Petition to put Carl Sagan on a stamp
The Sagan Appreciation Society is petitioning for the US Postal Service to issue a postage stamp honoring astronomer and science writer Carl Sagan. An article last week in the Ithaca Journal says the petition should be available online at the Society's site, but it isn't currently there. This is one of the proposed stamps, illustrated by Skeptics Society founder Pat Linse. From the Ithaca Journal:
Link“Carl was an avid stamp collector as a boy, and we treasure the albums he made then, (said Sagan's wife Ann Druyan.) "They’re filled with his handwritten notes in the margins — perhaps the earliest evidence of his passion for the diversity of Earth’s cultures. So this particular tribute to Carl would have held special significance for him, as it does for me.”
the latest
latest episodes
may they issue billions and billions of them
Given that the post office is moving to raise the cost of a first class stamp to 0.42, shouldn't he have a large '42' in the upper right hand corner? You could kill the subtlety by adding the words 'Don't Panic' in friendly letters someplace. Personally, I think the timing is perfect!
Stamps to mail billions and billions of letters, I'm sure. ^_^
(Curse you Takuan, you beat me to it!)
YES,
Wow that is a freaky looking stamp! Half Sagan and other half Neil Diamond.
Butthead Astronomer
Man, that is awesome. I've just been watching DVD's of Cosmos this past week. I'd forgotten how amazing that stuff is.
Carl is THE sh*t.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsxuZc59OPA
This is "El shinobi chileno", the special chilean superheroe.
I was thinking that the time is right for a Microsoft Mobile stamp to honor all the amazing contributions they have made to society. Just a thought!
I love the idea of Sagan on a stamp, but is that the intended image? If so, I think it'll do more harm than good, and I'd like to start a counter-petition.
the motto is from here
http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469/ref=cm_lmf_tit_7
Cool a Bronson Pinchot stamp!
Expect the christian talibanists to go BIG-TIME DEFCON 1 over this. Mark my words.
That said, GO CARL.
One nit though:
Dr. Carl Sagen's hands are WAY too close to the candle flame. Reminds me of a scene in an 70s TV movie about CIA guy G. Gordon Liddy demonstrated his imperviousness to pain by keeping his hand right over a candle and refusing to move it!
according to a Digg item, 2/3rds of Americans think nanotech is immoral
I would like to see a Carl Sagan stamp.
on changing the stamp to say 42 cent
someone should probably put
Douglas Adams on a 42 cent stamp
rawk
Yeah, maybe the UK should do that. Doubt they're going to put a foreigner on a US stamp.
good point.
I just came back to correct myself. haha
Carl Sagan on Forever Stamps!
A Carl Sagan stamp would rock the cosmos, but that big-head illustration is supacreepy.
Waited all through the movie to see the alien, and it was her goddamned father......
@Mikeylikesboingboing
Expect the christian talibanists to go BIG-TIME DEFCON 1 over this. Mark my words.
First off, using the Taliban is overwrought and overreaching. Just as nonsensical as saying that all Atheists are nihilists or social darwinists. The Taliban has alot more to do with politics and tribalism than religion. Take a look at the book "Charlie Wilson's War" to learn more than just the "Taliban=religious lunatics" cypher.
I'm religious and I think Carl Sagan was a marvelous educator and scientist. He inspired creative and critical thinking and did so with a graceful and charming wit. The fact the we might disagree about the underlying "Why?" of the universe does not mean we cannot marvel in the workings of it.
Religious does not mean ignorant or fanatical. Just the same as Atheist does not mean humorless and grim.
"Religious does not mean ignorant or fanatical"
no
but "organized religious" does
Religious does not mean ignorant or fanatical. Just the same as Atheist does not mean humorless and grim.
Atheism is a religion to some of its proponents, ne? Fanatical, rigidly rule-oriented, obsessed with proselytizing, ultimately obsessed with the notion of god/divinity (albeit in its non-existence.) Sounds like a religion to me. Of course, most atheists, like most religious people have the good grace to just shut up about their beliefs.
"Religious does not mean ignorant or fanatical"
no
but "organized religious" does
No, it doesn't. I proudly belong to an organized religion that is just about as left-leaning and accepting as many anti-organized-religion groups profess to be.
But hey, thanks for proving that ignorance is not limited to the religious.
"" ..using the Taliban is overwrought and overreaching. Just as nonsensical as saying that all Atheists are nihilists or social darwinists.. ""
Except that he didn't say all, he said the 'Christian Talibanists', which seems to point to a group of Christians acting somewhat like the Taliban.
"" ..The Taliban has alot more to do with politics and tribalism than religion. ""
I reckon thats probably exactly what he was getting at.. A group of Christians, getting way too involved with politics and tribalism.
Sound like anyone we know? mmm-hmmm? :)
#22
I'd imagine when athiests get obsessed with the notion of god, it's more to do with fighting the grip religion has on their society and political system..
So, more like a consumer affairs group than a religion.
yep, the United Church of Canada is about as whack-job as you can get
I'd imagine when athiests get obsessed with the notion of god, it's more to do with fighting the grip religion has on their society and political system..
Substitute "Christians or Muslims or whoever" for "atheists" and "Satan or Communism or whatever" for "religion" in that sentence and you get a whole other perspective. I'm just saying that people should believe whatever they want. Just don't bore me with it at cocktail parties and, for FSM's sake, keep it out of government.
I think Penn Jillette is funny, I think Richard Dawkins is a brilliant scientist, I think George Carlin is a filthy poet, I think Christopher Hitchens is a beautiful drunk and Lovecraft a scary bastard. The fact that I believe in god and they do not is immaterial to that.
Anyone who disparages Carl Sagan based on his atheism (or agnosticism, I'm afraid I don't know precisely where he stood on the point) is simply being foolish. A condition that afflict those of religious and irreligious bents alike.
I judge a person by the content of their character, which is not something wholly defined by their stance on religion.
If they can have an Elvis stamp, why not Carl Sagan? But, agreed, that illustration has to go.
A friend of mine back in college attended one of his lectures. My friend, who happened to be wearing a T-shirt with the Superman "S" on it, asked a question about nuclear power. Carl Sagan replied, "I would have expected a question like that from someone wearing a Superman shirt."
And proceeded to the next question.
I don't know enough about Carl Sagan to know if that was fairly consistent with his personality, though.
@28
Sagan was a staunch atheist - no wiggle room. For some insight into his true feelings on the subject, and for a very pleasurable read, I highly recommend his novel Contact (it's better than the movie, which I also enjoyed).
nemrel: I heard that Sagan did a great version of "Cracklin' Rosie." OK, so I made it up, but it might be true regardless...
...Kids, what the frack is Carl doing on that stamp? Is he supposed to be lighting up a joint or what?
To anyone who might still be checking out the discussion here...to clarify, as others correctly suggested, yes I meant that I would expect Christian conservative extremists to angrily politicize the idea of Dr. Carl Sagen on a postage stamp, and cynically disparage him for his atheism. That's all.
Carl Sagan died very quickly of a very obscure cancer because his science was crappy. He was trying to create "Mars Dust" in the lab, and my friend, Mike H., figured out how to seal the stupid vacuum pipes so it actually started chucking out red soil solids. But before that? It was not only spewing mercury all over the place (and thus friend Mike was almost sued by an idiotic female graduate student for turning her gold engagement ring gray), but OZONE was wafting into the lab, daily. Ozone is a DNA killer. He died of it. Cross my heart, this is not a made-up story. He was NOT on the ball when it came to his "planetary science" laboratory at Cornell, NY.