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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Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly
The Outsized Perception of the Danger of Minority Cults
Two pieces for today. A Salon essay that suggests that the “mainstream media” has a far wider effect on the US population than the fringe, Trump/Fox-supporting media, than most of us realize (and how that’s a good thing); and how … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Politics, Psychology
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The Obsolete Ideal of the Nuclear Family?
Two pieces about how the idealistic nuclear family beloved by conservatives has been an aberration in human history and is perhaps no longer suited for the modern world; Pondering the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and Cain and Abel; Items about Trump and … Continue reading
Commentaries about Last Night’s Republican Debate
Various reactions to the Republican debate, with its themes of science denial, and lying to a base that feeds on lies; Robert Reich on Republicans’ denial of climate change. I watched bits of it. I’m relying on the commentaries published … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics
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Freedom, Liberty, and Religion
Liberty and freedom, vs. conformity to religion; More on how some Christians now think Jesus was too “woke”; How Republicans politicians lie, because it works: their “distorted reality insulates right-wing media consumers from contradictions and challenges to their beliefs”; And … Continue reading
Explaining Trump and his Followers; Conservatives’ Lies about Heartstopper
Two kinds of boomers, and the naivete of older people about how social media works; Why Republican voters believe Trump — it’s all about their feelings of victimhood; An example of how pearl-clutching conservatives lie about Heartstopper. Not one but … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, The Gays
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Conservatives and Mental Health
How Republican fears reveal their own mental health crisis; How Trump voters trust him more than family, friends, or clergy; How the worst people run for office (from Adam Grant), and how SF has anticipated this (from Isaac Asimov). This … Continue reading
Posted in History, Social Progress
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Insecurity and Inequality
A long NYT piece about the US economy, feeling bad, inequality, and insecurity; Shorter items about hearing dialogue in movies; the latest anti-woke tantrum; and that “First they came for…” poem. Here’s a big piece in NY Times, that could … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Decline, Psychology
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Veritasium, Star Talk, Sapiens
There is so much nonsense on the web — and so much news about nonsensical, irrational people — it’s refreshing to find occasional pockets of knowledge and wisdom. I should try to pay more attention to these, and less attention … Continue reading
Jocks In, Academics Out
How that college in Florida is transforming itself to focusing on jocks, rather than academics; How at least one commentator thinks Trump is doomed and will go to jail, while I’m not so sure; Then several items about conservatives’ explicit … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Religion
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Corridors
The way I would have reimagined the Enterprise for Strange New Worlds; Five rules for reading the news, from Big Think, and my thoughts about them; Apocalyptic rhetoric from the right; conspiracy theories about the Maui wildfires. I’ve enjoyed the … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Star Trek
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