Views from Crestmont Drive

LQCs: Law & Order, Prayer

Posted on Thursday 9 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Who exactly is for law and order? And who thinks prayer really works, and why?

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LQCs: Preferring Simple Answers to Complex Problems

Posted on Wednesday 8 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

First for today, a blast from the past. From 2009.

This is a song from Les Miz, which we watched on PBS last week. Susan Boyle. Watch the clip above from the beginning, until at least about 1:15 when she starts singing, and see the judges’ reactions. It’s priceless. This is the best part of the show. And later see the backstage crew, essentially saying, or gesturing, “we told you so!”

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Posted in Music, Personal history, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off

LQCs: Blame Games

Posted on Tuesday 7 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin, 6 Jun 2022: Most Americans don’t accept the mass slaughter of children. Why does the GOP?

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LQCs: A Beautiful Song; Changing the Narrative

Posted on Monday 6 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

We heard a version of this last night on PBS. The song was written for this singer, Colm Wilkinson. More versions here.

One more article about the mass shootings of late, because this takes an abstract look at the subject — it’s not about the subject, but about how we think about the subject.

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LQCs: Privileges

Posted on Sunday 5 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Claimed for knowledge that came first; claimed by those in power to preserve their status.

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LQCs: Mass Shootings and Logical Fallacies

Posted on Saturday 4 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

More causes of mass shootings revealed, in just the past couple days!

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Posted in Conservative Resistance, Psychology | Comments Off

Vaclav Smil, NUMBERS DON’T LIE

Posted on Friday 3 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a 2020 book by a writer I had never heard of, until reading a pre-publication review in PW of his 2022 book How the World Really Works, which was just published in May. Smil is something of a polymath, author of over 40 books on history, energy, public policy, etc., including tomes like Energy and Civilization: A History (2018) and Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made (2021). Big picture stuff, the sort of books I like, though I’ll wait to read his new one before ordering any others.

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Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Technology | Comments Off