Web links related to the Back of the Book program of May 26, 2003


And this page is done, it's Saturday evening, 6/7/2003 18:35:18. We got to the stuff below plus a little more on this program, even the lake monster, and we also to made a big dent in the mail backlog. And now it's on to the gloomiest start of a June that I've ever seen.

Here is the latest on the saga of Pacifica. There is supposed to be another big meeting of the interim Pacifica National Board (iPNB) June 20-22, 2003, in New York City, but Pacifica isn't saying where in New York City it will be held, or even if it's still going to be held!

The previous iPNB meeting was held March 7-9, in Los Angeles, CA, to discuss and possibly even pass the new bylaws for the Pacifica Foundation. Well, it was a big flop, the various schemers sank the bylaws again. I'll be updating this link one of these days.

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. 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 8:10 PM last night. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed.

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.

I'm still having lots of technical problems at home. my computer is still doing spontaneous re-boots, and the warranty is over now, and my video card seems to be going to hell as well. As I type this it's as if there are strings of spaghetti going horizontally across the screen. And there's no way I can afford a new computer.

But Pickles of the North says I go on about this stuff too much on the program, so I'll limit this particular topic to what I've said.

This has to be the gloomiest May I've seen in many years. I recall a fairly rainy May about a decade or more ago, but it was nothing near as bad as what we're going through now. Those of us who like some sunshine to help deal with depression are not getting the great boost we are used to by the beginning of this Middle Third.

We unfortunately didn't go see the horseshoe crabs mating on May 15th. It was raining and overcast right before the time when the Parks Dept. was going to hold the event.

May is National High Blood Pressure month, and in honor of this I have developed something akin to high blood pressure.

The The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has issued a report saying that anyone with a blood pressure over 120/80 is in trouble. Well, I'm in trouble, all right! We did some live blood pressure readings on the program. Mine was 134/89, only slightly over what it usually is, which means I'm in the range which is now designated as “prehypertension.” Pickles of the North had a blood pressure reading of 129/89, which is very uncharacteristic of her. After a couple of minutes we realized that she's just had a stuff belt of coffee before taking the blood pressure test! Her usual blood pressure is about 110/59. She's doing a lot better than I am.

If you're concerned about your blood pressure you might want to look at this Web page for information about doing something about it.

If you're in the subway and something bad happens, you may be out of luck. Apparently the subway supervisors have told the transit workers to save themselves and leave the passengers on their own. I'm so glad we're paying $2 a ride now.

Pickles of the North talked about an international dispute which has arisen regarding an animal that doesn't exist.

On the previous program Pickles of the North talked about the dismantling of the Coney Island Parachute Jump, a former ride that's become a landmark. She went to Coney Island again before this program and the Parachute Jump has been mostly restored, although it's got a shroud around it now. We'll keep watching to see what happens with it.

And of course we got mail on this program. We read some snail mail and here we'll present the E-mail we got to. We started out with something from regular listener, contributor and correspondent ZigMan.

Subject: Fwd: presidential IQ's
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 13:53:17 -0800 (PST)
From: zigman
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul,

[#1 not for air #2 & #3 for air. Thanks!]

1) ....

2) I was gonna send this to you Tues. 18 March, 2003, but got a lil “tied up” (and yes, I DID get their names!!), and then got involved with the coverage of Shrub's “You-said-bad-things-about-my-daddy-and-now-his-friends-want-your-oil War,” that I haven't had a chance to edit and foward this to you. I read some where that it was a joke, but this “War” makes me feel that the study is true. Either way, I hope you enjoy it and (ahem!) (in a dignified and aristocratic voice) “find it worthy of your esteemed radio programme.”

3) I give you permission to stop @ McDonald's and have a regular hamburger & a SMALL fry!

all my best,

Zig Man

*******************************************************
1. Presidential IQ
Subject: Presidential IQ

President Bush Ranks Lowest IQ in 50 Years of US Presidents. In a report published Monday, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania, detailed its findings of a four-month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush.

Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the educational community on each new president, which includes the famous "IQ" report among others.

There have been twelve presidents over the past 50 years, from F.D. Roosevelt to G.W. Bush, who were rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors, which were then scored using the Swanson / Crain system of intelligence ranking.

The study determined the following IQs of each president as accurate to within five percentage points:

147 .. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 132 .. Harry Truman (D) 122 .. Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 174 .. John F. Kennedy (D) 126 .. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 155.. Richard M. Nixon (R) 121 .. Gerald Ford (R) 175 .. James E. Carter (D) 105 .. Ronald Reagan (R) 098 .. George Bush (R) 182 .. William J. Clinton (D) 091 .. George W. Bush (R)

In IQ order:

182 .. William J. Clinton (D) 175 .. James E. Carter (D) 174 .. John F. Kennedy (D) 155 .. Richard M. Nixon (R) 147 .. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 132 .. Harry Truman (D) 126 .. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 122 .. Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 121 .. Gerald Ford (R) 105 .. Ronald Reagan (R) 098 ..George Bush (R) 091 .. George W. Bush (R)

The six Republican presidents of the past 50 years had an average IQ of 115.5, with President Nixon having the highest at 155. President G.W. Bush rated the lowes t of all the Republicans with an IQ of 91.

