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: Science
Late Afternoon and the House is Warm
Another storm blowing through the Bay Area today. Jets are flying into SFO from the north, a rare circumstance. (I can see them from our balcony.) Our three kitties lie near me in my living room office, to be near … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Politics, Psychology, Science
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Tribal Psychology and Racism
What evolutionary psychology reveals about American politics — nothing new here, except to note that these ideas have reached the mainstream press; A former Republican speechwriter summarizes Trump’s vile racist remarks; Short items about Trump’s confusion of Nikki Haley with … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Music, Politics, Psychology, Science
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Math and Beauty
Big Think’s Ethan Siegel on the Fibonacci sequence; Big Think’s Adam Frank on biological and technological information flow; Shorter items on inflation and human irrationality; how calls for securing the border are political theater; how anti-science (vaccine “hesitancy”) is rising; … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics, Politics, Science
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Readings: Carl Sagan; Maggie Jackson
A 1987 Carl Sagan lecture, just published in 2022, about the protocols of science and government and the need to acknowledge uncertainty; A NYT opinion piece by Maggie Jackson about uncertainty and how to manage it; R.E.M.’s “Leave” Quillette, Steven … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Politics, Psychology, Science, Technology
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Philosophy of Government, and other matters
How that DeSantis/Newsom debate revealed “the space between red and blue states”; Short items about folding paper to reach the Moon (the answer is 42), and Christian ideas about good and evil, beating up gay children, and Trump as God’s … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion, Science
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Before Holiday Break
Quick post, likely the last one for several days, perhaps a week. Topics: RFK’s lies; Big Think’s “Explain It Like I’m Smart” series; How the humanities have become more political; the most mystifying open questions in science; why a university … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics, Science
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People Prefer a Softened Reality
A Big Think piece about over-hyped science and astronomy claims from this past year; Adam Lee on Benjamin Franklin’s “noble lie”: that people need religion in order to behave; And an Endpiece about current holiday activities. I’ve mentioned before that … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Personal history, Physics, Science
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Whether Economics is a Science, and other topics
Paul Krugman on economists who won’t admit they are wrong; How science journalism is theatened, not to mention basic scientific literacy; Disinformation and journalists challenging interviewees on air; How Uganda’s anti-gay laws, inspired by American Christians, is hurting its economy; … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Economics, Lunacy, Psychology, Science
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A Way to Talk Around the Problem
The “same color” illusion — an example of how we cannot trust our senses; How Rudy Giuliani descended into MAGA, and whether we’re all equally susceptible; How right-wingers are triggered by tap-dancing in the White House to The Nutcracker; Brief … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Personal history, Psychology, Science
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Conservative Disregard for Science; Projections and Untruth; That Famous British Take-down of Trump
Update to my Projects page; The Supreme Court’s disregard for science; Anti-vaccine conservatives’ disregard for science; More about Trump’s and the GOP’s projecting about which party is trying to destroy democracy; How even Fox News is now fact-checking Trump’s “untruths”; … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Science
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