Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2003-2013)
» Blogspot Views from Medina Road (2003-2010)-
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- This Much is Reality… and This Much is Fantasy
- The Anticipation of Unintended Consequences
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- Shocked, Just Shocked
- Continuing Our Studies of Human Nature…
- Here’s a New One: Terrain Theory
- A Little Knowledge… Is a Dangerous Thing
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Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly
Photos from Austin
I’ll post these without explanation, for now.
Posted in Personal history
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How Art and Education are Not about Making People Feel Comfortable
Today’s reading is about art and education and how they’re not intended to make students feel comfortable, but rather to challenge their parochial assumptions and expand their worldviews; And a bunch of everyday items, today mostly about the right’s conspiracy … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture
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Progress and Retreat
A reading from Steven Pinker, about progress the MAGA folks are reacting against; Double standards about Trump and presidential immunity; J.D. Vance and protesters; DeSantis and woke banks; the National Day of Prayer; another Republican taking advantage of a bill … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, progress, Steven Pinker
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Ideology, Principles, and Fantasy
How Project 2025 is based on misconceptions; Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s plans and how many people seem to welcome them; Slate on how Trump waffles on the abortion issue; And how Arizona’s repeal of the 1864 abortion ban undermines … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Morality, Politics
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Monoculture and Tribalist Thinking
Travel perspectives; Is everything a cult now? If so, the word has lost all meaning; Is religion just a tribal marker? Then why do so many Christian zealots want to impose their beliefs on others, to the point of executions? … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Travel
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Our Trip to Austin
Notes about our trip to Austin this past weekend, to visit and begin to settle the house and estate of my old friend Larry Kramer, who died last September. We flew to Austin Thursday, from Oakland via LAX; spent all … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history, Travel
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How Rugged Individualists Cannot Solve Global Problems
A note about my trip tomorrow to Austin; How Mike Johnson characterizes Republicans as “rugged individualists,” yet who can still not get along to solve actual problems; How Trump’s policies would increase inflation, and his fans haven’t noticed; More about … Continue reading
Posted in Morality, Personal history, Politics, Psychology
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Somber News
I don’t want to make this too personal, or reveal too much personal information. Just to convey a lesson. Six months ago now, I announced that an old friend of mine, Larry Kramer, who’d moved to Texas in 2006 and … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history
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Violence, Evolution, Climate Change, and Cory Doctorow’s THE LOST CAUSE
How Republicans increasingly advocate violence; How Tucker Carlson doesn’t understand evolution, and his several dumb objections to evolution; How 10 straight months of record-breaking temperatures won’t persuade the skeptics; And a passage from Cory Doctorow’s 2023 novel The Lost Cause … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, science fiction
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Third Essay of the Weekend
An Elizabeth Kolbert essay about the debate about the term “Anthropocene”; And Neil Finn’s beautiful lullaby “Faster than Light”. * This is Elizabeth Kolbert (author of The Sixth Extinction, one of the best nonfiction books of the 21st century; review … Continue reading
