Carl Sagan was very good at bringing complex concepts and arguments down to a single sentence. He was like a mathematician stripping away all the peripheral stuff to get down to the elegant solution. Except he did it in a form anyone could understand.
I had forgotten that she said that. I still find her death extremely painful to revisit. I didn't know her from a bar of soap, but I still find the whole thing so bloody tragic and unnecessary. Avoidable even. Appalling. I actually find myself thinking that the likes of Farage and Johnson were indirect accessories to her murder.
People really need to get a sense of proportion. We are a separate country that joined an economic union which has slowly been turning into an Empire. So the UK, as is its right, decided to withdraw from this Union. We have not declared war and will no doubt enter into an amicable relationship as time goes by....just like other countries outside the EU. There will be some pain and some joy....and a little way down the road, this will all be forgotten. Relationships are always painful to undo, but sometimes one partner feels it is necessary. The European Union is a voluntary organisation, but some of its members seem to feel it is a prison. It isn't and we can walk away before it becomes one. People had many reasons for voting to leave and it is insulting to lump everyone together.
Only in America? Wife fatally shoots husband in social media stunt to gain more followers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40438207
Can't speak for Fran but I would suggest it was the post by TSS (#32872) suggesting everyone who voted a certain way in 2016 was wrong and ruining society. I won't say anymore as it's one for the Politics Thread.
And most people wont. I've read Cosmos, not Pale Blue Dot. But if Carl is being as direct as he usually was I can guess what it is about.
Came on here to say I've just watched a delightful film which utterly surprised me. It was called Almost Famous [2000]. That's a title that ordinarily I wouldn't be drawn to, but I'd heard and read a few things where the film title came up a couple of times or so. I'm not a big believer in serendipity, but the things that were said about this film just drew me to it. And I'm so glad I succumbed to it. It is a tale of a boy who wants to make his mark somehow, just not the straight way that his single mum wants him to, yet he is also split by his love for her and seeing what's out there. His older sister runs away to be an airline stewardess [we've all seen Catch Me If You Can, so we know it must be true...] and she leaves him her LP collection with a note of advice. He fingers through the albums and it reads like a Who's Who pick [I waited for the album I didn't have and it didn't arrive, which is a shame because I would have been very curious to listen to it]. Already he'd had a burgeoning interest in rock music but this sent him into overdrive. So, it becomes 1973, and because he was also a bright student, with a fair gift for words already at the tender age of 15, he connives his way into following and writing about a middle ground rock band called Stillwater. And from that point the craziness starts. And what a lovely crazy it is. There are many favourite parts, but off the top of my head there was the bit where their tour aeroplane is caught in a storm and they start to go down, and the lead guitarist starts singing Peggy Sue, just before everyone else begins to be really, brutally honest with each other. But there are many other great moments. This is a dark comedy, a romance and a spoof documentary. It also has a really great soundtrack. If the recent Baby Driver tops this for seminal rock music I will be surprised. And also btw, This Isn't Spinal Tap.
Think I went to the cinema to see it but I've forgotten the details so might try and watch it again soon. Pretty much all the main actors have had successful careers since the film came out.
http://news.sky.com/story/fake-grenfell-tower-fire-victim-charged-with-fraud-10932020 I know I shouldn't continually be surprised by how low people will stoop but here's another example.
