Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

[The Central Scrutinizer]

:(

[The Central Scrutinizer]

This is the official thread. It was first. :)

[Madalch]

Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Denial is not just a river in Egypt. :)

[Undesired Walrus]

This is the official thread. It was first. :)

I will fight you in a monkey battle to the death!

[HawkeyeMD]

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do."

RIP, and all that. :(

[Earthborn]

According to his Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke) he died 19 march 2008, and according to my calendar, it is still 18 march 2008, which means there is still hope. No... wait... it says 18 now in the main text but 19 in the thingie on the right... No... back to 19 again...

[Lensman]

I also posted about this in another section, if any Mod/Admin wishes to delete my post - feel free.

[Fnord]

Somewhere, an Ancient monolith has just gained sentience.

Thank you, Sir Arthur.

[mumchup]

I think he's worth two threads, so I'll salute him in this one too.

[DRBUZZ0]

Yeah I just wrote about it as I just found out:

In an appropriately poetic twist, Clarke died on the 19th of March 2008 at around 1:30 AM. As of the writing of this post, it is currently only the 18th in the most of the western world. In death as in life, Clarke was one step ahead of most of the world. He died tomorrow just as he lived in tomorrow.

[DoubtingStephen]

He was a great man.

[Foster Zygote]

Sad news. I think I'll pull out my copy of The Nine Billion Names of God and start re-reading it tonight.

Thank you very, very much Mr. Clarke.

[Major Major]

As he himself wrote of one approaching death:

It is lovely to watch the coloured shadows on the planets of eternal light.

[Hindmost]

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.

Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

Arthur C. Clarke

Time to dust off the RAMA novels.


glenn

[Hokulele]

http://www.clarkefoundation.org/

[Fidelio]

Sad, another hero of my growing up years has passed. Then again most of us can only hope for a similar run. I shall try to observe the asteroid 4923 Clarke in his memory.

[Kotatsu]

Yeah I just wrote about it as I just found out:

In an appropriately poetic twist, Clarke died on the 19th of March 2008 at around 1:30 AM. As of the writing of this post, it is currently only the 18th in the most of the western world. In death as in life, Clarke was one step ahead of most of the world. He died tomorrow just as he lived in tomorrow.

That was brilliant!

[bozothedeathmachine]

:(

He was probably my favorite Sci-Fi author. He always trie to base the science-fiction on science-fact, his background in math and physics always coming through. Because of him we can communicate across the planet. He will be missed.

Time to get another copy of "Childhood's End"

[erlando]

Sir Clarke was the author that woke my interest in Sci-Fi. I still fondly remember my first reading of "2001".

Here is a youtube video from dec 2007 where he reflects on 90 orbits around the sun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qLdeEjdbWE . At the end of the video he reflects on how he would like to be remembered and he quotes Rudyard Kipling:

IF I have given you delight
By aught that I have done,
Let me lie quiet in that night
Which shall be yours anon:

And for the little, little, span
The dead are borne in mind,
Seek not to question other than
The books I leave behind.


RIP Sir Arthur. I hope it really is full of stars.

[Cactus Wren]

Oh, damn. :(

[dann]

:(

He was probably my favorite Sci-Fi author. He always trie to base the science-fiction on science-fact, his background in math and physics always coming through. Because of him we can communicate across the planet. He will be missed.

Time to get another copy of "Childhood's End"

If you want science-fiction based on science-fact, I think that you should get something other than Childhood's End . . .

[DarthFishy]

*sigh*

Really, what's up with all these athours passing away? A great pity indeed, he'll be truely missed.

[Darat]

Death.

[MRC_Hans]

Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish. (I know, but it still fits).

Hans

[DouglasL]

Yeah I just wrote about it as I just found out:

In an appropriately poetic twist, Clarke died on the 19th of March 2008 at around 1:30 AM. As of the writing of this post, it is currently only the 18th in the most of the western world. In death as in life, Clarke was one step ahead of most of the world. He died tomorrow just as he lived in tomorrow.


Nominated

[wahrheit]

:(

The NYT has put some pictures of him (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/19/arts/0319-CLARKE_index.html) online.

[dudalb]

He was about the last of the Golden Age Sci Fi writers,and now he is gone.
Asimov,Heinlein, Clark..the writers I grew up reading are now gone.
It is the end of an era in Science Fiction,no doubt.

[Fnord]

He was about the last of the Golden Age Sci Fi writers,and now he is gone.
Asimov,Heinlein, Clark..the writers I grew up reading are now gone.
It is the end of an era in Science Fiction,no doubt.

Roddenberry, Gygax...

[dudalb]

And now news that Paul Schofield,who won the Oscar for and created the stage role of Thomas More in "A Man For All Seasons" died.
2 in the death trifecta,folks. Who will be the third?

[petra10]

Yeah I just wrote about it as I just found out:

In an appropriately poetic twist, Clarke died on the 19th of March 2008 at around 1:30 AM. As of the writing of this post, it is currently only the 18th in the most of the western world. In death as in life, Clarke was one step ahead of most of the world. He died tomorrow just as he lived in tomorrow.


That sums up the great man. "One step ahead of most of the world".


Well said DrBuzzo.

[Geek Goddess]

The first science fiction story I can remember reading was his "Against the Fall of Night", which I read sometime in the late 1960s. I sought out his other books, and from there went on to Heinlein and Asimov. I got acquainted with my first real boyfriend when I noticed him reading Rendevous with Rama right after it came out in paperback.

I just noticed that Morgan Freeman is slated to appear in the movie, tenatively scheduled for 2009, but with a note that the producers are still working on the film adaptation.

[petra10]

Just watched his funeral on the BBC news.

As per his wishes there were no religious rites of anykind.Although there were some buddist monks there paying their respects.


R.I.P Sir Arthur.

[Rrose Selavy]

I have mixed feelings about Clarke. He was British by jove, and compared to some, the human face of sci- fi, I remember when I was into reading scifi as a teenager , childhood's End" was the only novel I remember that I had to finish almost within a day, it started so compellingly for me.

But in later years, from some interviews, there was something in his persona that was offputting, as if he didn't feel he had anything to prove that almost made him strangley complacent - his reputation for prediction having been established - I don't deny his prescience on some things and the part illness may possibly have played in reducing his workload etc but later I felt he could make any statement without it being challenged or being made to expand on it - if you make enough predictions some may come true - we only remember the "hits" - difficult to put my finger on it. He put his name to his "Mysterious world/strange powers " series - from my hazy memory it felt each teaser episode that would usually end with him basically saying "nah..there's basically nothing in it..."

[The Central Scrutinizer]

And now news that Paul Schofield,who won the Oscar for and created the stage role of Thomas More in "A Man For All Seasons" died.
2 in the death trifecta,folks. Who will be the third?

You. :eek: