Arthur C. Clarke died today :-(

[photon]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...0,393161.story

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who peered into the heavens with a homemade telescope as a boy and grew up to become a visionary titan of science fiction best-known for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick in writing the landmark film "2001: A Space Odyssey," has died. He was 90.

Sad to see him go, glad that he came.

[Locke]

Oh damn. He was one of my favorite authors.

I'll never forget taking a university english class as an option which was a Sci-Fi class and the prof and I would talk about Clarke's books after class at the bar for hours.

I've read the majority of his stuff. Absolutely incredible writer.

R.I.P. Arthur.

[troutman]

RIP

2001, Rendevous With Rama, The Sentinel - blew my mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C_Clarke

A movie interpretation of Clarke's award-winning 1972 novel Rendezvous with Rama is currently in pre-production. Acclaimed director David Fincher is assigned to the project together with actor Morgan Freeman. According to IMDB, the movie is expected to be released sometime in 2009.

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

• "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean."

• Clarke's three laws:

1. "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."
2. "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."
3. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'll never forget taking a university english class as an option which was a Sci-Fi class and the prof and I would talk about Clarke's books after class at the bar for hours.

nerd

RIP

[Vulcan]

Sad to see him go. It's strange to think that SciFi was once considered less than respectable when now it's been shown they were the prophets.

[Nehkara]

Arthur C. Clarke is one of the greats of Science Fiction and will remain so until long after his death.

I look forward to the Rama movie coming in 2009.

RIP Arthur.

Important tidbit some may not know about:

"Author Arthur C. Clarke is credited with proposing the notion of using a geostationary orbit for communications satellites. The orbit is also known as the Clarke Orbit. Together, the collection of artificial satellites in these orbits is known as the Clarke Belt."

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From Gizmodo:

[Julio]

I'm very sad to see him pass...and am frankly a bit worried that Rama won't come close to my 'inner movie'. Science fiction Grand Masters haven't fared that well recently (Starship Troopers and I Robot being Exhibits A and B for me).

[troutman]

Here is a related story from the Herald today:

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...f-20fda9840822

The European Space Agency devised a contest asking people to create a playlist of 10 songs that would be loaded on an MP3 player that astronauts on the International Space Station could hear, supposedly for months and months, until their return home.

The winning mixtape selection came from a 14-year-old girl from Norway, who beat out more than 1,000 rivals from 10 other countries. And while her selection may be, um, topical, it just downright sucks.

So, Nick Lewis made his own list, and in honor of Clarke, here is mine:

David Bowie - Space Oddity - Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do.

Rush - Countdown - All systems check, T minus nine, As the sun and the drama start to mount.

XTC - Another Satellite - I say why on earth do you revolve around me, Aren't you aware of the gravity, Don't need another satellite

Husker Du - Books About UFOs - I know that somewhere in some faraway galaxy,
That some gray men with telescopes are gazing right into her eyes

Strauss - The Blue Danube - 2001 uses works by several classical composers and famously used Johann Strauss II's best known waltz, An der schönen blauen Donau (in English, On The Beautiful Blue Danube), during the space-station rendezvous and lunar landing sequences.

Modest Mouse - Third Planet - The universe is shaped exactly like the earth if you go, Straight long enough you’ll end up where you were.

Rush -Cygnus X-1 - Through the void, To be destroyed, Or is there something more?

Modest Mouse - The Stars Are Projectors - The stars are projectors, yeah, Projectin' our lives down to this planet Earth

Deep Purple - Space Truckin' - We're space truckin' round the the stars, Come on let's go Space Truckin'

Monty Python - Galaxy Song - So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth, And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, because there's bugger all down here on Earth