"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Okay, so technically it's the night before, but trust me, I won't be done until at least January '098, so that's cool.

And, because I love you guys: HAHAHA. Marky Mark's my hero. True story. And, okay: LOLOLOLOL. Ugh, the 'stache is so creepy... YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT... Guhghfff. He said he was either being James Joyce or Burt Reynolds.

And... So far I haven't seen a satisfactory picture of me... I hope Meg didn't delete the other ones... but if one should arise, trust me, it's going up here.

So Joey asked to borrow the Cosmos book so I figured I should step up my game, you know. Also, who wouldn't want to write about Carl Sagan? Zero people. Zero. Actually, at the homecoming game today a druggie was talking to me about how cool he thinks Carl Sagan is. At first I was like, "How did he know!?" But then I remembered my 'Carl Sagan is my Homeboy' shirt, so...

I can't possibly go over everything in response form again. Actually, in one of my early posts I'm pretty sure I just had one that was just gushing over Sagan and Cosmos (the TV series). So, you get little tidbits. PS. I LOVE CARL SAGAN.

"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever."

"We are, each of us, a multitude."

On the 'canals' of Mars: "The power of Lowell's idea may, just possibly, make it a kind of premonition. His canal network was built by Martians. Even this may be an accurate prophecy: If the planet is ever terraformed, it will be done by human beings whose permanent residence and planetary affiliation is Mars. The Martians will be us." Reminds you of the end of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, huh? Well, Marky Mark would be reminded of that! He borrowed it from me a quite enjoyed it. Because it's awesome. But besides that, the final scene (SPOILER ALERT) is this father promising his son they'll see real live martians. At the end they are floating in a boat on a canal and the father says, basically, there are the Martians, look. And they see their reflections and all. It's hard to really get it without the context and understand all of the awesomeness, but maybe you should read the book and not just my spoilers. (Kidding, I love you!)

"We have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night"--Tombstone epitaph of two amateur astronomers

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."

Okay, if you've never taken an astronomy class, there are many theories of the universe's creation and existence and all. One theory is the model of the pulsating model, which unless I failed that astronomy quiz means it's a universe that expands to a certain point and then bounces back. Carl's wondering on what that would mean if true: "Will people at such time be born in the grave and die in the womb? Will time flow backwards?" What an interesting an idea! (Don't bring up Benjamin Button, okay?) I mean... living life backwards entirely. Would you remember? Would it still be just as new? I mean... it's such a cool theory! Immortality is a strange science, though, certainly.

"A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called 'leaves') imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person--perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic."

"If we do not speak for the Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?"

"The Cosmos may be densely populated with intelligent beings. but the Darwinian lesson is clear: There will be no humans elsewhere. Only here. Only on this small planet. We are rare as well as an endangered species. Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another."

_

I would love to have met him, but he died in '96, I believe. It's funny, but he's almost completely parallel to how important and inspiring Matisyahu is to me as well. (Because Carl Sagan was an atheist and Matisyahu is a Jewish rapper/reggae guy.) But I think science and religion are sort of exactly the same things, too. Like how love and hate are really just the same thing basically. Like, again, in The Martian Chronicles Spender talks about how the Martian religion and Martian science completely intertwined. Neither contradicted each other, they were perfect together... They simply were. I mean, both are sort of the same deep down. If you think about it. I think it was Kepler who said this--"Science is my religion." And the opposite is true as well: religion is my science. Both exist. They don't have to be at odds.