Category Archives: Culture

LQCs: Creativity, Education, Reactionaries

Posted on Thursday 21 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Today, another counter-intuitive premise. Before reading the article, I reflect that most people admire celebrity artists, but wouldn’t want their child to try to be one. Other items follow.

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LQCs: Back in Time, to a Perfect Past

Posted on Thursday 3 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s been a couple days since President Biden’s State of the Union address — in which he spoke forcefully about many things, but avoided topics that would strain attention spans, e.g. climate change — and I’ve been fascinated since then … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Trust, Doom, Errors, Science Fiction

Posted on Monday 21 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Issues today from the NYT letters page, about trust in government and humanity’s doom, and about theological errors. With an endpiece about science fiction reviewing…

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Fareed Zakaria, TEN LESSONS FOR A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD (2020)

Posted on Tuesday 15 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s the next book with a numbered agenda up for summary (following Harari’s 21 Lessons). It came out in October 2020, with journalistic promptness just six or seven months after the beginning of the lockdown, though before vaccines became available … Continue reading →

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L&Qs&Cs: Obesity; Access Queries

Posted on Friday 11 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

A few days ago — in my Feb 8th post — I linked an article from MSNBC that showed that the major issue in the US lack of response to the covid crisis was, not trust in science, but trust … Continue reading →

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Ls&Qs&Cs: Rights and Responsibilities; Authoritarian News Filters

Posted on Wednesday 9 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Quotes and comments about an essay by Thomas L. Friedman about rights and responsibilities, and an article about what Fox News doesn’t cover.

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Yuval Noah Harari, 21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (post #2)

Posted on Friday 4 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s my second concluding post about Harari’s third book. As usual, I find it hard to condense my notes too far, when the author has so many interesting things to say, especially in this second half. In the range of … Continue reading →

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Yuval Noah Harari, 21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (post #1)

Posted on Thursday 3 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This 2018 book is Harari’s third, of the three he’s published so far. It follows in ways from his second, HOMO DEUS (see here), in exploring some of its themes, but differs in being not a narrative, but a set … Continue reading →

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L&Cs: More Misleading Maps; Piedmont Park

Posted on Sunday 30 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

More interesting juxtapositions showing how flat maps, especially Mercator projections, give misleading impressions of the relative sizes of areas on Earth. Plus, an endpiece, about Piedmont Park.

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Ls&Cs: Facebook quotes; More about book banning; The crazies

Posted on Saturday 29 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Jesse Bering; Adam Grant; Rod Serling; Dr. Seuss and cancel culture; crazies Sherri T and Candace O.

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