The recent (alleged) murderer of the two firefighters in Idaho
(and injuring others) seems to have a history of social, err,
awkwardness.

Long chance here but... 1980ish, likely Analog, with a short
story about a youth who had issues.. and at the end, when headingg
back out into society (don't recall if he was instituionalized)
said to his caretaker something like "I'll diminish them right back".

And then... the ending was roughly "he murdered a half dozen
people on the highway before they shot him down".

I very specifically remember the word "diminish".

Ring any neurons amongst anyone here?

Thanks

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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In article <Pine.NEB.4.64.2507031115560.9946@panix3.panix.com>,
danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:

The recent (alleged) murderer of the two firefighters in Idaho
(and injuring others) seems to have a history of social, err,
awkwardness.

Long chance here but... 1980ish, likely Analog, with a short
story about a youth who had issues.. and at the end, when headingg
back out into society (don't recall if he was instituionalized)
said to his caretaker something like "I'll diminish them right back".

And then... the ending was roughly "he murdered a half dozen
people on the highway before they shot him down".

I very specifically remember the word "diminish".

Ring any neurons amongst anyone here?

I've read that story. Can't remember the title or author but I believe
it predated the 1980s, so you may have seen it in a collection or
anthology.
--
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danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:

The recent (alleged) murderer of the two firefighters in Idaho
(and injuring others) seems to have a history of social, err,
awkwardness.

Long chance here but... 1980ish, likely Analog, with a short
story about a youth who had issues.. and at the end, when headingg
back out into society (don't recall if he was instituionalized)
said to his caretaker something like "I'll diminish them right back".

And then... the ending was roughly "he murdered a half dozen
people on the highway before they shot him down".

I very specifically remember the word "diminish".

Ring any neurons amongst anyone here?

Thanks

The character's situation is a bit different, but I'd guess that
you're thinking of "And now the news...", by Theodore Sturgeon.
The Internet Archive has a scan of the magazine publication of
the story here: http://tinyurl.com/bdf6pzsj .

RelMark

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In <XnsB3117AE349E51Rel@85.12.62.240> RelMark <bsmith77@windstream.net> writes:

[snip]

I very specifically remember the word "diminish".

Ring any neurons amongst anyone here?

Thanks

The character's situation is a bit different, but I'd guess that
you're thinking of "And now the news...", by Theodore Sturgeon.
The Internet Archive has a scan of the magazine publication of
the story here: http://tinyurl.com/bdf6pzsj .

damn.. that's it, all right. 1956!?! I wouldn't have
read the original..

It's way too prescient.

Thanks muchly

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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In <1046fhb$9jrt$1@dont-email.me> Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> writes:

[snip]

The character's situation is a bit different, but I'd guess that
you're thinking of "And now the news...", by Theodore Sturgeon.
The Internet Archive has a scan of the magazine publication of
the story here: http://tinyurl.com/bdf6pzsj .

damn.. that's it, all right. 1956!?! I wouldn't have
read the original..

It's way too prescient.
Thanks muchly

In case you're trying to figure out where you read it, here's the Isfdb
list for where this story has been published: >https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41661

all I can say is... *whew*. I could have seen it in
a half dozen of those...

Thanks again.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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On 7/3/25 10:09, danny burstein wrote:

In <XnsB3117AE349E51Rel@85.12.62.240> RelMark <bsmith77@windstream.net> writes:

[snip]

I very specifically remember the word "diminish".

Ring any neurons amongst anyone here?

Thanks

The character's situation is a bit different, but I'd guess that
you're thinking of "And now the news...", by Theodore Sturgeon.
The Internet Archive has a scan of the magazine publication of
the story here: http://tinyurl.com/bdf6pzsj .

damn.. that's it, all right. 1956!?! I wouldn't have
read the original..

It's way too prescient.

Thanks muchly

I was on Taiwan I believe and had limited access to SF magazines.

Well I can think of murder teams and serial killers who traveled across state lines
to do many killings since that time but yes it was hardly prescient to
anyone who had
access to criminal data about the investigations done by the FBI and
others.
We did not read much about serial killers in those times or even mass murderers
but that was due to change.
In the 1980s my mother was murdered and the culprit was apprended last year
based on DNA evidence preserved from the crime scene. He was already
in prison and
now is confined to a wheelchair awating trial in Sacramento if he
lives long enough for
the court to get to his case.

bliss

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In <10467dp$q8h$1@reader1.panix.com> jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes: [snip]

I very specifically remember the word "diminish".

Ring any neurons amongst anyone here?

I've read that story. Can't remember the title or author but I believe
it predated the 1980s, so you may have seen it in a collection or
anthology.

Thanks...

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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On Thu, 3 Jul 2025 13:09:26 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

In the 1980s my mother was murdered and the culprit was apprended

last

year
based on DNA evidence preserved from the crime scene. He was already
in prison and
now is confined to a wheelchair awating trial in Sacramento if he
lives long enough for
the court to get to his case.

bliss

What was the killer's name?

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