Monthly Archives: August 2026

Understanding vs. Blaming, Bad-Faith Arguments, Religion as Rank Tribalism, and Short-term vs Long-Term Thinking

Posted on Saturday 8 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives attacking Fauci aren’t interested in learning; Paul Krugman on how a bad-faith government is also an incompetent government; MAGA prophet is sure God is going to start killing people he doesn’t like; Democratic policy goals are hard sells against … Continue reading →

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Arthur Brooks and Gary Snyder: Meaning and Wilderness

Posted on Friday 7 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Arthur Brooks on meaning and happiness (with my aside about the Ship of Theseus); Adam Frank on the poet Gary Snyder and the value of wilderness. – – – All right, let’s read Arthur Brooks again. Big Think, interview with … Continue reading →

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Little House on the Prairie, and Presumptions

Posted on Thursday 6 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

About the new Little House on the Prairie; Short items: GOP melts down over Abdul El-Sayed; Trump is learning to be embarrassed; MSM covers heat events without mentioning climate change; Heritage Foundation thinks Fauci proves we should ignore experts; an … Continue reading →

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Tearing Down, and Tricksters

Posted on Wednesday 5 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How Big Business is abandoning climate commitments; Attacks on the Endangered Species Act, and critical thinking; Trump thinks blue states are a threat to the nation; and about his irrationality; How to deal with uncertainty (and the conservatives who refuse … Continue reading →

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Can People Out-Think Human Nature?

Posted on Tuesday 4 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items from Steven Pinker: One about modernism and beauty; The other about a Thomas Sowell book about human nature and human reason. – – – Yes, we’ve been doing it for some time. Two items today via Steven Pinker … Continue reading →

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All Stories Change

Posted on Monday 3 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Before it was called the Civil War, it was called the Slaveholders’ Rebellion, until apologists got the name changed; Trump and rewriting American history; Perhaps knowing less makes you happier; Religious folks who see data centers as signs of the … Continue reading →

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Zeus’ Law

Posted on Sunday 2 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The Odyssey and Zeus’ Law; Trump doubles down on reflecting pool vandals; Christian sky evangelist kicked off plane; Headlines from JMG about AI slop, Burgum also doubles down, bullying, executing women who get abortions, criminally charging librarians, permitting ex-gay torture, … Continue reading →

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An SF/F/H Venn Diagram

Posted on Sunday 2 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Further thoughts on the topic of Friday’s post. (Busy weekend.) The first thing to understand about the very broad generalizations I made there is that there is no one type of “science fiction,” no one “fantasy” genre, no one idea … Continue reading →

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