Monthly Archives: July 2020

Quote: Carl Sagan, Cosmos Chapter IV: Heaven and Hell

The end of chapter IV. 40 years ago the scientists were already warning about the perturbation of the planet’s climate. Our lovely blue planet, the Earth, is the only home we know. Venus is too hot. Mars is too cold. … Continue reading

Posted in Science | Comments Off on Quote: Carl Sagan, Cosmos Chapter IV: Heaven and Hell

Links and Comments: Coronavirus, Conservative Propaganda, Vaccines, Flat-Earthers, the view of the US from around the world

NYT, Paul Krugman: The Cult of Selfishness Is Killing America; subtitle: The right has made irresponsible behavior a key principle. So we’re failing dismally on both the epidemiological and the economic fronts. But why? … So what was going on? … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Coronavirus, Conservative Propaganda, Vaccines, Flat-Earthers, the view of the US from around the world

Links and Comments: Wackadoodle Coronavirus Advice from the Right

Vox: How Trump and his son helped make a Covid-19 conspiracy theorist go viral in a matter of hours. A quack doctor with claims about alien DNA, belief in demons, that scientists are making a vaccine to stop people from … Continue reading

Posted in Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Wackadoodle Coronavirus Advice from the Right

Links and Comments: Graphics and Lists

In thinking about Andrew Sullivan’s old Daily Dish blog, a few posts ago, I dug into my archive directories and found text file saves of bookmarks from various old computers, as far back as 2008, including one from my work … Continue reading

Posted in Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Graphics and Lists

Link and Comments: Personal Liberty and Seat Belts

As I was saying: Washington Post: How mask fights echo seat belt fights: ‘The right to be splattered all over their windshields’ As transportation secretary in the Reagan administration, Elizabeth Dole pushed for mandatory seat belt laws. The idea created … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Social Progress | Comments Off on Link and Comments: Personal Liberty and Seat Belts

Link and Comments: Federal Deficits and Pandemic Relief

One of the themes of my blog here is that reality is complex. While many if not most people (especially conservatives) cling to simple, black and white, alternatives to every issue, and think the right answer is always white, the … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Economics | Comments Off on Link and Comments: Federal Deficits and Pandemic Relief

Skiffy Flix: Rocketship X-M

Now the fun starts. Having dutifully watched the precursors of science fiction films in the mostly horror films of the 1930s and ‘40s (with just two SF films from before 1950, Metropolis from 1927 and Things to Come from 1936), … Continue reading

Posted in Movies, Skiffy Flix | Comments Off on Skiffy Flix: Rocketship X-M

Test Post

I’m trying to allow comments to posts, but only for two days. I’ve tried this before, and it hasn’t seemed to work. When I allow comments indefinitely, I get thousands of spam emails. The resetting applies only to new posts, … Continue reading

Posted in Website Issues | Comments Off on Test Post

Link and Quotes: Frank Bruni on the pandemic and freedom

I saw this via Facebook, and I can’t just now find a cleaner URL: NYT: Frank Bruni, So This Is Your Idea of Freedom? He’s says more eloquently what I was trying to say a couple days ago. What does … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Science | Comments Off on Link and Quotes: Frank Bruni on the pandemic and freedom

Andrew Sullivan: Inspiration for this Blog; essay on Pandemics

[draft] Trying to look away from all the stories about crazy protesters who object to wearing masks and who think the pandemic is all a conspiracy theory they can blame on people they don’t like… To look at long thought-pieces … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Science | Comments Off on Andrew Sullivan: Inspiration for this Blog; essay on Pandemics