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)
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Recent Posts
- A Couple Interesting Things About Reality
- False Realities
- Political Extremes and Instability
- This Much is Reality… and This Much is Fantasy
- The Anticipation of Unintended Consequences
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- The Overton Window of Deviance
- Shocked, Just Shocked
- Continuing Our Studies of Human Nature…
- Here’s a New One: Terrain Theory
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Meta
Category Archives: Religion
Link and Comments: NYTBR reviews Kurt Andersen’s FANTASYLAND
Just published, a big book by novelist and journalist Kurt Andersen, Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History (Random House), which is in my to-read stack. For the time being, here are some passages from Sunday’s front page review … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, science fiction, TV Sci Fi
Comments Off on Link and Comments: NYTBR reviews Kurt Andersen’s FANTASYLAND
Links and Comments: Marcotte on Trump, and Evangelicals
It’s becoming more and more clear that Trump has no values, no ideals, no standards. He’s only about making deals, and he’s willing to align himself with anyone to make deals, no matter for what, no matter with whom. Salon, … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Religion
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Links and Comments: Science v Stories; Religion, Conservative Resistance, and Reality; a Freeway
Science Fiction, Science, and Storytelling Tor.com: Nancy Kress: Science and Science Fiction: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Many, many more people see science fiction movies than read print SF. Almost all SF movies, and much print SF as … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Personal history, Religion
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Links and Comments: Tyson v. Douthat
I started writing up a few notes about the new (small) Neil deGrasse Tyson book, ASTROPHYSICS FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY, and got sidetracked by a passage that reminded me of a Ross Douthat column from a few weeks ago. … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
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Sapolsky on religion, and human behavior
Via today’s Morning Heresy blog by Paul Fidalgo, this item from Robert M. Sapolsky, a short video on a site called Big Think, called Atheism vs. Religion: Which Is the Healthier Viewpoint?. His thesis is that religious belief, in eternal … Continue reading
Link and Comment: Religion v. Reality
One more item from last Sunday’s New York Times: the weekly “Modern Love” column, reader-submitted essays about “the joys and tribulations of love.” White Shirt, Black Name Tag, Big Secret It’s about a young Mormon man sent into the world … Continue reading
Links and Comments: On believing; Waking up; Health care fantasies
Here’s a long, multi-panel cartoon from The Oatmeal called Believe, which illustrates how readily or not we take in new information that conflicts with our previous assumptions, or foundational beliefs. (Via We Should Celebrate New Information Even When It Means … Continue reading
Posted in Religion, Social Progress
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Link and Comments: Molly Worthen on Evangelicals and Fake News
New York Times’ Sunday Review: Molly Worthen on The Evangelical Roots of Our Post-Truth Society. The arrival of the “post-truth” political climate came as a shock to many Americans. But to the Christian writer Rachel Held Evans, charges of “fake … Continue reading
Links and Comments: Thinking about the Future; Doctors and Fake News; Polls about Atheists
Slate: Our Puny Human Brains Are Terrible at Thinking About the Future, to follow up on the Elizabeth Kolbert post a few days ago. Some people regularly connect with their future selves, but a majority does not. And this matters, … Continue reading
Links and Comments: Bannon’s historical cycles; the Myth of Main Street; Late Bloomers
Interesting stories and essays from Sunday’s New York Times. Bannon’s Worldview: Dissecting the Message of ‘The Fourth Turning’ A news article about a book that has influence Steve Bannon’s thinking about the world, a book by two amateur historians, that … Continue reading
