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)
» Blogspot Views from Medina Road (2003-2010)-
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- Primitive Morality, Stories, Politics
- Five Years On; and, More About Morality, in a Way
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- Settling Back Into the Middle Ages
- The World Marches On, With or Without the US
- Haidt’s Graduation Speech, and More
- Messier objects; Rebecca Solnit; Jonathan Haidt
- Categories, Scales, a Public Health Triumph, and How the So-Called Experts Have Been Right
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Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly
An Assortment of Current Events
Trying to catch up on numerous items from recent days, briefly. MAGA and confederates • Firing the National Science Board • A Texas court defies the Supremes about posting the ten commandments • America’s moral code • The new Navy … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Morality, Politics, Religion
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Change For the Better, vs. Sunk Cost
John McWhorter: Don’t pronounce the T in ‘often’; How an American living abroad realizes the problems with America; Why we’re stuck with a religious calendar. – – – My favorite pet peeve. NY Times, John McWhorter, yesterday: What’s Better Left … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Religion, Science
Comments Off on Change For the Better, vs. Sunk Cost
Another Example of the Endless, Fruitless, Search for Proof of God
No, there isn’t any new evidence that God exists; Clannad and The Last of the Mohicans. – – – Noted from last month. What could this mean? The Atlantic, Elizabeth Bruenig, 26 Mar 2026: The Evidence That God Exists, subtitled … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Music, Religion
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Dismantling Modern Civilization in Favor of Intuitive Superstitions and Religious Verities
Those looking to ancient Greece to justify their current warmongering are getting their history wrong; Parody and reality about Hegseth relaxing flu vaccine requirements for the military; The CDC is suppressing a report on the efficacy of the Covid vaccines; … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics, Religion
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Myths That Endure, and Conservatives
Who are these young Republicans who find MAGA insufficiently radical? Myths that endure: utopia, invisibility, magic, the immortal soul; Trump is going to read the Bible, out loud?? How Pro-Trump avatars are infecting social media; The evidence for the Trump’s … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Music, Politics
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The Origins of Conservative Values
MAGA wants more teen births (!), with reflection on why most human societies postpone children until adulthood; How Red State restrictions against abortion only stopped the lifesaving ones; Two items about Pete Hegseth and his Christian Nationalist leader, and guns. … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Music, Politics
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Everything Bad Is Due to Progressivism! (says Clarence Thomas)
Reactions to Clarence Thomas’s speech blaming everything he doesn’t like on progressivism — and Hitler and Stalin too! A standard conservative screed. The Project Hail Mary soundtrack. – – – What kind of contorted logic is going on here? Slate, … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, History, Music
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Changing Minds
The World Bank thinks better of free-market absolutism; For some, every thing the least bit unusual is *meaningful*. – – – A couple non-political items today. The Atlantic, Rogé Karma, 16 Apr 2026: A Pillar of the Economics Establishment Admits … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Psychology
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Magicians and Evangelicals and Traditionalists
Penn & Teller advise the Supreme Court about junk science, and the significance of how magicians are less easily fooled than lawyers, politicians, and even scientists; How most Americans think Trump isn’t religious, how MAGA doesn’t care, and the idea … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Religion, Science, Supernatural
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Christian Nationalist Theologians, and Pulp Fiction
Hegseth quotes Pulp Fiction; Vance and others MAGAsplain doctrine to the Pope; Christian nationalists prefer nationalism over Christianity; Homan and Vance tell the Pope to stay in his lane, as if war has nothing to do with morality; Christian media … Continue reading
