Re: Not always joking, it seems

In article <Xns9A44BA56C3CFFgenewardsmithsbcglob@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Gene Ward Smith  <gene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>"Joe King, a spokesman for the university, gave an official 
>statement, saying: 'There has been a shooting on campus. 
>Several people have been taken away by ambulance. The DeKalb 
>campus is shut down.'"

6 dead (incuding the shooter) and 16 wounded, according to the NYTimes.

On the bright side, the school's response to the shooting sounded pretty
well thought out and executed.

It seems like there've been more school shootings recently than before.
I don't know how to determine that though. (If you follow up to this,
please restrict to .fandom.)

On-topic, how have SF stories dealt with random murderous outbusrsts?
There's a general idea that technological progress means that the
power available to an individual increases over time, and of course
that means a single individual can wreak more havoc. Guns, of course,
have been available for centuries.  ANFO-filled trailers and basement
nukes are more modern threats. Some stories show a general suppression
or control of technology ("The Dead Past", Niven's ARM stories,
_Rainbows End_). Some show wider use of personal destructive tech, with
either social adaptations ("The Ungoverned") or technological (I'm
blanking
on a good example; Banks' Culture stories might fit either here or in
the suppression-and-control category). What else? (If you follow up to
this, please restrict to .written.)

-- 
   Wim Lewis <wiml@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Seattle, WA, USA. PGP keyID 27F772C1