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 Absence of Empathy
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 4
- Cave Man Morality and the Normalizing of Racism
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 3
- Bill Gates and Climate Change
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 2
- Survival, Revelations, Falling Standards
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 1
- Troubled Children, Cognitive Collapse, Cave Man Morality
- Politics is more about tribal human nature than about solving problems
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Meta
Category Archives: Religion
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
More Items from the Authoritarian Playbook
About the conservative agenda concerning colleges, and education; Charlie Kirk thinks you don’t need college; just watch YouTube videos, especially his own online courses; Education Secretary Linda McMahon admits her political motivations for dismantling her department; Brief items about a … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Education, Politics, Religion
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Conservative Thinking Means Whitewashing the Past
A take-down of David Brooks, as an example of a conservative white-washing and distorting American history; How National Park gift shops are removing books about that same history for the same reasons; A religious rant bout Obama and Russia, and … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Politics, Religion
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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
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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
Comments Off on Incompetence, Greed, or Sabotage?
Is the universe friendly, or hostile?
David Wallace-Wells on the Epstein scandal, with items by Zack Beauchamp and Shawn McCreesh; How simple-minded Trump characterizes his adversaries as “evil”; How Trump’s economic agenda is driven by simple-minded lies and misunderstandings; How the question “Is the world a … Continue reading
Posted in History, Human Nature, Philosophy, Politics, Religion
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Two Takes on the Problem with Men
David French and Jordan Peterson and competing theories about the problem with men; About cuts to science research; do Republicans not understand investments in the future?; A report about Lara Trump’s show on Fox News; An essay by Tom Nichols … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Religion
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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
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Is Religion Simply a Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game?
Since it’s obviously not about objective reality. Lance Wallnau says Trump’s strike on Iran is setting the stage for the Antichrist; With thoughts about what humanity is “for”; Trump confuses supercells with sleeper cells; Vox on how Trump’s actions aren’t … Continue reading
Posted in Human Progress, Lunacy, Politics, Religion
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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
