Category Archives: Personal history

Larry Kramer RIP

Posted on Wednesday 27 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

I discovered today that my long-time friend Larry Kramer — no, not the writer Larry Kramer, but one Charles L. Kramer who lived in Los Angeles for decades, until his move to suburban Austin TX back in 2006 — has … Continue reading →

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Planning, and Semesters

Posted on Saturday 16 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

When you’re retired, not working or going to school or driven by any particular schedule, as I’ve been more or less for a decade now, you tend to mark the passage of time by the holidays or vacations or family … Continue reading →

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Sibley Volcanic Park; the Doctrine of Discovery

Posted on Sunday 10 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today — yet another pleasant day in the Bay Area, sunny and 74 degrees Fahrenheit — we went for a hike in the Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, an area in the hills north of us where an actual volcano erupted … Continue reading →

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Laptop Updates; More about the Crisis in Cosmology; Political matters; A History of Labor Day

Posted on Saturday 9 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

New laptop updates. Another “calm down” reaction to the recent news about the “crisis in cosmology”; Political matters, including Alabama’s defiance of the Supreme Court; parental rights; freedom and education; And Heather Cox Richardson on the history of Labor Day. … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, History, Personal history, Politics | Comments Off

Computer, Glasses, Theories

Posted on Tuesday 29 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

My new laptop; My new glasses; The populist vs. scientific ideas of “theory”. I ordered a new laptop from Costco, and it arrived today about 4pm, and I’ve spent an hour getting it up and running. My old laptop has … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, Science | Comments Off

Tenth Anniversary

Posted on Wednesday 12 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today is the tenth anniversary of this blog. It was originally called “Views from Medina Road,” from where we lived in Woodland Hills (a suburb of Los Angeles) at the time, with the view of the San Fernando Valley, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Personal history, Politics | Comments Off

Blinks Status, and Recalling Locus Online

Posted on Sunday 9 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today I collected another batch of SF-related items to post on Locus Online: Locus Online: Around the Web: Samuel R. Delany; John Scalzi; Reviews by Higgins, Barnett, Tuttle, and Kunzru of books by Leckie, Djuna, Atalla, Siddiqi, and others; “The … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, Website Issues | Comments Off

Trip Report: Preservation Park and the Locus Awards

Posted on Sunday 25 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

No blog post yesterday; I was busy from about 2pm to around 8pm attending one day of the Locus Awards Weekend (this link might expire soon) in downtown Oakland, about 10 miles down the hills from our house.

Posted in Personal history, science fiction | Comments Off

The Understanding of Human Nature, and Its Relationship to Science Fiction

Posted on Monday 19 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a draft of another essay trying to summarize my take on science fiction and my provisional conclusions on the topics I’ve been reading about over the past couple decades.

Posted in Personal history, Psychology, science fiction, The Book | Comments Off

Catheter Biopsy, Again, and Hospital Cafeteria

Posted on Wednesday 14 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The second anniversary of my heart transplant Two different catheter procedures to check the health of my heart The hospital cafeteria, endowed by Williams of Williams and Sonoma Today I had an appointment at CMPC for the procedure I was … Continue reading →