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<p>J-</p>
<p>I definitely agree we have a gun problem... and the recent
reports of "travel warnings" to some of our states (Red ones in
particular) emphasizes that. Many of us are somewhat innured to
the presence of guns and have a fair to good sense of
when/where/how they are a bigger problem than not, but that said,
we do have a gun/bullet/shooter problem and I don't mind
acknowledging that anyone not already used to our nonsense in this
regard is wise to avoid us. I doubt anyone has a worse record of
shooting ourselves and one another up than we do... though each
demographic and region has a different way of doing it. Mary and
I each grew up with at least one person known to have been
involved (victim or perpetrator) in a family murder-suicide
(rejected husband shoots wife, kids, self) so yeh... we are
deplorable and we use guns to demonstrate it. Maybe Russia or
other eastern-block countries suck like we do too? I don't know..
the relative poverty probably keeps the number of guns and volumes
of ammunition down? Our "gun shows" are extravagant/opulent
affairs with parking lots full of $60k 4x4 diesel crew-cab trucks
even if the bumper stickers and casual conversations overheard
would have you thinking the folks there buying/selling were
suffering some kind of harsh recession... <br>
</p>
<p>And police abuse of power (including fatal encounters) is it's
own problem somewhat orthogonal (but not entirely) to our gun
violence problem. I prefer/enjoy European detective shows
because for the most part even when police are armed their first
instinct/action is NOT to pull a gun and threaten/shoot first.
Ohio is on the red side of purple but not deep red like many of
our Western and Southern states. And major metropolitan areas
(red and blue) have gang violence which almost by definition
includes guns. <br>
</p>
<p>I agree that our "average" (restaurant) food is in fact pretty
weak...without even mentioning "fast food". We have plenty of
healthy/good food options IMO but it requires some work to find
and usually comes at a premium. The areas we recently traveled
through were definitely a "food desert/swamp" for the most part.
I appreciated the food we experienced in France and Belgium and
Germany and Netherlands (not so much England/Ireland) and suspect
that the "average" food was maybe healthier than our "average" but
I didn't feel that there was that big of a difference, but then we
eat vegetarian and fresh food where possible so maybe there is
less difference there? Or maybe I just don't know "really good
food". When eating out we lean toward Indian and Thai and
Vietnamese but I wouldn't know authentic from otherwise there...
My daughter is a fitness/nutritionist coach in Denver and has some
pretty strict ideas of what "healthy" food is (they are carnivores
so that expands the range of issues and options)... I do get the
feeling that European food regulations are much stricter (or more
clear, less muddled by industry lobbies?) and I for one am
thankful for your leadership in that area. I suspect that 99% of
the vast swaths of agriculture I just drove through is heavily GMO
and heavily chemically managed... I'll add a footnote that
despite collecting a LOT of bugs on the hood and mirrors of our
vehicle it was a fraction of what I remember from the "old days"
We are very much in new "silent spring", though I felt the same
was afoot in Northern Europe when we were there in 2022... not
nearly as many birds and insects as I'd expect?<br>
</p>
<p>When I was in NZ in 2000 they had just transitioned from
"virtually nothing but boiled meat with boiled starch" options to
a range of "asian fusion" options which I really enjoyed.... but
was quite excited to have some good New Mexico Green Chile when we
returned after a month! We felt the same returning from EU in
2022 and the midwest just now... but it is generally agreed that
Green Chile is addictive (in the same ways as many chile/curries
might be in Asian cuisine?) <br>
</p>
<p>- S<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/3/23 4:14 PM, Jochen Fromm wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:202309032116.383LGAv8041556@ame3.swcp.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="auto">Well, I still believe there is a gun problem in
the United States, yes. Definitely. Just recently a police <span
style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: knowledge-regular,
Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">officer fatally shot a
pregnant Black woman in the parking lot of a grocery store in
Ohio after she refused to exit her car. </span><span
style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: knowledge-regular,
Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And Ohio is not even a
red state, right? </span><span style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64);
font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:
16px;">I</span>t 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.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">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. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">-J.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-size:100%;color:#000000" align="left">
<div>-------- Original message --------</div>
<div>From: Steve Smith <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com"><sasmyth@swcp.com></a> </div>
<div>Date: 9/3/23 8:59 PM (GMT+01:00) </div>
<div>To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a> </div>
<div>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Science Fiction Books </div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<p>Jochen -</p>
<p>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.<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="auto">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? <br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>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? <br>
</p>
<p>My *favorite* golden-age author is <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Williamson"
moz-do-not-send="true">Jack Williamson</a> 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 <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_Folded_Hands"
moz-do-not-send="true">With Folded Hands</a>, 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 <span
style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">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.<br>
</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">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...</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">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 <i>Time
Enough for Love </i>and <i>Job</i> (respectively). <i>Stranger
in a Strange Land</i> stood up well next to Herbert's <i>Dune</i>
in the 60s to satisfy Hippies and non-Hippies alike.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">Larry Niven's <i>Ringworld </i>series
are pretty far-flung/futuristic/optimistic epochal. He does
post-Apocalyptic well too (e.g. <i>FootFall</i>, <i>Mote in
God's Eye</i>)<br>
</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">I did enjoy Simak's work "back in
the day" and his 1968 "So Bright the Vision" gestured toward
what ChatGPT is today.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">A.E. Van Vogt offers some great
classics as well... <i>The Worlds of Null A </i>and <i>Weapons
Shops of Isher</i> stand out.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">Poul Anderson simultaneously
created/celebrated and lampooned the canonical pulp hero with
his Nicholas van Rijn characters in a series of works and his
<i>PsychoTechnic League</i> is a Future History to rival
Asimov's <i>Foundation</i> series.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">I know you asked for "<u><b>A</b></u>
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>... <br>
</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);
text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline
!important; float: none;">- Steve<br>
</span></p>
<br>
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