If you're anywhere near southern Florida on Saturday, November 7, then you need to get yourself over to the Broward College, which is holding the very first celebration of Carl Sagan Day!
It's in honor of Sagan's birthday, which is on November 9th. He would've been 75 this year. Sagan inspired a generation of astronomers, and in reality a whole generation of people to look at the sky and appreciate the -- yes, I'll say it -- cosmos. Celebrating his life is a great idea, and the folks at BCCC have a full day planned (the schedule is online in PDF and Word formats). A lot of good speakers will be giving talks, including my friend Jeffrey Bennett (who wrote Max goes to the Moon series of kids' books), skeptic and "Point of Inquiry" podcast host D. J. Grothe, and NASA astrobiologist and impact expert David Morrison (via satellite). I'll be giving my Death from the Skies! talk at 4:00 (with David there, I'll have to be on my toes). They'll be showing "Cosmos" continuously in one room, with kids' activities in another. There's a planetarium show in the evening, too. And this will be very special: James Randi will be there, talking about Sagan. The two were friends. Randi has a lot of personal insight on the man and will have wonderful things to say. This is a don't-miss opportunity, folks. I think I'm looking forward to that part most of all. For more info, there's contact info on the Carl Sagan Day website. Also, there's a writeup in the Broward/Palm Beach New Times. This really will be a fun and wonderful tribute to Sagan. I'm very pleased and honored to be a part of this great day for a great man.
