A tw**t from Ruthann (@liberalandold), forwarded by Matthew Cobb:
Can you identify the other items?
Carl Sagan’s grave
May 22, 2014 • 4:33 am
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation’s Edge.
Some of those rocks are from the Marcellus shale.
I don’t get the relevance of that. Sure it’s a widespread shale formation under substantial parts of NE America, and it’s very popular as a target for hydraulic fracture-enhanced oil (and gas) extraction (“fracking”). But I don’t see the connection to Sagan.
Shales don’t make good headstones, normally : soft, easily weathered. And that headstone has a far better polish than you get on any shale I’ve seen.
The stones at the sides?
Yes, the stones at the sides. The grave marker is polished granite.
I don’t know about the shale. But isn’t it customary to place stones at a Jewish grave site?
Yes, on each visit.
Yes. And the blue marbles probably are in reference to the “pale blue dot” that is our planet from space.
I’ve absolutely no idea.
Well, it’s a long drive to the Burgess Shale, and Sagan was sort of associated with evolution and the fossils that demonstrated it.
That DVD in a plastic bag might have come from the “Cosmos” series.
No, but there seem to be billions and billions of them.
Hmmm. That makes me wonder how the families of the various dead creationists (and many other, it must be said, but why not kick a creationist?) deal with the rabbits who just love the relatively lush grass of graveyards. And leave small comments on the graves themselves.
I’m on a theme here. Flat-Earthers will obviously stock their graveyards with cattle.
Ummmm.
Do UFO Abductees have a graveyard with a long, long robotic arm for placing (and uplifting) the floral tributes?
Now, since Sagan was associated with the Voyager project, and that used multiple very finely crafted gravitational slingshots to get were it was going … do you get in through a roller coaster perhaps, or have to roller skate through a maze?
I’ll get back to work!
A CD, obviously, but I have no idea what’s on it or even if it has a label.
As someone commented on the picture (like me seeing if it was a bigger image) possibly the recording placed on Voyager…
The recording placed on Voyager is not what we would call a CD. It’s an analog disc, with grooves, to be read by a stylus.
Probably Let It Go from Disney’s Frozen. Enough of that song, already!
Pale blue dot!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot
SpaceX cap.
Oh, relevance vs Sagan.
SpaceX, a new space launch provider currently serving LEO, GTO and ISS with cargo, is founded by Elon Musk for the explicit purpose of colonizing Mars.
Actually, the baseball cap is sporting the logo of the X-Prize Foundation. From Wiki: The X-Prize Foundation is an educational non-profit organization whose mission is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of mankind.
Or, it might very well be both.
Thanks, it could be either! I had forgotten about them.
I am reading Demon-Haunted World for the first time right now and loving every moment of it.
I posted the picture. The small white rectangle on the gravestone is actually a note written in pencil. It says “For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.” My husband I stood there, after a long search for the correct headstone, and wept. It’s a wonderful spot to visit and I plan to return someday. It’s wonderful to see what people have felt compelled to leave at the site. Very moving experience.
#liberalandold
Thanks for sharing this with us. It’s very moving. I miss the man.
Perhaps Carl Sagan had a Satin Bowerbird for a fan.
A Bowerbird?
In New York?