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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Meta
Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly
God-Botherers
Items on religion, beginning with a serious debate between two scholars. NY Times, Ross Douthat with Bart Ehrman, 2 Apr 2026: Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? A Debate., subtitled “A ‘Christian Atheist’ joins Ross Douthat.” Very long, with video. … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Religion
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Psychics and Literacy
If psychics are real, why hasn’t even one shown up to find Nancy Guthrie? Pete Hegseth keeps blocking military promotions for blacks and females; And he’s holding a Protestants-only Good Friday service; Big Think on the persistence of intuitive superstitious … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics, Religion, Supernatural
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Yuval Noah Harari: NEXUS
Subtitled: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (Random House, Sept. 2024, xxxii + 492pp, including 88pp of acknowledgements, notes, and index; but no bibliography) This is Harari’s fourth big book, following SAPIENS, HOMO DEUS, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, History, Human Nature, Technology
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American Priorities under MAGA
Reactions to Trump’s speech last night about Iran; And how his cult defends him no matter what he does; They imagine outlawing the Democrats; The oxymoronic Trump library; How Trump’s case against the 14th amendment did not go well; And … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics
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The New Space Race
So America’s latest moon rocket launched this afternoon, a relief to those of us who witnessed a space shuttle explode on launch some 40 years ago, and have watched every launch since then with trepidation. I’ve always followed America’s space … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Politics, science fiction, Skiffy Flix, Space
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Grasping Reality, or Not
Robert Reich on how Trump thinks he’s winning, but isn’t; Matt Gaetz thinks the US Army is engaging in an alien hybrid breeding program; How some pardoned Jan. 6th rioters have engaged in crime sprees; Paul Krugman wonders why Trump’s … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Music, Religion
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Education Conservative Style: Robots
Conservative ideas of education: replace teachers with robots; Takes on Stephen Miller, white supremacists, Trump voters, college Republicans, taking away the car keys, and Pete Hegseth by Tom Nichols and Paul Krugman; Radiohead: “I Might Be Wrong” – – – … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Music, Politics
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Skiffy Flix: Red Planet Mars
Now we come to one of the strangest SF movies of the early 1950s, and ultimately the most risible. This is a 1952 movie about an American astronomer — played by Peter Graves, later of Mission: Impossible and Airplane fame … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, Skiffy Flix
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Cognitive Health and Reading
Cultural norms changed about exercise, and maybe they can to address the harms of social media — by reading more; How the faithful grasp at straws to find societal reassurance; More about Vance and demons; How the government is purging … Continue reading
Posted in Lunacy, Music, Psychology
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David Brin, THE TRANSPARENT SOCIETY
Subtitled: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? (Addison Wesley, April 1998, 378pp, including 42pp of notes, follow-up, acknowledgements, index, and about the author.) Here is a book that has sat my shelves for over a quarter … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Human Progress, Technology
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