My Brain Has Been Niggled by a Graphic
Back in the l early 1970s I attended a talk at Cornell by a SciFi author whose name I do not remember, [While writing this post, his name has surfaced from deep memories I never knew I had. The author was Murray Leinster.]
"Adventure is the point where you toss your life on the scales of chance and wait for the pointer to stop."
-Murray Leinster
First Contact (1945)
He talked about things which grabbed my attention. He spoke of heating a house by having a rabbit farm in the basement and using fans to blow cool air over the rabbits' ears to heat the air used to heat the entire house.
But this post is not about the SF author. It is about the very energetic and enthusiastic young Cornell professor who did the introductions.
The Cornell prof was genuinely humble (a rare trait in professors I have met). He was in awe of the SF author he was introducing. [Compare quote at end of this post to quote above. It seems to me the young Cornell Prof may have been influenced by Leinster.] I had never before heard of the professor.
A few years later, I heard another tale about the inquisitive Cornell prof. David Burak was in his very non-linear phase. He tripped very frequently with little comprehension of set-&-setting. He was just trying to take LSD more frequently than Tim Leary. Burak was (in my opinion) a schmuck. My observations of Burak while he was tripping is the main reason I did not start tripping sooner. Burak was sure no rôle model for me back then!
Burak was also a big-wig in SDS. At one point, he was talking about a local Psychic and Card reader, Pud.
Pud's husband owned and ran a bar in one of the rural areas outside of Ithaca. Pud waited tables and gave card readings. I found it odd that a conservative small town had a resident card reader, but knew no details of her, or her town.
When Burak mentioned the Cornell prof (whose name I had actually remembered) my ears perked up. Burak had somehow talked the Cornell prof into going to see Pud for a reading. Pud spread her cards, then acted confused. Pud told the client (who had not revealed who he was or his connection to Cornell) that Mars was going to be very important to him very soon. Not Mars as a Astrological symbol, but the planet Mars.
The Cornell prof was Carl Sagan. His connection to Mars was the NASA Mars Viking mission which was about to be launched.
Below is a pic from a comment posted here on LJ. Posted here with permission. The ani-GIF below is what nudged me to make this post. I have always like Carl Sagan ever since the humble young Cornell prof got all geeky and tongue-tied while introducing Muray Leinster.
BTW, I never saw Cosmos. No TV when it aired. I have not yet gotten around to seeing if I can watch it for free on the web. Something I need to look for.
"At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense."
- Carl Sagan
Of course, I attribute the re-surfacing of deep memories to the brain-boosting supplements I am taking. But, of course, I could be mistakedn.