Times like this, it feels like my childhood is just going away forever.

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

Rest in peace, you ol’ rabble-rouser.

Not unexpected, given the pancreatic cancer, but even so.

“We all live as long as we need to.” — Belgarath the Sorcerer

Top comment: He’ll probably have two eulogies. One that is archetypal but with some relatively well-written dialogue, and another immediately after that’s pretty much the same thing, except a few names and places changed around. – Rawrasaur

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry and Gene Roddenberry’s remains will be sent together into space.

Come on – that’s pretty damned romantic.

(Come on, you must be sick by now of fine Corinthian leather, Khan and Mr. Roarke clips.)