostic, but thought he would accept the above definition of atheist as the terms are better defined these days and sadly, he and Carl had never had that discussion.

Sadly, my 27 year old receptionist had never heard of Sagan or Randi when I told her about attending the event.

The crowd was all ages, all makes and models. :-)

Oh, and Monday (Nov 9th) was officially proclaimed CARL SAGAN DAY by the Mayor of Fort Lauderdale.

Miss you Carl!

One audience member took a bus from Ontario, Canada to attend!

Last edit: Randi said Sagan was a big pot smoker, but did not know this until after his death, but Randi thought that if any of the fluid words in his books came from smoking pot, Randi was all for it! :-)

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale