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)-
Recent Posts
- Secular Values, and Reality as Evil
- Everything Old and Simple; Conservatives, the Conceptual Ceiling, and Cognitive Dissonance
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- Eugene Burdick & Harvey Wheeler: FAIL-SAFE
- Further Reports on the Current Crisis
- The Ultimate Cognitive Bias, and Political News
- Distracted by Politics, Again
- AI Is Telling People What They Want to Hear?
- The Fringe Is Becoming Mainstream
- Why Totalitarians Prefer Crackpots and Fools, as We Are Seeing Under Trump
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Meta
Category Archives: Music
Distracted by Politics, Again
Eventually I’ll get to more serious subjects. Though arguably politics is the most serious subject, because politics is about psychology and that involves how humans perceive and believe everything else. But there is a reality beneath politics (or should it … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Politics, Psychology
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Music as Language
John McWhorter on Bruce Springsteen, and my own takes; About modern music. I mentioned that I had a couple thoughts about music recently. The first is inspired by this piece: NY Times, John McWhorter, 7 Aug 2025: Springsteen Isn’t Who … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Personal history
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MAGA and Cultural Stagnation
Long piece by Mike Lofgren at Salon about how we got from the 1960s to here; how we’re in an era of stagnation; My brief thoughts about how this might apply to science fiction; Tim Callahan at Skeptic spells out … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Music, Politics
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Mendacity, Stupidity, or Both; and Arvo Pärt
Speculations about yesterday’s observations; Stupidity and mendacity: removing parts of the Constitution from government websites; American science withdraws; RFK Jr doesn’t believe in mRNA vaccines; Hegseth and academic mediocrity; America has defunded one of the smartest beings on the planet; … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Music
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TV, Juan Crow, Facts and Nonexistent Things, Alfred Schnittke
Trump trusts only TV; Heather Cox Richardson on how Republicans are digging into positions that are contradicted by facts; How the Trump administration’s “Juan Crow” echoes “John Crow”; More nonexistent things that can be banned; Short items about disabling hurricane … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Music, Politics, Psychology
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Proselytism, Manifest Destiny, Arvo Pärt
Let Federal employees proselytize! Heather Cox Richardson on manifest destiny; Arvo Pärt. – – – As with that notion about regulating AI to be non-woke, have they thought this one through? Washington Post, 28 Jul 2025: Trump administration urges … Continue reading
Incompetence, Greed, or Sabotage?
Elizabeth Kolbert on the Texas floods and the administration’s undermining of climate research; How the Trump administration wants to discourage wind and solar projects; Recalling the Scopes trial, 100 years ago this month, and America’s continued antipathy toward science and … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Personal history, Politics, Religion, Science
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Darkest Days
Shorter items today. The Supreme Court and “emergencies”; How Trump reflexively blames Biden; And how Trump takes credit for what Biden actually did; The confusion over Epstein conspiracy theories; Trump wants more factories, but is expelling the workers who might … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Music, Politics
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Implications
Do justices not foresee consequences? Heather Cox Richardson on the big beautiful bill; How JD Vance reveals the administration’s true motivations; cruelty is the thing; Jonathan Chait on Republicans’ “incomprehensibly reckless plan”; Robert Reich on conservatives’ animosity to empathy (never … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Human Nature, Music, Politics
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Stories, Archetypes, Morality
Does anyone take Jung or Freud seriously any more? OnlySky’s Bruce Ledewitz on the contemporary idea of “evil”; Robert Reich on “the worst bill in history” and fact-checking claims about tax cuts; How local communities fight back against ICE; Republicans … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on Stories, Archetypes, Morality
