dear_carl_sagan Dafremen Dear Dr. Sagan, It is with much relish that I finally got around to reading Cosmos which has been fascinating. Let me preface by saying that I don't fawn, but I do appreciate and respect your work. The reason I am writing this to you is that I felt that your treatment of the history of astrology in Cosmos was suprisingly misinformed. The tone was severe, so I am assuming that you were successful in communicating your contempt for astrology.(That's one of the reasons I respect your work..you're good at what you do.) I believe the reason for this gap in your knowledge base is similar to the reason for mine 3 years ago. I wasn't about to waste time on something which I had no respect for and would have been embarrassed to even entertain. A fortunate incident got me to investigate further (I'm still investigating..) and I've since given up a lucrative career as a software engineer to pursue the study, because it is a fascinating subject. I won't go on about my opinions or my history, I'll just put my money where my mouth is (figuratively speaking) and offer, maybe not proof, but a very convincing argument in favor of the utility and accuracy of "humanistic"astrology. Here's what I propose: You or a neutral party choose 1000 participants at random from the general populace. Participants will need to provide picture ID and a birth certificate which can be verified by any party you choose. I choose 100 of the participants using only their birth charts calculated from their birthtime, birthdate and place of birth. Each participant is interviewed over a phone or other visual clue shielding method, both by your person and by myself in isolated sessions Questions are asked starting with nothing more than the above provided information(birthdate, etc) Questions will attempt to describe the subject's personality, lifestyle or habits. Questions are to be asked in a YES/NO format until 20 Affirmative answers are reached(per subject.) Questions are to be asked in such a manner that the participant responds YES if the interviewer's guess is correct, NO otherwise. Follow up questions are fine, also in YES/NO format. All questions and responses will be recorded. Points should be given for style. "Don't you love the snow up there in Buffalo?" or "Do you like music?" being MUCH lower on the ratings scale than "You feel people's pain don't you? That's why you shy away from them. You've seen someone you loved suffer when you were younger." If your view of astrology is correct, the results will be comparable, or you, being a much more learned man than I, will have put together a more accurate personality profile of each subject in most cases. Otherwise, if you find the results unsatisfactory because astrology proves more accurate than expected, we may repeat the experiment as many times as you would like. I've always admired you as a man of truth and always will. I think there is something here that needs a man of both truth and stature to at least give it a moment or two. If you honestly don't have time to do the experiment, try reading a book called Sun Signs, available at just about any bookstore. Even more information about major aspects can be found in a great primer called The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need. (I'm sure they'll give you a brown paper bag at the register and you can hide it when you get home. Just kidding.) Thanks for your time. I need to get back to reading Cosmos. It really is a wonderful book. I knew it would be when I saw your name on the cover. Thanks for entertaining and enlightening me on so many things, Dr. Sagan. R. Dafremen P.S. Sorry to hear about your passing in December of '96. No doubt you've discovered how wrong you were about humanistic astrology by now, way to take the search for truth to it's ultimate conclusion Dr. Sagan. As for the above proposal, if you'd like to give it a go anyhow, feel free to contact me through a dream or something. 030403 what's it to you? who go blather from