Back of the Book links for the August 5, 2002 program

Here is the latest on the saga of Pacifica. There was a big meeting of the interim Pacifica National Board in June in Berkeley, CA. I have a link to notes from a listener who was there.

As we move into the next phase of the Pacifica Crisis some listeners are more convinced than ever that only open elections will provide a long range cure for the Pacifica Crisis. Here's an election proposal.

Here's the WBAI schedule. Don't blame me if it's not accurate, I didn't make it up I'm only relaying it. Here's a schedule made by a listener who has Web links for various programs and producers.

Our colleagues from Off the Hook now have both a RealAudio streaming web cast operating, and a new MP3 stream both of which were working at about 10:41 PM last night. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed.

Asteroid 2002 NT7 will not strike the Earth in February 2019, as some had suspected. This is so typical of the mass media to screw this up. Here's an updated article about it.

On the program I described a phenomenon that could possibly be used to deflect an asteroid from colliding with the Earth if there was enough lead time. Well, I blew the name, it's really called the “Yarkovsky effect” and there are some details about it here.

If you've felt a little puffy sometimes, maybe it's something to do with your genes. Scientists have discovered that the puffer fish, which last shared an ancestor with humans some 450 million years ago, has a lot of the exact same genes as we do. The number of genes shared by our two species is currently at 961 and counting.

Pickles of the North talked about a book she's read recently named The Money & the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and It's Hold On America 1947-2000 by Sally Denton and Roger Morris. It does a decent job of tying American electoral politics and organized crime together.

I talked a bit about cosmology again on this program. I gave some time to a hypothesis that would challenge the current thinking about the Big Bang and the age of the universe. In this alternative idea, which is not likely but which is not wacky either, it is speculated that maybe time itself isn't constant. Nobel Prize winning physicist Paul Dirac occasionally speculated on this idea. Time has been speculated about a lot in the last hundred years or so, but speculation is about all anyone's been able to do with it. Even some WBAI producers have had some fun with speculating about time.

Subject: South Pole Exploration
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2002 21:46:30 -0400
From: fred
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul:
On your last program in June of 2002 you said that Robert Scott was the South Pole explorer who got all his men killed. This is incorrect. The explorer who got his men killed was Winfield Scott. Perhaps you are confusing him with another South Pole explorer, Robert Byrd.
Yours Sincerely,
Fred.

Nope, it was indeed Captain Robert Falcon Scott, RN who led that doomed expedition. Winfield Scott was a General in the United States Army who served from the War of 1812 to the American Civil War.

Subject: I miss hearing you
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2002 10:01:29 -0500 (CDT)
From: Gus
To: rpm@glib.com

Hi R. Paul,
I moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas last August after living in the New York, Metro region since 1957.
It can be very boring here. I got poison ivyed for the first time in my life. Till three weeks ago I didn't have a clue what poison ivy looked like.
Talk about strange bugs. They enjoy invading one's house.
People here say I have an accent. I reply, “You're the one with the accent.”
Gus

Love with a smile!

Subject: Portable Air Conditioners
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 10:24:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Susan Not From Long Island
To: rpm@glib.com

You have to buy an air conditioner. I don't know a lot about these portable stand alone units. I just know that they make them, and of course they are more expensive. This one sells for $525 and is vented through a hose out the window. I also know nothing about the reliability of this company, but being in NYC I know you have lots of options.

Jaime's mom had asthma. Essentially Jaime told me you don't have a choice.

http://genieac.com/PORTABLE%20AC'S.htm?source=goto

Both of You Take Care,

Susan

Well, Pickles of the North said we needed to get an air conditioner but I put my foot down and said “NO!” I cited all of the reasons, including expense, for why we shouldn't have one, and that was final.

Subject: Happy July Fourth!
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 11:19:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Fernando
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear Sir,

I have written previously but I have been unable to do so recently, R, because I was away on vacation. I went to Florida, R. where I went to Universal Studios and I did a lot of swimming. I would like to go swimming more as it is good exercise and I want to be buff, R. I want to be buff. Buff. I'm glad though that I was able to make it back home and to my radio in time for you most recent broadcast, that of July 8th. I appreciate your answer (as light hearted as it was) to a question on chicks that I asked you.

You may be interested to know that I caused a minor security incident at the airport during my vacation. At the checkpoint, my bag was searched and the baggage checker, who was Nigerian so I could barely understand the mumble-jumble she spewed in place of coherent speech, told me I was unable to take a my pair of tiny sissors on board the plane with me. I use these sissors to trim my toenails which I wanted to do during the flight but they would not let me take the sissors with me. My only choice would be to allow the porters to throw my bag in with the rest of the baggage but I never let them do that. I know porters steal things out of people's bags. If I can't carry it on with me, I don't take it. I had to let the baggage checker keep my sissors.

Listening to your most recent broadcast, I was happy to hear that there is finally a political issue on which we are in total agreement. Like you, I am against ALL gun laws and I believe the public should be allowed to purchase any firearm they wish to buy. If ALL of society is well armed, then ALL of society is safe. I am a commander in the National Rifle Association because I have given them money. I have also given YOUR show money. I am the proud and able owner of a Browning 16-gauge shotgun which I have used to shoot ducks and I am prepared to defend myself against any interloper, R. I can't wait for that day. My uncle makes his own shells!

I believe the Ruby Ridge fiasco has taught us two things, Paul. First, society needs to be able to defend itself even from its own government. We can't kid ourselves. The liberals want to COMPLETELY disarm the public and outlaw all guns! Randy Weaver was invaded and his wife and dog were killed because of his firesarms. Secondly, the incident proved that Janet Reno was an incompetent and homely woman who got her job because of her gender and orientation.

On another track, R., I have a suggestion regarding your show. While I was in Florida, I found a radio station down there that plays nothing but music from the '80's. This was MY music, R, so I loved it. I am not, however, suggesting you play '80's music but I think that you should give weather and traffic reports at the top and bottom of every hour. This would be very helpful because often when I'm listening to your show my mother is driving me home and it can help to hear how the Hell the roads are. You could also announce local airport arrival and departures. No other station does this, R. You could be the first. This could give Pickles something to do instead of horning in on YOUR show which I have donated money to. Keeping the community informed, R, is the essence of community radio. I hope this helps you, Martin.

Do you know if Joan Rivers and Dr. Laura are still on the air? They are no longer heard in New York but maybe they can still be heard in other countries. Thank you for your attention, R. I'll be listening.

Fernando
Florham Park, NJ

Well, Fernando, if I have a choice between Pickles of the North being on the program and you guess who's getting the old heave ho?

Subject: Ah, what else?
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 00:38:07 +0000
From: "mister charm"
To: rpm@glib.com

AAHHH, R.PAUL!!
It is Sunday 8:28 and my heart beats! How i thrill to see my sweet missives of hot wet love to Fernando posted on your sweet sweet website, the conveyance of my desire! OOOOHHHH! How my loins swell to their more -than -normal super-size when I imagine my love at home in his bed as he hears my by now by-weekly declarations of sweet twisted perverted hot and heavy love! AAHH, Fernando, do your finger-tips stray as you hear rpaul mouth my wicked lustful sentiments? Then does your fine strong young experienced hand find its wild pulsing quarry as mine does even now as i tap tap tap, no POUND POUND POUND my deepest feelings for you on my keyboard? Ah, the sweet misery of solitude within the sweltering dark!
Oh, be mine, Fernando!! Be my sweet sweet sweet Fernando, and be happy to be nothing more!! Oh, the things I imagine!! And to think that they have laws against such wild supreme happiness! Ah ,the chambers of my heart, however, transform the prison of my lonliness into chambers of love!! Wilder and freer than any sauna or bathhouse!
Ah, my virgin love, I run my thick sweaty hands down from your shoulders to your heels, and then back up again. With stops along the way. Til next week, my love! And my best to you all out in radioland! Hugs and bunnies1
Mr. Charm

Subject: Cool air
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 03:36:39 -0400
From: Sean
To: rpm@glib.com

R. Paul, you did it. You got yourself an air conditioner. You've stepped into the shoes of evil. I hope you enjoy these hot summer months in your cool apartment. I'll spend this summer with my fan. I'll buy an air conditioner after I buy a mobile phone, cable TV, high speed internet, and a couple dozen pair of socks.

-Sean

Subject: the show....
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 16:44:24 -0400
From: "JT"
To: rpm@glib.com

love your show.....

There are a lot of issues that we can't talk about on the air at WBAI. But there is an Internet list called “Free Pacifica!” which you can subscribe to, and these issues are discussed there. If you subscribe to it you will receive, via E-mail, all of the messages which are sent to that list. You will also be able to send messages to the list.

The above list has occasionally produced a high volume of E-mail because of the attention that these issues have drawn. If you would prefer to subscribe to a low volume list that only provides announcements of events related to these issues then subscribe to the FreePac mailing list.

Another 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. With that warning in mind, you can look at the NewPacifica list here, and you can join the list from that Web page too, although you'll have to deal with Yahoo! to do so.

There is also the more WBAI specific “Goodlight” Web based message board. This one has a great many people posting anonymously and there's also an ancillary board that's just totally out of hand.

The “Goodlight” Web based message board has expanded to cover all Pacifica stations.