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A man is known by his friends, the devil is known by his fiends
Arthur C. Clarke dies
VISIONARY science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke died today in Sri Lanka at the age of 90.
He died of respiratory complications and heart failure that doctors ascribed to a post-polio syndrome, which had kept him in a wheelchair for years.
Born in Somerset, England on December 16, 1917, Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist during World War II and graduated from Kings College, London in physics and mathematics after the war.
Clarke is credited with first having the idea for geosynchronous satellites in a landmark technical paper published in 1945. Today the geostationary orbit at 36,000 km (22,370 miles) above the equator is named The Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical Union and is well populated with communications satellites.
More recently, he promoted construction of tethered space elevators as more efficient means to reach Earth orbit. He had lately predicted that space tourism would become very popular and that man would travel beyond Earth orbit and the Moon to the planets and beyond.
In the 1940s he predicted that man would land on the Moon before the year 2000. His prediction was initially ridiculed as preposterous but his vision was vindicated when US astronauts touched down on the moon in 1969.
The prolific author produced about 100 science fiction books and hundreds of short stories and articles during his writing career. He was best known for writing the stories behind the films "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "2010: The Year We Make Contact" and advising the movie productions. Tens of millions of people all over the world have watched those films over the years and they are regarded by many as among the greatest movies ever made.
With an uninterrupted writing career spanning more than 60 years, Clarke was regarded as one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, alongside Russian born Isaac Asimov, who died in 1992, and US native Robert Heinlein, who died in 1988. He based his writing on scientific facts and theories rather than fantasy and kept humanity and its consciousness, evolution and ultimate destinations central to his technologically themed works.
Clarke moved to Sri Lanka, which was then called Ceylon, in 1955 and spent most of the rest of his life there.
In observing his "90th orbit of the Sun" in December, Clarke expressed three birthday wishes: for ET to call, for man to kick his oil habit and for peace in Sri Lanka. He finished proof-reading the galleys of his latest novel "The Last Theorem" only days ago.
He is survived by his brother, who is travelling to Colombo for the funeral later this week. In his final instructions, Clarke explicitly requested a private, secular funeral, with "Absolutely no religious rites of any kind."
May he transit among the stars in peace. µ
L'Inq
Reuters
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Yes, a nicely done obituary.

His semi-autobiographical novel 'Glidepath' gives some insights to his early life.
His writings (along with Asimovs & Hieliens) prompted me to fall in love with sceince, technology, and logic. The three were among the great influences of my life. I( would like to believe that they influenced others in the same way.
geosynchronous?
shouldn't that be geostationary?
"May he transit among the stars in peace."

Agreed. A well deserved rest.

Shonky.
When the components within one’s soul are not in synchronicity, one’s minds takes over but who or what are our minds? They are the [2-horns of] idiocy and lunacy enslaving us, especially the part which instructs/comforts, “You are special and has therefore been blessed to enjoy the fruits of your achievements/greatness. How free and democratic you are. Now you must start blessing others/immortalising, you wonderful thing you”, which leads to opening the floodgates of our deepest desires like, “Aahhh, I’ll have that orifice, that ecstacy-coke mix, that car, that house, that presidency, that pile of cash, that recognition/prize …”. Hands-up the idiot or lunatic who cannot see himself within that picture. How wonderful it is that we can only recognise idiocy & lunacy within others.

We cannot pray-to or dictate-goodness without/on-the-outside. Eons of Evolution in ressurecting Dust to humans has ensured that everything we need, including cures for AIDS, cancer, poverty, hunger, “the environment”, etc, etc, are within [which means a sad “sorry” to “religion”, “politics”, “commerce”, “charities”, “science/technology-cum-dosh”, “sociology-cum-greeny-loony”, “royalty”, and quackery too. What will quacks and their handlers now do? They’ll become real doctors contend with seeing their love in action, not the growth of their bank and immortality accounts]. All we need to kick-start the whole “becoming” process is to allow parts of our soul to manage the “problems”. We only need purity of heart. That is called Loving [which is also Joy], the ultimate in detachment which comes from within whereas “loving” is all about showing others how idiotic or lunatic we are and is ALL about attachment [also known as hate, dislike, etc], the other face of indifference. A flower offers its fragrance without bias before “dying” whereas the artificial flower maker impregnate his with “perfume to keep it going forever” to the highest bidder. 

The point is not about beliefs, agreements or not. The point is, has the individual reached the position where he realises that purity is about himself, not others, and how, thereafter, may he realise his pure desire. It does not matter that in the last part of Evolution, over the last 20,000 years, that he hasn’t found it. The potential is now complete and the integration with reality, which is a reflection of all the universes, known or unknown, is now possible. Once that is touched upon, the “eternal flame” will start enlightening others and it doesn’t matter if most are ready or not. It’s not about size [Finite] but about Reality [Infinite]. Collectivity. The Sink returning/ressurecting to The Source [The Big Bang], The “Un-Big Bang”. And it’s all done within the object we see in the mirror, not what we profess to or demand from others. In absoluteness, competition means, “Trying my best for my purity”, whereas in relativity, competition means all-round enhancement of greed & fear, anger & guilt, etc. When was the last time the heart told us that it did not miss a single beat over the last zxy beats. When the idiot/lunatic felt his heart pounding after playing with some object of his fantasy.
"May he transit among the stars in peace"

Lump > throat
Nicely done, Egan. thank you.
"Like a glowing jewel, the city lay upon the breast of the desert. Once it had known change and alteration, but now time passed it by. Night and day fled across the desert's face, but in Diaspar it was always afternoon, and darkness never came."

I am saddened with the closing of an era. I read every one of Heinlein's, Asimov's and Clarke's stories as a lad and dreamed of the wonders of space and exploration and man's ability to improvise and adapt (how on earth did I end up in IT then). As I look around I dont get a sense of equivalent geniuses stepping into their shoes (I maybe wrong) and painting a picture of man's glorious future. Maybe it is too hard to write about incredible futures with oil consumption/global warming/population/disease in our near future???

I am incredibly saddened to hear of his passing...
Arthur Clarke was above all a visionary, but a visionary with his feet firmly planted on the ground. Hopefully, whichever country first builds a working space elevator will name it after him.

His writings were clear, full of interesting facts, both scientific and otherwise, and were always enjoyable. I wish I could have met him, alas, now I shall have to wait awhile.

Godspeed, Arthur Clarke, may you live forever in our collective memories!
--"This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Thank you for a very enjoyable game. Dream well, Arthur. Goodbye."
I have read several of his books and he was one of the authors who inspired me to write my own science fiction book though it will never be as good as his.
My book is here:
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=24314