I Stumble from time to time. I used to enjoy it, but recently I mostly get the latest meme and vast fields of shit. Weird architecture, tech rubbish, Russian photos, the occasional lolcat, computer mods and lots of atheist jokes all turn up, which probably says more about me than I'd happily reveal in one go. For most nights that involve staring at the glowing rectangle, the first press of the Stumbleupon button signals the point at which I should have gone to bed. It usually happens at least an hour before I go to bed, sometimes more.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I discover something that makes me feel something. It happened tonight, with Nick Sagan's blog. "Sagan", as in son of Carl. And in particular, a beautiful post about his memories of his father.
I saw "Cosmos*" when it was first aired by Auntie and I was fourteen or fifteen and my dream was to be an astrophysicist. Yes, I remember the polo-neck and amusing pronunciation, but most of all I remember the sheer enthusiasm at the wonders the universe offered. To me, it was the only way anyone could feel about stars, the universe, physics and the future... Bursting with enthusiasm and joy was the only rational response, yet of all the people on telly, only Carl Sagan seemed to share that same bursting feeling.
So thanks, Carl. And thanks Nick. And even thank you to a bit of browser-plug-in-software-meets-advertising-meets-social-networking in Stumbleupon for reconnecting me with the Sagans. Oh, and thanks to Youtube for something stupid...
*Until reading the Wikipedia article on Cosmos, I didn't realise that Carl Sagan had modeled the show on "The Ascent of Man" by Jacob Bronowski - another show that introduced me to jaw-dropping, intelligent television. I now have torrented recordings of both and both still move me, unlike, say, "I Clavdivs" (he jests) of the same time, which looks ridiculous....
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