Paul Kimball remembers Richard Hall.

Dick Hall passes away . . .

Dick was an icon of serious UFO research, from his days with NICAP to his seminal works, The UFO Evidence, Vols. I and II. He was a rare voice of reason in a field full of charlatans, huxters, and died-in-the-wool true believers.

Dick had grown increasingly disenchanted with the UFO research community in recent years, and I don't blame him. In his heyday, he knew men like J. Allen Hynek, and James McDonald - now UFO research is the domain primarily of people like Steven Greer, and Steven Bassett. The likes of Dick Hall are few and far between these days, and UFO research is worse off because of it.

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John Keel (1930-2009)

This morning I logged onto Twitter to discover that Fortean adventurer John Keel, author of "The Mothman Prophecies," died on July 3. Keel was ufology's own Man In Black, a genuine iconoclast who wedded scientific humility with ideas too strange even for the UFO community. (Keel has been a considerable influence on my own ideas about the "paranormal"; this blog is littered with references to his notion of the "electromagnetic superspectrum" from which seemingly occult forces materialize and vanish, adapting to our belief systems with such tenacity that few -- if any -- of us are ever the wiser.)

Fellow Keelians Greg Bishop and Nick Redfern offer their own remembrances here and here.

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A belated farewell

Fortean writer John Michell died last month; I just found out today.

Goodbye, J.G. Ballard.

J.G. Ballard, one of my favorite writers, has died. (The frightening prospect is that his apocalyptic legacy might be just beginning.)

Here's an interview with me about Ballard's influence on my own ideas.

To share your own Ballard remembrances, visit Ballardian.

Obituary for Dr. Thomas C Van Flandern

In his book "Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets", Dr. Van Flandern presented the case for several controversial theories, most notably that the speed of gravity must propagate significantly faster than the speed of light; both comets and asteroids are remnants of an exploded planet; back-ground radiation is not caused by an expanding universe and therefore the big bang is invalid; Mars is an escaped moon of an exploded planet formerly located in the asteroid belt; and that some structures on Mars are artificial.

Bettie Page dies at 85; pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure

Mars Phoenix Lander Runs Out of Juice

Originally slated for a mere 90 days near the Martian north pole, clever NASA power engineers kept the Lander doing science for nearly two months beyond that goal. But now mission officials are certain: The lander has run out of power for its internal heater and is presumed to be frozen on the arctic plane.

Related:

Has Mars Science Laboratory Made the Discovery of the Decade?

NASA team leader Michael Mumma puts forward the idea that subterranean bacteria could be producing the noxious fumes, which periodically percolate to the surface in short lived bursts. But it could also be a geological source deep below the surface.

Climate crank Michael Crichton dies at 66 (obituary with comments by Bruce Sterling)

As a voracious science fiction reader, I'm afraid I'll remember Crichton as one of the very worst writers in the field. His prose was so bad it was alarming.

Farewell, David Foster Wallace

The literary world was hit with the shocking news this weekend of the passing of a writer of rare brilliance. Widely respected author David Foster Wallace committed suicide at his home in Claremont, California, on Friday night.

And I still hadn't read "Infinite Jest."

Remembering Thomas M. Disch

Few people make a successful career of contemplating death and suicide; fewer still approach the subject with the genuine ebullience and elegant despair of the prolific, criminally underappreciated writer Thomas M. Disch, who shot himself in his Union Square apartment, in New York, on the Fourth of July.

George Carlin has died. And I want him back.

Stan Winston, Special Effects Master, RIP

Stan Winston was the most relevant illusionist of the 20th century. I'll miss this guy's work.

MoMA exhibit dies five weeks into show

One of the central works in the exhibition "Design and the Elastic Mind" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (until 12 May), Victimless Leather, a small jacket made up of embryonic stem cells taken from mice, has died. The artists, Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, say the work which was fed nutrients by tube, expanded too quickly and clogged its own incubation system just five weeks after the show opened.

RIP, creepy mouse-jacket.

Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

Forget that biblical drek. Here's the moment that cements Heston in my memory:

Arthur C. Clarke has died. I can't even begin to think of a fitting tribute at the moment. Suffice it to say that "2001" was the first book to send actual chills down my spine.

Roy Scheider, Actor in 'Jaws,' Dies at 75

Roy Scheider, a stage actor with a background in the classics who became one of the leading figures in the American film renaissance of the 1970s, died on Sunday afternoon in Little Rock, Ark. He was 75 and lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

I'll best remember Scheider from his role in "2010," an imperfect but memorable film I saw while still in elementary school. In case you need a refresher, here's a scene involving two cool concepts: aerobraking and conspicuously attractive female cosmonauts in need of physical affection:

I just found out that Kurt Vonnegut, one of my all-time favorite writers, died yesterday.

At least we can read his books. While they're still legal.

SCOT 'ATTACKED BY SPACESHIP' IS DEAD

Almost 30 years later, police say the case remains open and unsolved.

Bob told officers that he had found the craft - a metal sphere, about 20ft across - in Dechmont Woods, Livingston, West Lothian.

As he approached it, two smaller spheres, each about 3ft wide and with metal spikes sticking from them, dropped down.

He said the smaller spheres rolled towards him and attached themselves to his trousers.

Bob described an acrid smell before collapsing unconscious on the ground.

When he came round 20 minutes later, he said his head was pounding and he was unable to talk or walk.

I don't know what this guy saw. But I'm personally satisfied that he saw something exceptionally strange.

Robert Anton Wilson (RIP)

Robert Anton Wilson--philosopher, author, visionary, Discordian, Fortean, and bOING bOING patron saint--died early this morning.

We knew it was coming. Just last night I considered posting a "farewell" message to his blog.

I just read that James Brown is dead.

I'm hardly a "soul" aficionado, but in my considered opinion anyone who doesn't at least turn up the volume a little when a James Brown song comes on the radio simply has no concept of fun.



Paul Kimball and Nick Redfern have both cited me as ufology's equivalent to Morrissey. But maybe what ufology really needs is its own James Brown.