Sagan also believed that the Drake equation suggested that many kinds of intelligent life could form, but that the lack of evidence (the Fermi paradox) suggests that intelligent beings destroy themselves rather quickly. This made him keen to talk about ways that humanity could destroy itself, in the hope of avoiding such destruction.
Under the name "Mr. X," Sagan wrote about pot smoking in the 1971 book "Reconsidering Marijuana". Lester Grinspoon (the book's editor), told this to Keay Davidson, Sagan's biographer. Sagan said that marijuana helped him write some of his books.
Sagan was very good at helping people to understand the cosmos. He gave the 1977/1978 Christmas Lectures for Young People at the Royal Institution. He wrote (with Ann Druyan, who became his third wife) and made the very popular thirteen-part PBS television series ""; he also wrote books to help science become more popular ("The Dragons of Eden", which won a Pulitzer Prize, "Broca's Brain", etc.) and a novel, "Contact", that was a best-seller and was made into a film starring Jodie Foster in 1997. The film won the 1998 Hugo Award.
After "Cosmos", Sagan was linked with the catchphrase "billions and billions", which he never used in the television series (but he often used the word "billions"). He wrote "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space", which was chosen as a notable book of 1995 by The "New York Times".
Not all scientists agreed with him. Although they all liked the way he made science popular, some were afraid that people would think that his personal opinions might be confused with real science. What he said about the Kuwait oil well fires during the first Gulf War were shown later to be wrong.
Later in his life, Sagan's books showed his skeptical, naturalistic view of the world. In his book "The Demon-Haunted World", Sagan gave a list of mistakes he had made as an example of how science is self-correcting. The compilation "Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the End of the Millennium", published after Sagan's death, contains essays written by Sagan, such as his views on abortion, and Ann Druyan's account of his death as a non-believer.
After a long and difficult fight with myelodysplasia, Sagan died of pneumonia at the age of 62, on December 20, 1996, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Sagan was very important, because he made science popular, and changed the way science was organized, and because he defended humanism, and argued against seeing things from only one point of view.
The landing site of the unmanned Mars Pathfinder spacecraft was renamed the "Carl Sagan Memorial Station" in honor of Dr. Sagan on July 5, 1997. Asteroid 2709 Sagan is also named in his honor.
The 1997 movie "Contact" (see above), based on Sagan's novel of the same name, and finished after his death, ends with the dedication "For Carl."
Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Munefusa, known as Matsuo Bashō (, 1644 - November 28, 1694) was a Japanese poet. He is known as the greatest maker of haiku, a kind of poetry with 17 syllables. The Japanese written language was difficult to master, but haiku was easy for him to write. Matsuo's haikus included characteristics of nature and the four seasons. The reader has to use their imagination to understand his poems.
According to Japanese custom, he is usually called "Basho" without his family name, and his signature as a poet does not include his house name. He signed usually "はせを". He is one of the greatest writers of the Edo period, and he raised the haiku form to its highest level.
He was born in Iga, now a part of Mie prefecture in a samurai (Japanese warrior) family. After many years of samurai life he found that poetry would be his life work, and gave up being a samurai. He started his life as a poet when he served his lord as a samurai. Matsuo became educated in classical Japanese poems. First he named himself "Tosei" (桃青) meaning "unripe peach in blue". Basho took this name because he admired a Chinese poet, Li Po whose name means "plum in white".
He quit samurai life 1666, and in 1675 he moved to Edo, today called Tokyo. There, in 1678, he got to be a haiku master (""Sosho"") and began the life of a working poet. In 1680, he moved to Fukagawa, where he had a house. This was just outside of Edo. One of his followers gifted him a banana plant ("basho-an"). He planted the plant and called himself "Basho" because it became his favorite tree in his garden.
In his life, Basho visited many places. Those travels were important for his writings. He visited his disciples (followers) and taught them by making "renga", a series of haiku, with them. He also visited famous places in Japanese history. These visits made his writing much stronger.
His most famous book is "Oku no Hosomichi" ("The Narrow Road Through the Deep North"). This book was written after a trip. On the trip, Basho and his disciple left Edo on March 24, 1689. They went around Tohoku and Hokuriku, and returned to Edo in 1691. The trip in this book ends in Ogaki, Mino (Gifu prefecture today) with one of his haiku where he hinted that he wanted to visit Ise shrine after staying in Ogaki. Matsuo was considered to have written some of the most beautiful travel diaries ever written in Japanese.
Basho died because of disease in early autumn of 1694 in Osaka, while staying at a house of his disciple on a trip. Before his death, he made a haiku as his last words:
Colonization
Colonization is the act of one country settling another place, in order to become the new rulers of the new country, and to live in the new country. An early example is the settlers who went from the cities of Ancient Greece to start new cities.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in The Americas. This is how the Europeans learned that North America and South America were there. The Europeans colonized the Americas. Because of this, and the killing of lots of Native Americans, most people now living in North America are the descendents of Europeans.
Sometimes, science fiction stories talk about humans colonizing outer space on space stations or planets other than Earth. Some science fiction stories like The Matrix speak of the robots the human beings made, taking over, and colonizing Earth.
Choreography
Choreography (dance-writing) is the art of making dances. It tells dancers how they should dance and move. The word has been used since the late 18th century to mean the art of composing dance.
A person who does choreography is called a "choreographer". A choreographer makes a dance based on music or a synopsis (a writing of what occurs in the dance). They may also act as trainers for professional dancers in ballet, stage shows and competitive ballroom dance. Their ideas may be recorded in dance notation, or on videos.
Choreography is also used in other types of performances. In Ice skating and Ice dancing, the choreographer designs the moves the skates does. In theater, movies and television, a choreographer is used to design fight scenes. For example, Bob Anderson designed many of the sword fight scenes in the "Lord of the Rings" movies as well as some of the "Star Wars" movies. A person who does this type of choreography is usually called a "fight choreographer".
Electrical cell
An electrical cell is a device used to generate electricity, or to make chemical reactions by applying electricity. A battery is one or more cells, connected. This cell is also known as electrochemical cell.
The simple electrical cells were first developed in 1800s. They are also called "galvanic cells", because an Italian scientist named Luigi Galvani invented these cells.
Special chemical reactions which occur inside the electrical cell, result in oxidation and reduction of the substances inside the cell. This produces electrical energy. Normal batteries work like this.