Category Archives: Culture

What We Learned from This Morning’s Newspaper

Posted on Sunday 5 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today concern the US military budget, the Chinese balloon, flooding in Houston, Richard Powers on a real battle for trees, and the passing of the 747. All items from today’s paper (the New York Times).

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Varieties of Fantasy, and Book Notes

Posted on Saturday 4 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s three topics: A conservative’s take on a fantasy novel; A Le Guin fantasy novel; And insights into books by Heinlein and Brockman.

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A Crisp, Sunny January Day

Posted on Monday 30 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Topics for today: Why China’s decline in population is a good thing; Yuval Noah Harari on identity; Moral panic and the right-wing mind; How climate change has been covered in textbooks since the 1970s.

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Alcohol and Civilization, and other recent items

Posted on Tuesday 17 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How civilization might have been driven by the desire for alcohol; about the NYT interviewing Republicans; the perspective on conspiratorial thinking from an American living in Britain; paranoia and the GOP; DeSantis’ war on “wokeness”; Paul Waldman on 6 things … Continue reading →

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Optimism About America, and other recent items

Posted on Monday 16 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

David Brooks on how America is on the right track; Ezra Klein on the fractured Republican Party; and items about gas stoves, red states and their blue cities, the partisan divide in COVID deaths, and how politics doesn’t do nuance.

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The Erratic March of Scientific Progress

Posted on Sunday 15 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Vox, Kelsey Piper, 11 Jan 2023: Why is science slowing down?, subtitled “Science is the engine of society, and the decline of truly disruptive research is a warning sign for all of us.” Is this really a new problem? Or … Continue reading →

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Consumerism, and Political History

Posted on Saturday 7 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items today.

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The World Is Laughing

Posted on Friday 6 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one item today. It’s always cool when some remark I make in my blog is amplified the next day by a widely read newspaper columnist. Actually, two or three remarks, from recent days, in today’s column from Paul Krugman. … Continue reading →

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Recurring Themes

Posted on Thursday 5 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Not enough time to write a review this afternoon, so I’ll just post a few links about current events. NY Times, Charles M. Blow, 4 Jan 2023: The Burn-It-All-Down Republican Caucus

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Good News of 2022; What Success at College Means

Posted on Tuesday 3 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, Nicholas Kristof, 31 Dec 2022: Cheer Up! The World Is Better Off Than You Think.

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