Monthly Archives: May 2014

Personal History, Part 1

My parents were Robert Harry Kelly and Helen Elizabeth Pierce, born 1933 and 1934 respectively. They both grew up in small towns in northwestern Illinois – Cambridge and Kewanee, respectively. (This entire post, and others to follow, are advised IIRC.) … Continue reading

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ACE and False Witness

When my company was owned by Pratt & Whitney/United Technologies, we were obliged to implement an ‘operating’ system of process improvement procedures called ACE, “Achieving Competitive Excellence”. From my browsing of favorite websites, I’ve gathered there is another ‘ACE’, Accelerated … Continue reading

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Varieties of Homophobic Experience

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-joseph/getting-up-close-to-homophobia_b_5264373.html Fascinating essay by a woman who reacts to “an intensely homophobic part of the world: the Caribbean”, and describes how… I’ve actually started engaging homophobes in deep conversation, looking for the reasons, spoken and unspoken, that they feel this … Continue reading

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Rainbows and the Afterlife

Notes for an idea. Had thought the other day to pursue the metaphor about human life being a transient state of a vast collection of molecules that will eventually collapse and disperse, leaving nothing behind, rather analogous to the way … Continue reading

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Trek vs Wars

A long Facebook post by David Gerrold a few days ago captures my own feelings about Star Trek vs Star Wars, and since I can’t figure out how to link it, I’ll quote it below, and hope he doesn’t mind. … Continue reading

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Passage from Clarke, 1

Science fiction isn’t about prediction, of course, but some SF authors do take seriously the idea of projecting future possibilities. I’ve read several works by Arthur C. Clarke in the past month, and am rallying my notes on them for … Continue reading

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What the Bible Says about Homosexuality

(Posted last night on Facebook) The Bible backs same-sex couples: Point by point, why the haters are wrong Matthew Vines has been around making his case about how the Bible does not in fact condemn same-sex couples for a couple … Continue reading

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Blessed Are

This is an old Joan Baez song, from her 1971 album of the same title — an original song by her, after she had passed through her folk music phase and begun composing her own songs. Has some nice lyrics, … Continue reading

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Hike to Parker Mesa Overlook

Today’s hike, a longer one, about two hours round trip: Parker Mesa Overlook. http://www.hikespeak.com/trails/parker-mesa-overlook-in-the-santa-monica-mountains/ Same area as the Los Liones hike we did a few weeks ago, starting near the western end of Sunset Blvd near Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), … Continue reading

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Tonight’s favorite song: John Grant, Where Dreams Go to Die

Wikipedia has this post about the album. There’s a lyric here — “I know you know I know you know that I know that you know…” * — that illustrates the idea that human minds are able to speculate on … Continue reading

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