Monthly Archives: December 2021

Union Square; Going for the Kill; the Need for a Villain

Posted on 21 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Perhaps from time to time I’ll move the “endpiece” discussion to the *top* of the post. So: Today we visited Union Square in San Francisco, on this the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. (Which means the shortest … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Theocrats, School Boards, Libraries, Shocked Parents; The Sound of Music

Posted on 20 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

How shocked parents are fighting back against school boards and public libraries; how other parents respond; how and when abortion became so important to the Christian right; and about the usual Republican gerrymandering. With an endpiece about The Sound of … Continue reading →

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Carl Sagan, OTHER WORLDS (1975)

Posted on 19 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Continuing my stroll through my nonfiction library, of books I’ve read that I think are worth remembering. Carl Sagan, Other Worlds (produced by Jerome Agel). Bantam, 1975. This is a thin little book (160pp) with text by Carl Sagan but … Continue reading →

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Not at This Year’s Worldcon, Again

Posted on 18 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

This weekend is this year’s World Science Fiction Convention, in Washington D.C., and again I am not attending, as I have not attended any conventions at all since when Worldcon was near me, in San Jose, in 2018. Tonight, beginning … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: The Fiction Novel

Posted on 17 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

About how language changes, how some cultural assumptions are common among some but unknown by others, and how some people don’t know any of the things that anyone reading this blog know. With my own personal experiences of such matters, … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth (2009)

Posted on 16 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. Free Press, Sept. 2009.

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Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution is True (2009)

Posted on 15 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry A. Coyne, Why Evolution is True. Viking, Feb. 2009. This is another of a dozen or so most significant books that I’ve read over the past decade or more that I’ve put off writing up on this blog simply … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Is DNA Safe to Eat? Is America Undergoing a Mass Psychosis?

Posted on 14 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman on Republican resistance to investments in the future; a concern about whether DNA is safe to eat; about watching Fox News every day; and about Carl Jung’s warning about mass psychosis.

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Ls&Cs: War on Christmas; Book Hoarders

Posted on 13 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

The earliest people who objected to Christmas were… the Puritans. And a piece about famous people who own lots of books.

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Steven Pinker: RATIONALITY (2021)

Posted on 12 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Pinker, Steven. Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters. Viking, 2021 I realize I’ve never written up a book by Steven Pinker on this blog, though I’ve read several and I think Pinker is one of … Continue reading →

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