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
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 change to address the harms of social media — by reading more; How the faithful grasp at straws to find societal reassurance; More about JD Vance and demons; How the government … 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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Again, No Kings
Noting the rallies held today, bigger than those last time; Pieces today about how MAGA is entering the ‘acceptance’ stage of death, and how there’s no way to redeem Trump’s dismal second presidency; Who are the 100 million people Bovino … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Human Nature, Music, Politics
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Reading and Introspection
Assessing American literacy, and the claim that being able to read a New York Times article puts you into the “hyper-literate educated elite”; How Trump doesn’t read, at all. How powerful tech oligarchs think introspection is dumb; The new homophobia … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Music, Politics, Psychology, Tribalism
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What Is American Exceptionalism, Really?
Lydia Polgreen on how the problem isn’t Trump, it’s America; David French wonders if America is so rich, why are Americans so miserable? Faith that climate change isn’t real; Short items: that classic poll against Arabic numerals; how people who … Continue reading
Posted in Lunacy, Music, Politics, Psychology, Religion
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Skiffy Flix: Invaders from Mars
This is a 1953 film that holds special significance for me since it was likely the first science fiction movie I ever saw, even if I saw it only in part at the time, which would be 1965 or 1966. … Continue reading
Posted in Skiffy Flix
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Can I? Must I?
RFK Jr. illustrates the hypocritical standards of conservative motivated thinking: “Can I believe it?” (one example is fine) vs. “Must I believe it?” (no amount of evidence will do); David Brin ridicules NASA’s new plan to build a Lunar base; … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Psychology, Science, science fiction
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Bobby Azarian: THE ROMANCE OF REALITY
Subtitled: How the universe organizes itself to create life, consciousness, and cosmic complexity. (BenBella Books, June 2022, 306pp, including 26pp of acknowledgements, notes, and index) This is the third of three books I read this past January, all with vaguely … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology, Epistemology, Science
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Again, Living in History
How America has become a dangerous nation; How Christian Nationalists really do want to destroy their political enemies; What that poll about MAGA supporting Trump 100% really means; Brief items about the Supreme Court, a quote from Kurt Andersen about … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, History, Human Nature, Politics, Religion
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