https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anders-behring-breivik-appeal-european-court-of-human-rights-norway-massacre/
--- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 3:21 PM Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com> wrote: > At one point, maybe still, the largest mass shooting took place in > Norway. Correct me if I'm wrong. > > --- > Frank C. Wimberly > 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, > Santa Fe, NM 87505 > > 505 670-9918 > Santa Fe, NM > > On Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 3:16 PM Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net> wrote: > >> Well, I still believe there is a gun problem in the United States, yes. >> Definitely. Just recently a police officer fatally shot a pregnant Black >> woman in the parking lot of a grocery store in Ohio after she refused to >> exit her car. And Ohio is not even a red state, right? It is also well >> known that the US has substantially more mass shootings than other >> countries. This is one reason why I do not want to travel to the USA at the >> moment - South Africa also does not feel safe to me after various reports >> in the last months about missing tourists. >> >> The other is the lack of good food. In Europe and Asia there is such a >> variety of good restaurants and healthy food. In Germany and Great Britain >> not so much, except in the larger cities, but in the Mediterranean >> countries like Spain, Italy, Greece and Israel the food is awesome. In >> South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan as well. >> >> -J. >> >> >> -------- Original message -------- >> From: Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> >> Date: 9/3/23 8:59 PM (GMT+01:00) >> To: friam@redfish.com >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Science Fiction Books >> >> Jochen - >> >> I thought of you more than few times on my long walkabout through >> Red/Purple-state 'murrica... mostly your concerns a year or two ago about >> traveling to the US "because gun violence". I was in the heart of "gun >> country" through this trip and saw a few artifacts of that which would >> naturally be *very* disturbing (methinks) to someone not already innured to >> it... but not nearly as many as you might expect. On the other hand I just >> saw a news item that Canada and many other first-world countries have in >> place "travel warnings" for not the US proper, but many of the more >> egregious "red states". I believe you may have already made your >> 'murrican sojourn so the point may be moot... but I couldn't help thinking >> "how would Jochen see this?" as I stumbled through a landscape of bison, >> hay bales, corn fields, motorcycles, strip malls, and gun shows. >> >> I have read "Highway of Eternity" from Clifford D. Simak this weekend, >> one of the books from the golden age of science fiction which is comparable >> to "The city and the Stars" from Arthur C. Clarke and "The end of eternity" >> from Isaac Asimov. Both belong to my favorite books. Modern authors don't >> write like this anymore. Their books are often gloomy and depressive, and >> do not span millions of years. What is your favorite science fiction book? >> Will the AI breakthrough in large language models lead to more optimistic >> science fiction books again? >> >> Back on topic: I grew up on a lot of "Golden Age" works/authors which >> includes Simak/Clarke/Asimov of course. I would claim that this time was >> naturally one of "Utopianism" that came with the rapid development of >> industry/technology/science. I think the Dystopianism ramped up with >> PostModernism and Cyberpunk. I'm a big fan of Cyberpunk (esp.. >> Gibson/Sterling/Stephenson/Cadigan/etc.) and *some* post-Apocalyptic >> works... now almost exclusively "CliFi" (Climate Fiction), but I get your >> yearning for "the good ole days". I'd say Elon Musk grew up on "too much >> Utopian SF" as well and (unlike me) hasn't outgrown it? >> >> My *favorite* golden-age author is Jack Williamson >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Williamson> who I've mentioned here >> before and had the distinction of being somewhat elder when he published >> his first work at age 20 (1928) in Hugo Gernsback's first-of-kind Amazing >> Stories (1926). I feel like he hit his stride after WWII where he had >> been a (civilian, not military due to age) Weatherman in the Pacific and >> reacted to a dawning self-awareness of the flip side of techno-Utopianism >> (exemplified by Hiroshima/Nagasaki)... His (re)entry into publication >> after a long hiatus (during/after WWII) was With Folded Hands >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_Folded_Hands>, a reflective >> dystopian view of techno-utopianism as well as work presaging Asimov's >> Robot series as well as a plethora of concepts like >> Borg/Cylon/Replicant/Terminators/Cybermen/Sentinels, etc... and of course >> all of this was preceded by Lem's Trurl and Klapaucius (wizard-robot >> constructors) and the Hebrew Golem (and Frankenstein's Monster and... and >> and.) He wrote over 50 novels ultimately in his 98 year long life as well >> as myriad short stories, novellas and a 3 year run of a comic strip (early >> 50s)... He also penned a reflective autobiography late in life (70s) but >> with nearly 20 years worth of career following that! He taught writing at >> Eastern NM University well into his 90s as well. >> >> For the most part I'm thankful to be beyond the flat-character >> cardboard-cutout, misogynistic, stoicly independent/capable (white-male) >> hero-worship classic SF tropes but I hear your interest in more positive >> grand narratives that the Golden Age also carried. For the seminal >> Epoch-spanning humanity I offer Olaf Stapledon's "Last and First Men" >> (1930) and "Starmaker" (1933). The former spans 2 billion years and 18 >> human species... >> >> Robert Heinlein is the avowed Master of Human Chauvanistic >> technoUtopian/Libertarian fantasies which even satisfies some of us >> reformed/anti-Libertarians sometimes. Many of his more minor novels are a >> fun romp in near-future techno-utopianism (e.g. Moon is a Harsh Mistress) >> as well as epoch and dimensional spanning works such as *Time Enough for >> Love *and *Job* (respectively). *Stranger in a Strange Land* stood up >> well next to Herbert's *Dune* in the 60s to satisfy Hippies and >> non-Hippies alike. >> >> Larry Niven's *Ringworld *series are pretty >> far-flung/futuristic/optimistic epochal. He does post-Apocalyptic well too >> (e.g. *FootFall*, *Mote in God's Eye*) >> >> I did enjoy Simak's work "back in the day" and his 1968 "So Bright the >> Vision" gestured toward what ChatGPT is today. >> >> A.E. Van Vogt offers some great classics as well... *The Worlds of Null >> A *and *Weapons Shops of Isher* stand out. >> >> Poul Anderson simultaneously created/celebrated and lampooned the >> canonical pulp hero with his Nicholas van Rijn characters in a series of >> works and his *PsychoTechnic League* is a Future History to rival >> Asimov's *Foundation* series. >> >> I know you asked for "*A* favorite" but I'm not so good at narrowing >> such things down... hope you made it through my romp of recommendations >> and at least one is useful! If you lived closer (same continent?) I would >> bequeath you a few boxes of pulp from that era <grin>... >> >> - Steve >> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> >
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