(1917-2008)Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who has been mentioned casually in these postings and matter-of-factly, as in a reference to the "Clarke Belt," the orbit coincident to the Equatorial Plain where, at 40,000 kilometers satellites may enjoy an orbital speed matching Earth's rotation below, and are, thus, "geostationary," has died in Sri Lanka where he had lived since 1956 at 90 years of age.
Also in passing, in describing the "mysterious" software glitch that prevented Cassini from performing the very experiment justifying its close pass directly through the "Fountains of Encadelus" a week ago I wrote of the event being 'worthy of a short story by Arthur C. Clarke.'
"ALL THESE WORLDS"
Many more words, from the more fanatic fanatics will undoubtedly be written to express their gratitude for the long and influential career of Arthur Clarke, but it would be hard not to say, as simply as I know how, that Arthur C. Clarke was definitely very influential in my life and thinking. He had a vision of "if" more true to Bona Fide Science fiction than any other in his lifetime, and I would have been pleased to see him continue among us, reassuring in his presence somehow, at least through the coming century, as Dr. Heywood Floyd and Dave Bowman and HAL9000 most certainly will.
In his honor, I will re-read "The Sentinel" today.
