Monthly Archives: May 2015

Links and Comments: About religious parents shielding their children from reality

Posted on 26 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

More about the Duggars’ insular worldview. Gawker: Tell Your Duggar Tales: Did Michelle Duggar Get a Gay Crew Member Fired? The family kept their children so sealed from exposure to the outside world that their ideas about big cities like … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Human Progress, Morality | Comments Off on Links and Comments: About religious parents shielding their children from reality

How Science Works, Concerning that Retracted Gay Marriage Survey, and the Ironies

Posted on 25 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

New York Times op-ed: What’s Behind Big Science Frauds? Other links: SFGate: Study retracted: 20 minutes actually CAN’T change a homophobe’s mind The New Yorker, Maria Konnikova: How a Gay-Marriage Study Went Wrong This concerns a report from a few … Continue reading →

Posted in MInd, Psychology, Science, The Gays | Comments Off on How Science Works, Concerning that Retracted Gay Marriage Survey, and the Ironies

Bodega Bay and The Birds

Posted on 24 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Today we took a mid-Memorial weekend day drive, from Oakland. We’d planned a drive up to the Russian River area, thinking to drive up the coast with a stop in Bodega Bay for lunch. We left at 11am; it took … Continue reading →

Posted in Films, Personal history | Comments Off on Bodega Bay and The Birds

Links and Comments: The Duggars, and other Religious Matters

Posted on 22 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been only vaguely more aware of the Duggar family, who apparently host a reality show to show off their 19 children and their piety, than I was aware of the Duck Dynasty family a year or more ago when … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Progress, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: The Duggars, and other Religious Matters

Instant Insanity

Posted on 21 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Does anyone remember this? Wikipedia: Instant Insanity This was a puzzle that was produced in the late 1960s, a stack of four plastic cubes, with the sides of each cube a seemingly random pattern of red, white, green, and blue … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history | Comments Off on Instant Insanity

Links and Comments: Flip-Flopping Politicians; Jerry Coyne’s new book; Six Basic Storylines; Trigger Events

Posted on 20 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate: Our Best Presidents Are Flip-Floppers Politicians are attacked for changing their positions due to political expediency — as Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, a one-time biology major, has done about the teaching of creationism in schools, to appeal to his … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Narrative, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Flip-Flopping Politicians; Jerry Coyne’s new book; Six Basic Storylines; Trigger Events

Links and Comments: Decline of US Religion; Narrative in Science and TV Finales

Posted on 18 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Major news this past week, covered by many sources. NPR: Christians In U.S. On Decline As Number Of ‘Nones’ Grows, Survey Finds Washington Post: Christianity faces sharp decline as Americans are becoming even less affiliated with religion It’s often been … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Progress, Narrative, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Decline of US Religion; Narrative in Science and TV Finales

Bad Astronomy, 1

Posted on 12 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m currently reading through the eponymous book by the popular ‘Bad Astronomy’ blogger Phil Plait, now posting regularly at Slate.com, where he celebrates scientific breakthroughs and criticizes anti-science movements (anti-vaxxers, state-sanctioned teaching of creationism, etc.). His first book, which I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Book Notes, MInd | Comments Off on Bad Astronomy, 1

Links and Comments: 11 May 2015

Posted on 11 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Contrast the right’s paranoid claims of a war on religion with their very real war on abortion (NYT). When laws are being passed demanding a 48 hour waiting period before being let into church, then I’ll believe there’s a war … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Religion, science fiction, The Gays | Comments Off on Links and Comments: 11 May 2015

Natalie Angier, The Canon

Posted on 7 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science As I was unpacking books these past few weeks, at our new home in Oakland, I came across this book which I hadn’t yet read, but which seemed appropriate to … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Comments Off on Natalie Angier, The Canon