>From Jed, > George Holz wrote: > > >Article url: > >http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6075 > > Nice! Thanks for sharing that. I am glad to hear that Arthur's final > illness was not too painful or prolonged. > > When I went to dig out that photo of Arthur and his pet dinosaur . . > . it made me weep for a while. It is no tragedy when a man dies after > 90 years of the fullest life imaginable, but it never easy to lose a > friend. And Arthur had THOUSANDS of friends. > > I am pleased to see that he left instructions for a completely > secular funeral. "Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating > to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral." He was > a profoundly spiritual person in many ways, but an atheist to the core. > > - Jed
Looking at the photo of Sir Clark in bed, I was struck by two things. (ONE) he didn't look a day older than, well, what a nonagenarian would probably look like, and (TWO) despite his advanced age, and all that that entails, a playful spirit was still shining through those eyes. IMHO, a playful spirit is an extremely rare thing to observe in a nonagenarian. I'm reminded of a friend of mine, also a hard core atheist, who last month went in for a knee replacement - what he called his first steps towards making the transition to true cyborg status. I visited him a day after surgery, just as his nurse was prodded him to tentatively negotiate a flight of stairs as part of his physical therapy regime. As I walked behind him I decided to torment him. I told him my wife, knowing full well that he was an atheist, had recently sent him a little "get well" prayer. She instructed me to tell him precisely what she had done because she knew her action would annoy him - meaning the ritualistic act of futility, as the act is often perceived by atheists, would actually amuse him. "What are friends for." He giggled back sarcastically, while carefully negotiating another step. It's hard to disrespect anyone who remains true to their school, no matter what their "religion" might be. Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
