Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 18:38:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFAList at KeithLynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Capclave Still Happening
Cc: mike.nelson at seahunt.org, leeandalexis at hotmail.com,
    macbuccfo at msn.com, ccah at earthlink.net, jtsapien at bellatlantic.net,
    jekindell at aol.com, Bungalow at radix.net
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

(Note that I'm CCing WSFAlist, and removing from the CC list everyone
on the original list who is a subscriber so nobody gets this twice.
Any particular reasons all the messages on this topic haven't been CCd
to WSFAlist?)

IS there any possibility that Capclave, which is now less than a week
away, will be canceled?  Or that anyone anywhere would think that it
might be?  If not, I don't think we should make any mention of the
possibility.  It would be like an airline pilot spontaneously telling
his passengers to remain calm and that everything is under control.

I see no reason to mention the sniper.  There has been discussion of
him in the rec.arts.sf.fandom newsgroup, but no message in that or
any other newsgroup (or web page) has mentioned both Capclave and the
sniper.  I'd like to keep it that way.

I posted the following to that newsgroup last night:

  Mark Jones <sinanju at pacifier.com> wrote:
  > One guy (like, say, the shooter in the DC metro area) or several
  > guys scattered throughout several big cities, could inflict
  > considerable terror on countless commuters with a few well-reported
  > shooting incidents.

  You're much more likely to be run over by a white van than to be shot
  from one.  Why aren't people terrorized by routine highway carnage?

  I'm more worried about being one of the 40,000 Americans who are
  killed by cars every year than of being one of the 200 whom this
  lunatic will kill in a year if he doesn't get bored with his sport
  and if he isn't caught.

  I'm right in the middle of his hunting grounds, but I haven't modified
  my routine at all.  I went to a talk at the Philosophical Society last
  night (where I sat plainly visible from an open door), to the National
  Book Fair (entirely outdoors) today, and am going to a cryonics
  meeting tomorrow.

  My expected loss of life expectancy due to his rampage is less than
  the time I took to write this reply.

  If the police do catch somebody, I just hope they get the right person.
  --
  Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
  I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but
  unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable.  Please do not send me
  HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread.

That thread is titled `Re: "Terrorism" in Virginia Sniper Attacks?',
so maybe nobody's making the connection with a convention in Maryland.
He does seem to have moved south.

Since Capclave members tend to be rational people, I don't think any
of them will be particularly worried.  Everyone knows that this guy's
hunting preserve contains a population of millions.  I'd be astonished
if anyone thinks there's any chance of our canceling the convention,
especially when there's no mention of any possibility of cancellation
on our website, which was last updated October 12th (yesterday).

For whatever it's worth, I was in Silver Spring this afternoon, for a
cryonics meeting.  I passed right by our hotel.

It is not "about a third of the way from the Beltway to the DC line",
but more like three quarters of the way, i.e. much closer to DC than
to the Beltway.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but
unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable.  Please do not send me
HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread.