Re: ~ Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Author and Gay Man, Dies ~

On 2008-03-19 11:39:01 -0700, "Franklin Hummel" <hummel@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
said:

> I said *"likely"*.  I said *"present-day"*  Asimov died in 1992.

His fame didn't die with him, though.

The present-day world's most famous anything does not require the 
subject of the fame to be living -- or, sadly, Clarke would have just 
failed to qualify, and you'd have to call him the recent-past world's 
most famous.

> WHY do you think I used the phrase "LIKELY the PRESENT-DAY
> world's most famous science fiction author..."?  Hmm?

I would have figured that you meant the most famous SF writer known to 
the present-day world, or close enough to be arguable.  So guys like 
Van Vogt, who were famous in their day but much less well known today, 
would be judged on their current popularity, not their past heights.

It's not intuitive that by "present day world" you meant to include 
only the living and recently living -- it makes just as much or more 
sense that you meant "famous to those in the present-day world."

> It was to *avoid* such discussions as *this*!

Then stop shouting and people and let it go -- it takes two to tango, 
after all.

If you're not interested in the discussion, you're not obligated to 
participate.  But demanding that others not speak up because you're not 
interested doesn't really work.

kdb