Web links related to the Back of the Book program of October 15, 2011


Tonight's program will be a pitching program. It will be the only program we'll be doing during this Fall 'thon. We really need to do decently tonight. We hope many of you will pledge. We can't tell ahead of time just how much of the stuff we're preparing for this program will end up getting on the air. The more we have to pitch the less radio we can do. And if we don't raise enough we'll have to pitch a bunch more. I'll try to get this page updated soon.

Did you know that I've got a brief synopsis of some of the WBAI LSB meetings? Well, I do.

The next regular WBAI LSB meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 9, 2011, at a location to be announced.

The LSB met on Wednesday, October 12, 2011, at the New York City Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgendered Center at 208 W. 13th St., between 7th and 8th Aves. in Manhattan. The meeting got dominated by posturing and a motion that while it had some points to it was ill-considered.

At a previous meeting the WBAI LSB voted to hold its meetings on the second Wednesday of every month and/or the last Thursday of that month, subject to change by the LSB, which gives us the following schedule:

All of these meetings are set to begin at 7:00 PM.

WBAI 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.

WBAI has an official Web stream of what's on the air at any time! You can go here and pick which type of stream you want! If this stream isn't working let me know. And you can see the status of the streams at any time by clicking here. The stream was working at 1:35 this morning. The station has a Flash stream here, make sure you enable Javascript so it can work for you.

WBAI is archiving the programs! Just go here and you'll be able to listen to this program any time for the next couple of months. You may need to scroll up one line to see the audio archive. Let me know if you find this feature useful.

If you want to listen to any part of the WBAI archive click here to go right to the archives. When you first go to the Web page you'll only see the WBAI programs for the past 7 days. If you want to see older programs you can click on one of the “See ALL Shows” buttons. Or to see only the two shows in this time slot click here.

Back of the Book is again one of the programs that you can download, as well as listen to on line.

In the table on the archive Web page Back of the Book and Saturday Morning With the Radio On are both in the “Show” column. The “Date and Category” column shows the date of the program. After the program I go in and write the details of the program and say which program it is. Of course I'd recommend that you just listen to both programs in this time slot!

In the Summer of 2009, there was a Pacifica National Board meeting held in New York. Here's the Web page I did about this PNB meeting and the amazing things that went on at it.

And the PNB has also met in Houston from Friday October 9th, through Sunday October 11th, 2009. The official audio archive of that meeting is here. It was not disrupted as the New York meeting was, although some of the same miscreants got out there to say stupid things.

The Pacifica National Board (PNB) met in Manhattan the weekend of October 1-3, 2010. The audio has been posted for the first day of the meeting, the second day of the meeting and the third day of the meeting.

We are pitching on this radio program! If you can please call 1-212-209-2950 during the radio program and pledge some amount of money to help keep Back of the Book on WBAI and help keep WBAI on the air.

If you want to pledge to the program via the Web you need to do so while we're on the air, and you also need to go here and be sure to pick Back of the Book as the favorite show. Otherwise your pledge won't be counted towards the program.

Update: we raised $305 in pledges and checks from listeners on this program, and we raised an additional $30 from a single Web donation, for a grand total of $335. Thanks to all who pledged.

I should also point out that WBAI always needs help answering the phones. In order to answer the phones you'll have to get into the building. The building Management requires that you get your name added to a list so you can enter 120 Wall St. So if you want to volunteer to answer phones for this 'thon you should call the WBAI switchboard at 1-212-209-2800 during business hours and let the folks in charge know you want to volunteer so they can put your name on the list. We always need more folks to answer the phones so if you want to volunteer to answer the phones for another program during this 'thon the above procedure is the way to do it.

We are hoping to talk about various scientific things ranging from dark matter to really ancient painters on this program.

spy cameras on a city bus
Spy Cameras on a New York City Bus

We're hoping to get to a topic about the increased spying that the government is going to be engaging in over the next few years, and probably on into the remainder of the 21st Century.

A couple of weeks ago Pickles and I were on the bus and we noticed that the bus had spy cameras, plural, on it to observe the passengers. I'm sure that some people will welcome being watched by the police, FBI, CIA, NSA, Republicans, etc. Pickles and I find it disturbing that we're being watched all the time. And of course everything is being recorded now, too.

What would George Washington, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin have thought of this development?

Pickles of the North wants to share this NASA video compilation titled “Rover's Eye View of Three-Year Trek on Mars

Pickles, Uncle Sidney and Ratgirl
Pickles of the North, Uncle Sidney and Ratgirl of the West at Coney Island

After the last program Pickles and I had to rush home so we could get some sleep. We had an early evening date to meet Uncle Sidney and Maxwell J. Schmid as they rode the new slingshot ride at Coney Island.

Unfortunately, there was a torrential downpour and the ride's operators shut the ride down. And Maxwell had to stay home to work on things.

But the rest of us were there, in the picnic space just west of Nathan's, and we had a repast. I think this was my breakfast that day. The hot dogs and Diet Coke in the foreground were mine.

Soon after this photograph was taken Uncle Sidney had to leave to go to work at WBAI. Pickles, Ratgirl and I went up on the Boardwalk and looked around. I took some more photographs that didn't come out well in the dark.

Oh, this was an unusual start for a fortnight. I'm usually pretty groggy around the time of the beginning of a fortnight. And this was no different in that regard. Luckily we didn't get rained on too much.

There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to talk about on the air at WBAI, even though the gag rule was lifted in 2002. 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.

One popular list the “NewPacifica” mailing list. Founded October 31, 2000, this list is sometimes lively and as of mid-2011, has 687 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. UPDATE: The bleepin' blue board has had to add a step for folks to get onto it because it's under attack by spambots. When you click on the above link you may be asked for a username and password. Type in Username: poster Password: enternow

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

Our very own Uncle Sidney Smith, whose program Carrier Wave alternates with us, has a blog these days. You can reach his blog here.

My voice mail number at WBAI is 212-209-2996. Leave a message.

You can also send me E-mail.



WBAI related links

WBAI Listeners' Web page

WBAI Management's official Web site


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The contents of this Web page are copyright © 2011, R. Paul Martin.