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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Meta
Category Archives: Culture
Kurt Andersen: FANTASYLAND
Subtitled: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History (Random House, 2017, 462pp, including 22pp acknowledgements and index) Here is a book by a writer who doesn’t generally write this type of book. Andersen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Andersen) writes mostly novels and TV, and … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Culture, History
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Toby Ord, THE PRECIPICE
Subtitled: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity (Hachette, 2020, 468pp, including 225pp of resources, acknowledgements, appendices, further reading, notes, bibliography, and index.) Here is book about existential risks, a topic on which I have several books, though this one … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Human Progress
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The Conservative Ethos: Tribalistic, Xenophobic, Autocratic
How the Supreme Court repeatedly gives Trump the license to discriminate (never mind “all men are created equal”); Robert Reich on the Court’s decision to let Trump fire officials in government agencies whenever he likes; Robert Reich on how the … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Culture, Politics, Racism
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Fixes for Elections Are Available, and SF Fans Have Been Using Them for Decades
Voting patterns and conservative conspiracy theories; Trump pardons a GOP Rep, because as a conservative he must have been “unfairly treated”; Elections fixes, which sf fans have adopted, and which Republicans would resist, since they currently have an advantage; How … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Culture, Music
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More about Conservatives, Tear-Downs, and Greed; plus Tax Breaks
Conservatives: A Christian snowflake says the mere sight of a Pride flag violates his religious beliefs; the demonic UFOs guy has been removed; how fascists think everyone in history much be portrayed as white Europeans (this is about the new … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture
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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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Dealing with Inevitable Change
How to deal with long-term population decline; Astrology, sigh; A Christian phone network to block reality; Long essay about how Paul, not Jesus, founded Christianity, as many of us already understand; Short items about Republican censorship, lies, the tests for … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Culture, longtermism
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Anthropology as another perspective on the world
How anthropology informs an understanding of the world; Short items on Trump’s latest science purge, defenses of white supremacy, Trump’s lie about the some YMCA, and Trump’s sons getting rich off government contracts – – – Well, to the degree … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Psychology, Science
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Is Islam the Best Alternative to Modernity?
What Trump’s latest attempted assassin reveals about modern American life; How right-wing influencers are now praising Islam, as an alternative to liberal modernity; – – – Trying to get a handle on the latest would-be presidential assassin. Slate, Luke Winkie, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Human Nature, Politics, Religion
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