Author Michael Crichton Dead at 66...

Sad news for millions, author Michael Crichton is dead at the age of 66 after a long battle with cancer.

Crichton was a PhD, an author whose books have entertained millions and have often been translated into movie form, and a leading critic of the global warming movement.

In fact, his criticism (which, given his PhD, lends him some credibility) has frustrated Al Gore on many occasions, especially when he issued a series of challenges to Gore to debate the topic, but the former VP refused.

Crichton was the author of such books as Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Congo, The Great Train Robbery, The Terminal Man, Westworld, State of Fear, and Disclosure. He was also the brainchild behind the TV show ER, co-wrote the screenplay for the movie Twister, and also co-wrote the screenplays for a number of the movies that were made from his own books.

Crichton's works are best known for challenging the idea of "fail-safe" measures and the idea that so-called "perfect" and "infalliable" systems will inevitably fail at some point, no matter how hard you try to achieve perfection.