Monthly Archives: June 2016

15 Ways of Buying a Book, Part 1

Posted on 30 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

A few weeks ago I reminisced about Growing Up with Books, the books in my childhood house provided by my parents for us children, or that they had kept from their own childhood. (My parents were not readers themselves, as … Continue reading →

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Thomas Paine, THE AGE OF REASON (1796)

Posted on 24 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Thomas Paine was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, author of Common Sense in 1776, which inspired the American revolution, and Rights of Man in 1791, which defended the French Revolution. He’s one of those Founding Fathers … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Friedman on historical change, why evangelicals like Trump, Paulos on math and biography, Gawande on science, the case against reality

Posted on 22 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Today in NYT, Thomas L. Friedman: Another Age of Discovery. Friedman lets Ian Goldin, co-author of a book about the lessons we can draw from the period of 1450 to 1550, i.e. a period of extraordinary change. Then: Gutenberg undermined … Continue reading →

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Reading In and Around the Bible: Three More NT Epistles; Revelation

Posted on 21 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Final post of notes about my first reading of the New Testament. List of previous posts: Intro and sources used (Oxford’s edition of the New Revised Standard Version, the King James Version via Steve Wells’ Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, Stephen M. … Continue reading →

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Reading In and Around the Bible: Hebrews, James

Posted on 20 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Next set of Biblical commentary. See Part 1 about sources used — NRSV, Asimov, Miller, KJV via Wells. List of previous posts: Intro and sources used (Oxford’s edition of the New Revised Standard Version, the King James Version via Wells’ … Continue reading →

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Reading In and Around the Bible: Colossians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy

Posted on 17 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

These follow Romans chronologically, written from 60 to 67, along with Philippians, Philemon, and Titus, which I read but about which I don’t seem to have taken any notes. (These epistles by Paul, or his surrogate, are all pretty similar.) … Continue reading →

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Reading In and Around the Bible: Romans

Posted on 16 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Returning to my notes upon reading sections of the Bible for the first time. The last couple posts here were about Genesis, but before that I’d finished the New Testament, and left off with the two books of Corinthians, trying … Continue reading →

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The Orlando Shooter and the Evil of Religious Fundamentalism

Posted on 15 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

To put this as concisely as possibly, my take on the Orlando mass-shooting is that it is rooted ultimately in the animus to sexual minorities — a portion of humanity that for whatever reason has *always existed* [see footnote] — … Continue reading →

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Family & Personal History, 2016/1

Posted on 12 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

After a couple year’s gap — the interval being occupied by the move from SoCal to Oakland, among many other things — I’m resuming my family history project of scanning old photos taken by myself, or more importantly scanning photos … Continue reading →

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Never Be the Same Again

Posted on 8 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Best song from the elusive Darren Hayes album WE ARE SMUG…, released online back in 2009, but not available on CD until last year, and which I finally caught up with via Amazon last month. I am not generally a … Continue reading →

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