Take A Moment

[DougF]

Take a moment for your family and your friends.

and take another moment if your friends are your family.

[Tarantism]

A moment for cleaner fuel.

[InfiniteNow]

Let us all take a moment for Arthur C. Clarke, who died Wednesday at the age of 90.





The Associated Press: Writer Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90

Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.

Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in 1956, lured by his interest in marine diving which he said was as close as he could get to the weightless feeling of space.

"I'm perfectly operational underwater," he once said.

Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.

He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.

He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/bo...clarke.html?hp

Mr. Clarke was well aware of the importance of his role as science spokesman to the general population: “Most technological achievements were preceded by people writing and imagining them,” he noted. “I’m sure we would not have had men on the Moon,” he added, if it had not been for H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. “I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books.”

Among his legacies are Clarke’s Three Laws, provocative observations on science, science fiction and society that were published in his “Profiles of the Future” (1962):

¶“When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”

¶“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”

¶“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Mr. Clarke’s reputation as a prophet of the space age rests on more than a few accurate predictions. His visions helped bring about the future he longed to see. His contributions to the space program were lauded by Charles Kohlhase, who planned NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn and who said of Mr. Clarke, “When you dream what is possible, and add a knowledge of physics, you make it happen.”

We can still remember him through his writing.

Arthur C. Clarke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[freeztar]

With each passing, there should be proliferation.

RIP ACC

[Turtle]

Another moment for a monolith. Thanks for the dreams Arthur.

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Another moment for a monolith. Thanks for the dreams Arthur.

I am sad to hear of Clarke's passing. The last of my three great heros are dead.

It was the books and stories of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein that gave me a vision for my life. In the 1960's there were no opportunities for a kid in a wheelchair to start a career, not even any role models to emulate. So, I read their science fiction and dreamed of one day being a "rocket scientist".

And here I am.

[Tarantism]

A moment for tonality.

[Boerseun]

A moment for bipedalism.

After many years of doubt, I've finally come to the conclusion that it actually rocks.

[Pyrotex]

A moment for total surrender to the necessity of collecting together all your tax related documents and receipts and forms. [sigh]

[DougF]

I would like to Take A Moment for a great author "Arthur C Clarke"

"UPDATED ON:
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2008
3:44 MECCA TIME, 0:44 GMT"

Space Odyssey author dies

The science fiction writer, Arthur C Clarke, who co-wrote the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, with Stanley Kubrick, has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide says. He was 90.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30am on Wednesday

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British-born Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.

He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality.

Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.

Clarke's non-fiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier reef and Indian ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame.

Al Jazeera English - News - Space Odyssey Author Dies