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
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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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
Comments Off on Darkest Days
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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