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
- Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 2
- Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 1
- Intentional Ignorance
- Discipline, Lies, Ignorance, and Consensus Truth
- Cruelty, Nonsense, and Reality-Checks
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 5 (conclusion)
- Busy Weekend: Quick Summary
- The Absence of Empathy
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 4
- Cave Man Morality and the Normalizing of Racism
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Meta
Category Archives: Psychology
I visit you in another dream
How conspiracy theorists think most people agree with them; How Trump’s administration is purging climate data; How JD Vance thinks some Americans are more worthy citizens than others; Paul Krugman on ICE and New York City; Three items from JMG: … Continue reading
Posted in Morality, Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on I visit you in another dream
Sciency Things, and Presidential Pettiness
Tom Nichols on presidential pettiness; How the Trump administration is using a strength of science to discredit it; Ethan Siegel on what we’ve learned for 35 years of the Hubble Space Telescope; A breakthrough in a grand unified theory of … Continue reading
Posted in Lunacy, Politics, Psychology, Religion, Science
Comments Off on Sciency Things, and Presidential Pettiness
Responsibility, Certainty, and Doubt
Defunding weather science and disaster response to save money is like cancelling all your insurance policies to manage your household budget; LAT: Robin Abcarian on the implausibilities of expecting Medicaid recipients to replace deported farmworkers; NYT: Peter Baker on how … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Psychology, Science
Comments Off on Responsibility, Certainty, and Doubt
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
Morality Is Relative; Reality Is Not
An undistorted map of the world; Jesse Being on “commonsense”; How morality is circumstantial, e.g. in Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE, which I just reread this week; Website matters involving drop-down menu bars, here and on sfadb.com; Short items about … Continue reading
Posted in Morality, Politics, Psychology, reality, Website Issues
Comments Off on Morality Is Relative; Reality Is Not
Progress, and the Forces Against It
We have been here before: comparing 1940 to 2025; Steven Novella assesses whether skepticism has made any progress in recent decades; The irony of MAGA being outraged by a Muslim candidate for New York City’s mayor; Conservative presumption and arrogance … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, History, Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on Progress, and the Forces Against It
This Is What Will Be
How right-wing violence has become normalized; How perhaps “totalitarianism” is better word than “authoritarianism” for what is going on; How Republicans trying to roll back same-sex marriage are fighting a losing battle, cf. that Stephen Prothero book; A psychiatrist explains … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Music, Psychology, Science
Comments Off on This Is What Will Be
Paths Away From and To Reality
“Doing your own research” mostly leads to false conclusions, unless you’ve done your “homework” — i.e. have an education in the subject matter; Example of a claim about Sodom and Gomorrah and an asteroid or comet airburst; How simpletons think … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Social Progress
Comments Off on Paths Away From and To Reality
Like Living in Someone Else’s Fantasy Novel
Heather Cox Richardson summarizes the past few days and puts events into context; (With asides about having read Fail-Safe and watched the movie, this past week; and a Facebook meme about Emperor Hirohito bombing Pearl Harbor and then expecting peace); … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Politics, Psychology, Religion
Comments Off on Like Living in Someone Else’s Fantasy Novel
No Shades of Gray
Trump wants national parks to reflect only patriotic history; Trump thinks if you’re not on his side then you “hate America”; Yet another example: Beware “common sense”; Short items: Atheists in prison; Trump officials reverse ICE guidelines, again and again; … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, History, Psychology
Comments Off on No Shades of Gray
