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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Meta
Category Archives: Astronomy
That Potential Revolutionary Scientific Reinterpretation? Never Mind.
That Potential Revolutionary Scientific Reinterpretation I posted about four days ago does not seem to have played out (but that’s how science works); A nice summary of the top five astronomical discoveries of all time (so far); And a dicier … Continue reading
Cosmic and Psychological Lessons
Phil Plait on the scale of the cosmos; Beware of pluralistic ignorance; How math education can be better taught with examples about money. – – – Today’s cosmic lesson. Scientific American, Phil Plait, 8 Mar 2024: The Scale of … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Cosmology, Mathematics, Psychology, Science
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Astronomy and the History of Common Knowledge
How far away are the stars? and How has the cosmic distance records progressed over time? My speculations about how people throughout history have perceived the size of the world; Veritasium’s person-on-the-street interviews reveal that many people have no clue … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, science fiction
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Items about Science, Math, and Philosophy
There are always looking glass items, as I described topics in yesterday’s post, but for today let’s look at more substantial items. It’s been 100 years since Hubble discovered that our own galaxy wasn’t the entirety of the universe; Steven … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Mathematics, Philosophy, Science
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Another Orion Photo
Plus: The wackadoodle conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl; Items about why Trump is blocking the border deal; how Trump would destroy the American-led world order; why Republicans are killing the border deal; and a handy guide … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology, Website Issues
Comments Off on Another Orion Photo
Adam Frank, THE LITTLE BOOK OF ALIENS
Here’s what looked like a fun, occasional book: a popular summary of a popular topic that’s well-known among followers of science and of science fiction. I bought it to glance through, not necessarily read through. But then I heard the … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Book Notes, Science
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Orion, and Tribal Politics
What Orion would look like if we had better eyes; The Iowa landslide for Trump reveals evangelicals for who they really are; The country needs a dictator; Sobbing woman begs Trump to save her; Conspiracy-monger set the fires himself; Nikki … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics
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People Prefer a Softened Reality
A Big Think piece about over-hyped science and astronomy claims from this past year; Adam Lee on Benjamin Franklin’s “noble lie”: that people need religion in order to behave; And an Endpiece about current holiday activities. I’ve mentioned before that … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Personal history, Physics, Science
Comments Off on People Prefer a Softened Reality
The Extent of the Universe, and Our History of Understanding It
NY Times with a photo spread of images from the James Webb telescope; Big Think with a timeline of our history of understanding our universe. —— NY Times, Kate LaRue, 5 Nov 2023: The James Webb telescope is a giant … Continue reading
Planets, Scientific Certainty and Placebos, and Peter Gabriel
Phil Plait on the history of planetary discovery, since 1992; Flossing and the quest for scientific certainty; How placebos sometimes work; Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street”. – – – Good summary of the past thirty years’ discoveries of new planets. Phil … Continue reading
