Two weeks ago I was posting about the passing of Mr. E. Gary Gygax, one of the greatest creative minds of our age. And now, I write about another.

While I am a science fiction buff, I admittedly stuck to the novels dealing with series I was familiar with - Star Trek, Star Wars, and the like. It wasn't until I saw 2001: A Space Oddesy that I decided to check out other authors. Arthur C. Clarke was the first. And the more I read, the more I realised what kind of visionary he was.

He talked about a global satalite communications network back in '45, while fighting in WW2. He talked about visiting the moon, long before rockets were even a workig concept.

But what I remember him for the most, him personally, is a quote of his, known as Clarke's Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

The other thing I will remember about him is a tribute to his work, 2001: A Space Oddesy. I still have the newspaper clipping, and will try and get it scanned and posted. On January 1, 2001, a solid black monolith, an exact replica of his monolith from his 2001, appeared in a Seattle park over night. It appeared to have errupted from the ground - no park wardens had seen anyone come or go, and there was no trace of anyone having placed it there (the monolith was a solid metal object 1 foot deep, 4 feet wide, and 9 feet tall).

With his passing, I can oly imagine waht we will see in 2010, the date of the sequel to 2001...