Dead Heros Don't Let You Down

I still have backache.

Arthur C. Clarke is dead. I have mixed feelings about Mr Clarke. He was a hero of mine when I was at school. I remember reading Rendezvous With Rama as a child and being amazed by it. I read 2001 also, but I wasn't so moved by it until I was older. I think I tried it too young. My technical drawing teacher explained it to me. In those days we used pencils for drawings. I remember the film was described by the Telegraph film critic, who was then Dilys Powell I think, as "somewhere between hypnotic and boring". Dilys was cool.

Then there were the accusations of child abuse. I hope it never happened. He was a misunderstood man. A reporter on Radio 4 this morning credited him with inventing the satellite. What a knob. Clarke was one of a handful of people that tossed out the concept of geostationary orbit in the 40s. I don't think he was the only one, or even the first. He merely had the charisma to make people listen. He had nothing to do with the invention of the satellite.

On balance I'm going to give Arthur the benefit of the doubt. Even if he did some unpleasant stuff in the past, he changed the world, and we have to give him credit for that. He came out with some classic quotes during his life. His Wiki article attributes the following to him:

"The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion."

"They [UFOs] tell us absolutely nothing about intelligence elsewhere in the universe, but they do prove how rare it is on Earth."

And my personal favourite, because it can be read in so many ways...

"It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value."

Heather Mills-McCartney lost her appeal against the decision to publish the court ruling in her divorce settlement. I'm not surprised she wanted to keep it quiet, she came out of it looking pretty awful. Just about all the tabloids have trashed her on the front page this morning. Even the quality press has laid into her on the inside pages.

The really big news today is that Dumpy managed to pee in the potty for the first time. I wasn't there to see it, but he seems very pleased with himself by all accounts. It's his birthday this week. He'll be two. Doesn't time fly?