Category Archives: Technology

Vaclav Smil, NUMBERS DON’T LIE

Posted on Friday 3 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a 2020 book by a writer I had never heard of, until reading a pre-publication review in PW of his 2022 book How the World Really Works, which was just published in May. Smil is something of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Technology | Comments Off on Vaclav Smil, NUMBERS DON’T LIE

LQCs: Grievances, Envy, Government & Technology, Sleeping at Night

Posted on Sunday 20 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

What I discussed yesterday is in today’s NYT. NYT, Charles Homans, 19 March 2022: Trucker Protest Moved by More Than Opposition to Covid Mandates, “The demonstrators camped outside Washington are rallying against Covid restrictions, but are fueled by a far … Continue reading →

Posted in Links & Comments, Politics, Technology | Comments Off on LQCs: Grievances, Envy, Government & Technology, Sleeping at Night

Ls&Qs&Cs: Kids with Lice; Grifters; Moral Panics; USA #1; Backward We Go

Posted on Monday 7 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on current links I’ve saved from web-browsing over the past few days. First a Facebook meme: Kids with Lice

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Links & Comments, Science, Technology | Comments Off on Ls&Qs&Cs: Kids with Lice; Grifters; Moral Panics; USA #1; Backward We Go

SF as Luddite Literature?

Posted on Thursday 13 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s counter-intuitive notion is from novelist and long-time Locus columnist Cory Doctorow. This essay is in the January 2022 issue, and posted (for free) online, here: Locus, Cory Doctorow, posted 3 Jan 2022: Science Fiction is a Luddite Literature

Posted in Human Progress, science fiction, Technology | Comments Off on SF as Luddite Literature?

Ls&Cs: Democrats and Republicans and Car Designs

Posted on Saturday 4 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

About the changing identities of Democrats and Republicans, over the past century and a half; about the logic of abortion, from a philosopher; about the dismal history of infrastructure (and how this relates to conspiracy theories); and two items about … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Technology | Comments Off on Ls&Cs: Democrats and Republicans and Car Designs

Ls&Cs: Problem-Solving, Ethics, Out-Group Prejudice, and Padding Bestseller Lists

Posted on Monday 11 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Several links that I collected on April 20th, the day I went to the hospital for what led to my heart transplant.

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Links & Comments, Psychology, Technology | Comments Off on Ls&Cs: Problem-Solving, Ethics, Out-Group Prejudice, and Padding Bestseller Lists

Afternoon Drive: M440i

Posted on Sunday 10 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday we took a three-hour drive, with a lunch stop part-way through, but since I didn’t take any photos along the way, it didn’t happen, by some internet standards.

Posted in Personal history, Technology | Comments Off on Afternoon Drive: M440i

Ls&Cs: Computer world views; science fiction vs. fantasy

Posted on Friday 24 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

A couple non-political posts today.

Posted in Links & Comments, Philosophy, science fiction, Technology | Comments Off on Ls&Cs: Computer world views; science fiction vs. fantasy

Link and Comment: The Pace of Change

Posted on Tuesday 13 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Guardian: 25 years of His Dark Materials: Philip Pullman on the journey of a lifetime. Pullman reflects on the quarter decade since he began writing the sequence of novels about Lyra that began with Northern Lights, aka The Golden Compass. … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Technology | Comments Off on Link and Comment: The Pace of Change

Links and Comments: America’s Reputation; Facebook; Cognitive Dissonance

Posted on Wednesday 30 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, 25 Sept.: I Feel Sorry for Americans’: A Baffled World Watches the U.S.. Subtitle: “From Myanmar to Canada, people are asking: How did a superpower allow itself to be felled by a virus? And why won’t the president … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology, Technology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: America’s Reputation; Facebook; Cognitive Dissonance