Web links related to the Back of the Book program of June 7, 2004

It's Sunday evening 6/20/2004 18:23:48 and this page is finished. We slipped in a couple of things that we'd wanted to get to on the last program, before we suddenly found out that we were pitching. We covered the below stuff and some more, and we got to some of the mail. Our next program may only come on at 2:00 AM because of transmitter maintenance at the Empire State Building. You never know what's going to happen when they do this. We could find that they've canceled the maintenance, in which case the program will air at its usual time, or they may go over by a couple of hours in which case the program would be entirely preempted. All that and more could happen on the next program, so tune in and see if we're there!

The WBAI LSB will meet next on Thursday, June 10, 2004, at 6:30 PM at the Maplewood Memorial Library at 51 Baker Street in Maplewood, New Jersey.

The Maplewood Memorial Library is one block from the Maplewood Train Station on New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex Line. Take a Midtown Direct train from Penn Station New York which leaves at either:

5:20 PM, 5:47 PM, or 5:51 PM.

Please note that not all Midtown Direct trains go to Maplewood. Make sure that you confirm that the train you are taking goes to Maplewood before you board. Also, buy your ticket in Penn Station to avoid the $5 surcharge you will have to pay if you buy your ticket on the train.

Maplewood Memorial Library is about 100 yards from the Maplewood Train Station on the “park side” of the station. Walk to the underpass near the front of the train (if traveling from New York).

For driving directions go to the Maplewood Library Web site at www.maplewoodlibrary.org.

WBAI now has a program schedule up on its Web site. The site has gotten many of the individual program pages together to provide links and such, so check it out.

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Our colleagues from Off the Hook now have both a RealAudio streaming web cast operating, and a new MP3 stream. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed. Both feeds were working at 6:40 PM last night.

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The Pacifica Foundation, which owns WBAI, has revamped its Web site and now has something called the Pacifica Lounge where you can post messages about Pacifica, WBAI and other Pacifica radio stations. This may be a good thing, and of course there are other, long term fora in which to participate.

WBAI also has a forum on its Web site now. You have to register to post messages, but anyone may read the messages.

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Hey, I finally got my package from the Post Office this past fortnight! They'd actually given it to someone else, who apparently liked it so much that she tried to keep it! So this Priority Mail^™ package took more than three weeks to get to me! I got it in one of those plastic bags you get from the Post Office when the envelope containing your mail has fallen apart and the contents have been strewn all over the place. At least the plastic bag appeared to have everything in it.

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On Tuesday you may be able to share something with Jeremiah Horrocks. Here's more about how to do that.

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Should superstitious institutions really keep their tax exempt status when they're blatantly interfering in the politics of the nation?

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Speaking of receiving Communion I did it for the first time on May 22, 1954, which I'll talk about a little bit tonight.

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The other day the case against some hate filled bigots went to a jury. We've recently had some hateful, anti-gay stuff happen at WBAI when a bigot started acting out and threatening people at the station. And then someone took down the gay rainbow flag that has hung in the “Staff Lounge” for years.

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Among the things we'll be squeezing in tonight will be our tribute to Ronald Wilson Reagan, We'll send his rotting corpse out with all the dignity that it deserves.

Hey, but at least he got elected, which is more than the current occupier of the White House can say.

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The Summer Solstice will occur on Sunday, June 20^th, at 8:57 PM.

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We did get to some of the mail on this program. We read some snail mail and some E-mail. What E-mail we read is presented here. We start out with a couple of E-mails from ZIG-MAN, a regular listener, correspondent and WBAI subscriber.

Contrary to certain rumors I am not the Prime Minister of Canada. I mean, I would have gotten a letter about it if I were, wouldn't I?

Yeah, decent universal health care and the right to marry whom you will would be good ideas. When I do become the Prime Minister of Canada I'll invade the United States and make it so!

Station IDs are useful for letting people know what they're listening to and helping them to remember where it is, 99.5 FM in this case. That way if they like what they hear they can find the program again in the future.

My diabetes is apparently related to Agent Orange exposure, according to the government.

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There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to talk about on the air at WBAI, even now that the gag rule has been lifted. However, there is the Internet! There are mailing lists which you can subscribe to and Web based message boards devoted to WBAI and Pacifica issues. Many controversial WBAI/Pacifica issues are discussed on these lists.

Probably the most popular list that's sprung up is the “NewPacifica” mailing list. This one is very lively and currently includes over 400 subscribers coast to coast.

Being lively, of course, it sometimes also gets a bit nasty. All sorts of things are happening on this list and official announcements are frequently posted there.

You can look at the NewPacifica list here, and you can join the list from that Web page too. If you subscribe to the “NewPacifica” mailing list you will receive, via E-mail, all of the messages which are sent to that list.

There is the option to receive a “digest” version of the list, which means that a bunch of messages are bundled into one E-mail and sent to you at regular intervals, this cuts down on the number of E-mails you get from the list. You will also be able to send messages to the list.

This list also has a Web based interface where you can read messages and from which you can post your own messages.

There is also the more WBAI specific “Goodlight” Web based message board. It is sometimes referred to on Back of the Book as “the bleepin' blue board,” owing to the blue background used on its Web pages. This one has many people posting anonymously and there's also an ancillary “WBAI people” board that's just totally out of hand.

When the computer in Master Control is working we sometimes have live interaction with people posting on the “Goodlight Board” during the program.

And then there is the historic “Free Pacifica!” list, which has been used to help organize resistance to Pacifica Management hijackers since the mid-90s. It's become a low volume mailing list because it's been eclipsed by some of the newer, more technologically advanced, lists. Just click on this link and follow the instructions, and you'll be subscribed. This is a mailing list only, it doesn't have a digest option nor does it have a web interface.

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