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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Meta
Category Archives: Music
Some People Hate
The Young Republicans in those chats were not kids; Republicans excuse their vile comments while demonizing anyone who has said anything less than adulatory about Charlie Kirk — whose opinions were equally vile; Short items about demons, civil rights, mammals, … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Music, Politics, Religion
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Art and Conservatives
How a Christian Right talk show failed, and how MAGA’s fake Super Bowl halftime show is “pitifully out-of-touch with pop culture”; Thoughts about how conservatives have no sense of humor, and how conservatives dominate talk radio; Personal thoughts about resistance … Continue reading
Posted in Art, conservatives, Music, Psychology
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Reactions to the Hegseth and Trump Speeches to the Military. And Christian Music.
Reactions to the Hegseth and Trump speeches from Tom Nichols, David Ignatius, Paul Krugman, Heather Cox Richardson, and others; More examples of how the right, not the left, is promoting political violence; And Amanda Marcotte about how Christian music signals … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Music, Religion
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Steven Pinker, Right-Wing Threats of Violence, and Ligeti’s Atmospheres
Steven Pinker’s new book, and how he applies its ideas to understand the Charlie Kirk matter; Right-wing The Daily Caller explicitly calls for violence; Trump seems to believe in “medbeds,” a science-fictional idea born of MAGA fantasies; And rumors about … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on Steven Pinker, Right-Wing Threats of Violence, and Ligeti’s Atmospheres
Simple Conservative Answers to Complex Problems
RFK Jr blames autism on Tylenol; Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize but at every turn advocates war; Robert Reich on Trump and the art of extortion; They’re redacting the Epstein Files of Republicans only, is the rumor; Philip Glass: … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Morality, Music, Politics
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And the Moon Rose Over an Open Field
Paul Krugman, with graphs, wonders why the right rejects progress; Robert Reich on why we don’t trust Donald Trump — because he disregards the truth; Hemant Mehta on how the “nones” aren’t exactly “godless”; How Trump is a Russian asset; … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Music, Politics, progress, Religion
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Conservative Motivations and Magical Thinking
Recalling how conservative motivations echo Hutson’s 7 laws of magical thinking; Examples of banning flag burning, removing the rainbow crosswalk in Orland, and French Gallic culture; Hemant Mehta examines why the Jehovah’s Witnesses have relaxed their prohibition against higher education; … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Music, Politics, Psychology
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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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