Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Ls&Cs: Prayer Breakfasts, Social Bubbles, and Talking Too Much

Posted on 22 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Why is there a National Prayer Breakfast? Why do some Christians think death is such a good thing? Is COVID to blame on Maine lobsters? Is the answer to misinformation tighter social bubbles, or simply to stop talking so much?

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Personal History: View from the East Coast of England

Posted on 21 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

This is one of my two favorite photos that I’ve taken in my entire life. This is a photographed snapshot. It’s a view from the east coast of England, when I visited the place my parents lived in the 1950s … Continue reading →

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Heinlein’s STARMAN JONES (1953)

Posted on 20 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Starman Jones is the 7th of 14 novels that Heinlein published from 1947 to 1963, at annual intervals except for a four-year gap between the last two, that were called “juveniles” at the time — that is, designed for younger … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Visiting Flooded Cities Simply Explained

Posted on 19 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Water through the body; human inability to account for long-term threats; how sometimes the answers to conspiracy theories are simple.

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Ls&Cs: Two from Free Inquiry

Posted on 18 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

From the October/November 2021 issue, articles about Christian Morality and about how understanding COVID does not depend on a Kuhnian paradigm shift.

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Personal History: World Fantasy Con Badges

Posted on 17 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

One more set of badges with commentary for today, then I’ll move on to other things, and catch up on links and comments. Today: badges from World Fantasy Conventions.

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Personal History: Worldcon Badges

Posted on 16 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Another afternoon of sorting and photographing photos and artifacts. For today, here’s a group shot of badges I’ve collected from the World Science Fiction Conventions (Worldcons for short) over the years.

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Personal History: Work Badges and Travel

Posted on 15 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m going through — one more time! — artifacts of my family’s life, and my own life, that have been gathering dust in a couple closets, determined once and for all to take photographs and write up descriptions of them, … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: You Suggest Having Ice Cream, They Hate Ice Cream

Posted on 14 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

The principles of an angry 3-year-old; the anti-business party; Supreme Court justices’ motivations.

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Ls&Cs: Look at the (Economics) Evidence

Posted on 13 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

More evidence that economics (and psychology) are becoming sciences, not just ideologies. This year’s Nobel Prizes in economics are interesting, Paul Krugman explains, because their recipients applied real-world evidence which turn out to undermine ideological economic theories that that have … Continue reading →

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