Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2010-2013)
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- Practicalities and Prejudices Trump Principles
- The Barbarians Are Well Within the Gates
- They Precede Us
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- Looking Up and Looking Down
- The Destruction of American Scientific Research
- Is Consensus History Possible?
- Aliens, by Spielberg, by the US Government
- Fixes for Elections Are Available, and SF Fans Have Been Using Them for Decades
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Meta
Monthly Archives: May 2026
How Americans Don’t Realize How the World Views the US
Andrew O’Hehir: Do Americans realize how much the world hates us? Ross Douthat: The best news in America — rapidly falling crime rates; Short items about the murder of 60 Minutes; Trump’s extreme intelligence, rally on the mall, and mental … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Culture, Decline, Social Progress
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Today’s Words of Wisdom
Richard Dawkins defends being a “cultural Christian” and suggests being a cultural scientist, appreciating the grandeur of our “increasingly understood universe”; Bertrand Russell suggested that intelligent people are those who see the world as it is, not as they would … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Culture, Philosophy, Religion
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More About the Contrast between Principles and Tribalism
The January 6th rioters feel entitled to reparations by the US government for the inconvenience they’ve experienced from having broken the law and been arrested; Contrasting views of Christianity in Texas; How the GOP fires people who value principles over … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Religion
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What Scientists Do…
A revision to climate change predictions doesn’t discredit science, as some people would like to think; Yuval Noah Harari on the global liberal order; the stories of fascism, communism, and liberalism; redemption; and self-correcting mechanisms; Short items about Trump’s Ebola … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Religion, Science
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Sunday’s Post
How smartphones are implicated in the decline of fertility; How the latest Star Wars film waters down its franchise, as happens with much popular culture; Crime in LA in the lowest in decades, but voters are still very concerned about … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Decline, Politics, Technology
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Deep Thinkers
Hakeem Oluseyi Lucas Bean, provisionally – – – I dwell too much on MAGA (because they are an imminent threat); the very opposite of them are the deep thinkers of our time. The ones making progress in the world. Big … Continue reading
Primitive Morality, Stories, Politics
Oklahoma and child marriage: an example of how modern morality is not (and should not be) beholden to the Bible; A Yuval Noah Harari video on how cooperation throughout human history requires common stories, e.g. religions; An economic experiment that … Continue reading
Five Years On; and, More About Morality, in a Way
Five years since my heart transplant; That IRS deal and presidential corruption; Paul Krugman describes this as “MAGA corruption reaches the point of no return”; Amanda Marcotte calls the White House ballroom “a symbol of Trump’s failure.” – – – … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Personal history, Religion
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Morality, and the Bible, Again
How the world is becoming more moral, not less; Trump’s egotistical take on religion; Trump’s laughable phone; Noting Trump’s IRS deal that somehow exempts his family from tax audits forever; And how a Christian nationalist pastor thinks America needs “less … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Human Nature, Morality, Religion
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The Secret to Happiness, and How Best to Use Your Time
The secret to happiness: don’t obsess pursuing the best; How best to use your time: monitor your activities, plan wisely, plan small. – – – A couple matters of personal psychology for today. NY Times, guest essay by David Epstein, … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history, Psychology
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