Monthly Archives: April 2015

Interesting items from Sunday’s New York Times

Posted on Monday 27 April 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Frank Bruni: The G.O.P.’s Gay Pretzels Bruni imagines a letter from the RNC to the Republican presidential candidates on their handling of the question, would you attend a gay wedding? From Bobby Jindal We do not recommend the tint picked … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Narrative, Science, The Gays | Comments Off on Interesting items from Sunday’s New York Times

Naïve Physics

Posted on Friday 24 April 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a fascinating article from The Conversation: Infections of the mind: why anti-vaxxers just ‘know’ they’re right (via). My interest in this piece isn’t about anti-vaxxers per se, it’s about the more general issue of how people form beliefs, what … Continue reading →

Posted in Physics, Psychology | Comments Off on Naïve Physics

Links and Comments: the vastness of the universe; Hubble photos; the physics of everyday life; science books; creationists and the possibility of alien life

Posted on Thursday 23 April 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Vox: 11 images that capture the incredible vastness of space. Related: Phil Plait celebrates 25 Years of Cosmic Treasures: Hubble’s 12½ Greatest Hits \\ Physicist Sean Carroll this week references an earlier post that spells out an important point: The … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Physics, Religion, Science, Space | Comments Off on Links and Comments: the vastness of the universe; Hubble photos; the physics of everyday life; science books; creationists and the possibility of alien life

Links and Comments: Emperor’s New Clothes, Presidential Piety

Posted on Thursday 23 April 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon has been running essays by a contributing editor for The Atlantic [n.b.: ‘contributing editor’ might only mean, as it does in the case of Locus, that he is a regular contributor — he submits a column once a month; … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Emperor’s New Clothes, Presidential Piety

Settling in, Catching up, Puppygate

Posted on Monday 20 April 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m two or more weeks behind posting links and comments, though not without collecting them in my blogposts word doc, so I’ll be catching up eventually — I think this next week. The context is settling in to our new … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history | Comments Off on Settling in, Catching up, Puppygate

Links and Comments: Republican analogies; Hugo Awards trolling; Religious freedom laws

Posted on Thursday 9 April 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m way behind with day to day links and comments, so let me spend an hour catching up, if with minimal commentary or alignment into general issues. First, one of many examples of Republicans unclear on the concept of analogies … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Culture, Religion, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Republican analogies; Hugo Awards trolling; Religious freedom laws

Links and Comments: Religious Freedom and Gay Animus

Posted on Friday 3 April 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been busy the last couple weeks unpacking books and arranging the house, and so am backlogged with links and comments, including this past week’s news and many commentaries about the ‘religious freedom’ laws in Indiana and elsewhere. For the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Religious Freedom and Gay Animus