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
- The Plane. George Saunders. Lying. And AI spam.
- John Scalzi, WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE
- Current Politics as Reflections of Human Nature
- We’re Living in an Age of Regression
- Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1
- Palace in the Sky, For the One
- Disconnects from Reality, and a Couple Positive Notes
- How the US is retreating into tribalism
- J. Bronowksi: THE ASCENT OF MAN
- The US Is Becoming a Demon-Haunted World. Not Necessarily Again.
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Meta
Category Archives: Politics
Suppression, Prejudice, and Misinformation
Three political topics for today. How the Republicans seek to suppress history, concepts, books, even words; Two problems that could be solved simultaneously (were it not for Republicans); How anti-vaxxers and anti-abortionists are searching for new senses of meaning.
Posted in Politics, Psychology
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Third Culture Books; Perceptions and Reality
Today’s three topics: A new Michael Shermer book I missed when it came out last October; How magenta is a color that doesn’t exist on the spectrum; Public perceptions of the economy. There are authors I’ve followed for years, both … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Politics, Psychology
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Rural Rage and Republican Shenanigans
Paul Krugman responds to Thomas Edsall about the roots of conservative rural resentment, and how their three key perceptions are in fact wrong. Also, the GOP’s 30% sales tax idea; how religion would control or cut off the world; and … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Social Progress
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More About the Evolution of a Political Party
Today’s items follow up from yesterday’s, about the growing extremism and commitment to things that aren’t true by one particular American political party. As I still wonder, how did we get here? Specific items are about changes in the Republican … Continue reading
Optimism About America, and other recent items
David Brooks on how America is on the right track; Ezra Klein on the fractured Republican Party; and items about gas stoves, red states and their blue cities, the partisan divide in COVID deaths, and how politics doesn’t do nuance.
Cosmic Websites; Recent Headlines
Let’s begin with an item from December, on a website called Topia: A World of Good, promoted on Facebook today by David Brin since it reproduces a list Brin compiled on his own blog some time ago. 21 COSMIC WEBSITES … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Cosmology, Politics, Science, science fiction
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Narrative as Denialism
Today’s reading is yet another example of how narratives — stories that simplify the world and make it more understandable, even if they’re completely fictional — dominate so many people’s beliefs, especially in politics, that they amount to a denial … Continue reading
Consumerism, and Political History
Two items today.
The World Is Laughing
Just one item today. It’s always cool when some remark I make in my blog is amplified the next day by a widely read newspaper columnist. Actually, two or three remarks, from recent days, in today’s column from Paul Krugman. … Continue reading
Recurring Themes
Not enough time to write a review this afternoon, so I’ll just post a few links about current events. NY Times, Charles M. Blow, 4 Jan 2023: The Burn-It-All-Down Republican Caucus
