Monthly Archives: July 2022

Admitting When You’re Wrong

Posted on Thursday 21 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here is something that honest journalists (and scientists) understand and do, but which conservatives and the religious never do: admit they were wrong, and change their minds. That’s intellectual honesty. Today’s NYT has a set of eight essays by its … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Technology | Comments Off

Played by Evolution

Posted on Wednesday 20 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

The motivations of those who think most harshly of abortion, homosexuality, transsexuals, and so on, are enacting the harshest strategies for species survival and growth of a process they don’t believe in: evolution. Happiness and well-being of actual living individual … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Musings | Comments Off

World Views and Cosmic Views

Posted on Tuesday 19 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items today by Adam Lee. OnlySky, Adam Lee, 17 Jul 2022: How to tell if you’re in a bubble OnlySky, Adam Lee, 19 July 2022: My humanism comes from the stars

Posted in Cosmology, Morality | Comments Off

Government Propagandizing and Proselytizing

Posted on Monday 18 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT, 16 Jul 2022: Putin Aims to Shape a New Generation of Supporters, Through Schools, subtitled, “Sweeping changes in the curriculum will soon cast the Russian president as a pivotal historical figure and mark an end of openness to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Religion | Comments Off

Polarization and the Pace of Change

Posted on Sunday 17 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert, January 3 & 10, 2022 issue: How Politics Got So Polarized Subtitled: “In a new era of hyperpartisan identities, can anything bring ‘us’ and ‘them’ together?”

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture | Comments Off

Astronomical Failures of Intuition

Posted on Saturday 16 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Washington Post, Joel Achenbach and Aaron Steckelberg, 15 Jul 2022: Take a cosmic tour inside the images captured by NASA’s Webb telescope Here’s an excellent interactive guide to the images released this week from the James Webb Space Telescope, highlighting … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | Comments Off

Sfadb.com status at its tenth anniversary

Posted on Friday 15 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Pretty much every year I status my ongoing projects — in particular sfadb.com, and my personal and family history here on this blog — and think, this year for sure! And every year I do make some progress, but even … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, Website Issues | Comments Off

Links, Quotes, and Comments, Today 14 July 2022

Posted on Thursday 14 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Red States and Abortion Bans; Religious Nuttery; How Fox News fakes it; Conservatives attempts to turn back the cultural clock; What Proud Boys and their wives want

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Religion | Comments Off

Galaxies Like Grains of Sand

Posted on Wednesday 13 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Two topics today. About the James Webb Telescope photos; and about why people feel the world is broken. I chimed in on Facebook on Monday with a link to this image, as many of my Fb friends were doing, only … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Culture | Comments Off

Orwellian “Freedoms”

Posted on Tuesday 12 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

The Atlantic, Ronald Brownstein, 8 July 2022: The Glaring Contradiction of Republicans’ Rhetoric of Freedom, subtitled, “Democratic governors are showing the national party how to challenge the red states’ rollback of rights.” Republicans say freedoms for me, prohibitions for thee.