Monthly Archives: August 2020

Links and Comments: Recent links, August 2020

Posted on Wednesday 12 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Too many recently for detailed comments. Here are a bunch. \\ CNN: Tucker Carlson upset that he’s told how to correctly pronounce Kamala Harris’ name. Why are conservatives upset by being asked to observe simple standards of decency and respect? … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Recent links, August 2020

Favorite Film: Magnolia

Posted on Tuesday 11 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Sunday night we caught, on one of the cable channels, the 1999 film by Paul Thomas Anderson, Magnolia (all but the first few minutes; we caught up on those the next night, since I have the DVD). It’s one of … Continue reading →

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Link and Comments: Challenge to Conventional Wisdom: About the Nuclear Family

Posted on Monday 10 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

That long NYT news story about the religious heartland that I posted a couple days ago included this quote from a Mr. Driesen, a utility company worker: “Unfortunately, there’s just more divorce than there used to be,” he said. “There’s … Continue reading →

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Link and Comments: The View from Down Under

Posted on Monday 10 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Several of my Facebook friends occasionally post the entire text of this or that article or editorial in their post, or in a comment to their post, for the sake of those others who don’t have subscriptions to, say, the … Continue reading →

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APOD: This is Reality: The Origin of the Elements

Posted on Sunday 9 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Click for a text description, with many explanatory links (some technical, some funny).

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Links and Comments: Trump, Evangelicals, Persecution, Fear, Withdrawal

Posted on Sunday 9 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

The front page of today’s New York Times has an aerial photo of a house in Sioux Center, Iowa, with the words “In God We Trust” on the roof. The article, a long one, is ‘Christianity Will Have Power’ with … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Human Progress, Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Trump, Evangelicals, Persecution, Fear, Withdrawal

Skiffy Flix: Destination Moon

Posted on Saturday 8 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

This 1951 film was the first prestigious science fiction film, its script inspired or perhaps partially written, by Robert A. Heinlein. The credits say “from a novel by” Heinlein but that’s not accurate. Heinlein had written a juvenile novel about … Continue reading →

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Stamp Collecting

Posted on Friday 7 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

In the year or two that I collected stamps, about age 12 and 13, inspired by my Great Aunt Maude when we’d moved to Illinois, I discovered companies that would do approval services similar to those that book distributors did … Continue reading →

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Link and Comments: Jared Diamond on Why Nations Fail Or Succeed When Facing A Crisis

Posted on Thursday 6 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s do a relatively academic item today, to avoid the day to day political issues. Though of course it’s not irrelevant to those. Noemag: Jared Diamond: Why Nations Fail Or Succeed When Facing A Crisis Jared Diamond is, of course, … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: About Thinking; About Research; About Orientations

Posted on Wednesday 5 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

First, from yesterday’s New York Times Science section: How to Think Like an Epidemiologist. Subtitle: “Don’t worry, a little Bayesian analysis won’t hurt you.” As Marc Lipsitch, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard, noted on Twitter, Bayesian reasoning comes awfully … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: About Thinking; About Research; About Orientations