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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Meta
Category Archives: Culture
Stories People Tell
Why pecan pie is quintessentially American; how Thanksgiving is supposedly about free enterprise vs. communism; why people don’t believe crime rates are down in big cities; how the TV show Yellowstone appeals to the conservative narrative about big government; why … Continue reading
Readings: The 8 Billion and Climate Change
More on the 8 Billion, from Vox. And Elizabeth Kolbert’s “Climate change from A to Z.”
Links and Comments: 20 Nov 2022
Martin Rees on science v. catastrophe; the fine-tuning argument; why the expanding world population is a good thing; the latest mass shooting and Republicans. (I try to think of more interesting blog titles, but given time constraints just give up … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Science, The Gays
Comments Off on Links and Comments: 20 Nov 2022
Post-Election Blue, not Red
Context; Where we are; Connie Willis; Christian dictatorships; More MAGA than ever; Russian delicacy; Lagniappes.
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Politics
Comments Off on Post-Election Blue, not Red
The Day After Election Night, 2022
Short version: The Republicans won a few races, but there was no ‘red’ landslide as some, not just Republicans, had predicted. Though of course a few key races are going down to the wire, so control of the House and … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Politics
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Ari Wallach, LONGPATH: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs
This is a modest little book with great ambitions to change the way people think. And more power to it if it does. But for anyone who reads science fiction, for example, or is familiar with big issues and long-term … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, science fiction
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Intuitive Justice
Reading: Salon, Daniel Sznycer (and Carlton Patrick), 2 Nov 2022: Intuitions about justice are a consistent part of human nature across cultures and millennia Subtitled: “Two professors explain that a moral compass — which appraises right and wrong — is … Continue reading
Neil deGrasse Tyson; Gregory Berns; the Myth of a Lost Golden Age
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Science
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Today’s Links and Comments about Politics and Religion
Andrew Sullivan and Connie Willis on the current state of affairs; End-times thinking; Edsall on Two Americas; the crushing of American socialism; more items about politics and religion.
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Politics
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Cities and Towns
Caption to photo: “Cities are bastions of elitism and filth.” Also today: MAGA in 2022; It’s not that Trump is nuts; about Herschel Walker.
