About Immigration

Posted on Saturday 15 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • My own ancestors were immigrants, of course, in the 1800s, just like most of the US population; and recalling “Irish Need Not Apply”;
  • NYT’s David Leonhardt about the global immigration backlash, without wondering why these migrations are happening;
  • Paul Krugman on how immigrants are saving the economy;
  • And how immigrants into NY City are benefiting the economy, despite politicians’ scare tactics that appeal to tribal mentality;
  • How this plays into human survival, a race between Savannah morality and the global mentality needed to solve global problems.
  • And “Seven Years” by Natalie Merchant.

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As I’ve written in my pages on this site about my Family History, Continue reading →

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Truth or Consequences

Posted on Friday 14 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Why Republicans would want to defund the IRS, the DOJ, and the FBI;
  • Cory Doctorow’s quick take on this theme in his latest novel;
  • A new book about fearmongering;
  • How conspiracy theories are driven by profit, not truth or honesty or consequences.

Republicans want to defund the IRS and the DOJ and the FBI, and prevent the government from trying to control disinformation on social media. Why would they be doing all these things?

Continue reading →

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Consciousness and Choices

Posted on Thursday 13 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • The problem of consciousness, and the resolution to a 25-year-old debate, via Vox and NYT’s Carl Zimmer;
  • The paradox of choice, in supermarkets and everywhere else, in our abundant, materialistic world.

Vox, Oshan Jarow, 30 Jun 2023: Why scientists haven’t cracked consciousness, subtitled “The science of consciousness still has no theory.”

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Tenth Anniversary

Posted on Wednesday 12 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today is the tenth anniversary of this blog.

It was originally called “Views from Medina Road,” from where we lived in Woodland Hills (a suburb of Los Angeles) at the time, with the view of the San Fernando Valley, and the snow-topped San Gabriel Mountains in the distance.

Here’s the first post. All it said was “This is the initial post on my new blog, a sequel to the Locus Online editorial blog Views from Medina Road.”

Unfortunately that link, at locusmag.com, doesn’t work; but since then I moved that entire blog my own domain, markrkelly.com, here.

It’s odd that there was an almost four-month gap between the two. In July 2013 I had been laid off from my industry job of 30 years for about eight months, since November 2012, and then spent the early part of 2013 getting sfadb.com up and running smoothly.

Later, moving to Oakland in January 2015, it was easy enough to change the blog title, and header photo.

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For today, another run through of recent items in the news and commentariat. Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Personal history, Politics | Comments Off on Tenth Anniversary

Some Sciency Bits

Posted on Tuesday 11 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Richard Dawkins on the ancestral language of DNA;
  • How humans have interpreted fossils throughout history;
  • Recalling the scientifically inaccurate and intellectually hostile movie Armageddon, from 1998;
  • How an article about a refinement to our understanding of human evolution overstates its case;
  • And as a lagniappe, Natalie Merchant, who has a new album out; and recalling “San Andreas Fault.”

Richard Dawkins, too, has a blog on Substack, which has become a refuge for those writers unable to find a home on traditional sites, or perhaps because they can make direct money through Substack subscriptions. You don’t have to subscribe to see most of the posts, but apparently you get extra things if you subscribe. (I haven’t subscribed to any yet; I don’t mind doing so, but I suspect the costs would quickly add up.)

Currently I’m already following the religious skeptic Hemant Mehta (https://friendlyatheist.substack.com/), who went there after Patheos.com disbanded its “nonreligious” blogs (apparently because the religious were offended by their existence); the historian Heather Cox Richardson (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/), and the economist Robert Reich (https://robertreich.substack.com/) there, and perhaps others. I need to reorganize my bookmarks.

Dawkins’ Substack is called “The Poetry of Reality”.

Richard Dawkins, Substack, 30 Jun 2023: Two Ancestral Languages

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Posted in Evolution, Music, Science, Skiffy Flix | Comments Off on Some Sciency Bits

Follow-up Links on Current Themes

Posted on Monday 10 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s catch up on links from the past couple weeks that I haven’t already used, beginning with some follow-ons to topics already covered.

  • Climate Change: Scientists have reached the “I told you so” moment;
  • The DeSantis video: Republicans are now openly hostile toward gays and transgender people;
  • How the US religious right is promoting anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry around the world;
  • How the Supreme Court has elevated Christian Religion above civil laws;
  • Robert Reich on why people don’t appreciate the improving economy;
  • And the resultant harassment of scientists, by conspiracy theorists who don’t want to hear facts that contradict their beliefs.
  • And thoughts about whether humanity will survive.

CNN, 8 Jul 2023: Global heat in ‘uncharted territory’ as scientists warn 2023 could be the hottest year on record

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Blinks Status, and Recalling Locus Online

Posted on Sunday 9 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today I collected another batch of SF-related items to post on Locus Online:

Locus Online: Around the Web: Samuel R. Delany; John Scalzi; Reviews by Higgins, Barnett, Tuttle, and Kunzru of books by Leckie, Djuna, Atalla, Siddiqi, and others; “The Lottery” 75 years on; Cosmic horror and science fiction

Continue reading →

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How American is Great, yet a Hellhole, According to Conservatives

Posted on Saturday 8 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s theme, and topics:

  • WaPo’s Paul Waldman on this contradiction;
  • Mike Pence’s record of saying things that conservatives believe that are not true;
  • The conspiracy theories of Moms for Liberty;
  • And how this all makes sense given ancestral human nature’s discomfort with modern world.

Washington Post, Paul Waldman, 7 Jul 2023: Opinion | The bizarre contradiction in the GOP’s view of America
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Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Progress | Comments Off on How American is Great, yet a Hellhole, According to Conservatives

Three Items by Paul Krugman

Posted on Friday 7 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • About why people don’t believe, or understand, that the economy has gotten better;
  • Conspiracy theorists who think the government is simply faking the data about an improving economy;
  • How ‘tech bros’ like Elon Musk are given to reflexive contrarianism and are as susceptible to conspiracy thinking as any red-hatted Trump fan.

Items from July 3, July 4, and July 6:

Paul Krugman, NY Times, 3 Jul 2023: Can Biden Change the Economic Narrative?

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Ignoring Evidence vs Paying Attention

Posted on Thursday 6 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • The hottest day on Earth, as scientists have anticipated;
  • David French on the mindset of MAGA America

As the scientists have been predicting for decades.

NY Times, 6 Jul 2023: Heat Records Are Broken Around the Globe as Earth Warms, Fast, subtitled “From north to south, temperatures are surging as greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere and combine with effects from El Niño.”
Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Science | Comments Off on Ignoring Evidence vs Paying Attention