The six Democrat presidents had IQs with an average of 156, with President Clinton having the highest IQ, at 182. President Lyndon B. Johnson was rated the lowest of all the Democrats with an IQ of 126.

No president other than Carter (D) has released his actual IQ, 176.

Among comments made concerning the specific testing of President GW Bush, his low ratings are due to his apparently difficult command of the English language in public statements, his limited use of vocabulary (6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents), his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work which could be studied on an intellectual basis.

The complete report documents the methods and procedures used to arrive at these ratings including depth of sentence structure and voice stress confidence analysis.

"All the Presidents prior to George W. Bush had a least one book under their belt, and most had written several white papers during their education or early careers.

Not so with President Bush," Dr. Lovenstein said. "He has no published works or writings, which made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment. We relied more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking."

The Lovenstein Institute of Scranton Pennsylvania think tank includes high caliber historians, psychiatrists, sociologists, scientists in human behavior, and psychologists. Among their ranks are Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein, world-renowned sociologist, and Professor Patricia F. Dilliams, a world-respected psychiatrist. This study was commissioned on February 13, 2001 and released on July 9, 2001 to subscribing member universities and organizations within the educational community.

Next we have an E-mail from Seth, who's also a regular listener, correspondent and contributor.

Subject: Movie references
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 19:32:32 EDT
From: Seth
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul,

In your last show, you referred to two science fiction movies...

You thought that there was a movie wherein there was a war, and that led to widespread disease.

I believe you're thinking of the classic 1936 movie “Things to Come” (based on H.G. Wells book, “The Shape of Things to Come”). While most people remember the films fine futuristic-deco design, what they forget is that this futuristic vision only occupies the last third of the film. The middle section of the film depicts a world ravaged by an endless war, which has also engendered a worldwide plague. Those affected by the sickness look like slow-walking leprous zombies, and are feared and avoided by the rest of the population.

The other movie you described had a scene in which a newspaper blew across a deserted (and hence eerie) Times Square.

You said that it was a scene in “On the Beach.” That may be so (I haven't seen that film)--but you might also be thinking of that amazing film of 1959, “The World, The Flesh, and the Devil.” In this movie, the protagonist (played by Harry Belafonte) plays a miner who is trapped underground. When he digs himself out, he finds he's in a world empty of people. He travels around New York City, trying to make a life for himself and maintain his sanity in the face of overwhelming loneliness. What's impressive in this film is the photography: scenes of absolutely empty streets and avenues. The 'valleys' of Wall Street with not a soul in sight. I understand that they shot these scenes on super-early Sunday mornings. Anyway, this film might have had the scene your recall.

Regards to Nurse Pickles and Uncle Sidney.
Respectfully yours,
--Seth
(P.S. I suggest changing the station's designation to “Deep Space 99.5”)

One of the last scenes in On the Beach (1959) is of a newspaper blowing down a deserted street, but it's a street in Melbourne, Australia. But it may also be something I remember from that other doomsday movie that takes place in New York City.

Next we have a series of E-mails from one of our listeners who sends us E-mail via his cell phone.

Subject: frey Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:42:16 -0700
From:
To: rpm@glib.com

Once more into the frey dear friends!

Subject: nerve gas
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:57:51 -0700
From:
To: rpm@glib.com

Not in my food chain!

Subject: restaurant
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 23:19:05 -0700
From:
To: rpm@glib.com

The pan national bank apperatus is collecting, seizing nationalized assets cerca 1950's
.
Subject: air
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 23:24:03 -0700
From:
To: rpm@glib.com

You are no longer transmitting

The last one was about our little technical problem during the April 14th program, or maybe he was predicting the future!

Seth wrote asking if we needed some help with the marathon, but Back of the Book wasn't on during this marathon. It's good of him to ask though.

Subject: Upcoming marathon
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:59:35 EDT
From: Seth
To: rpm@glib.com

Greetings.

Good show last night!

You mentioned the upcoming marathon. Let me know if you'll need me to voluneer on the phones.

Regards to Nurse Pickles!

--Seth


Subject: regans' drug speech
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 21:16:30 -0400
From: Daniel
To: rpm@glib.com

Hey R Paul:

The collage of Bush saying “peace and justice radio” was fun!

You also mentioned the Regan's drug speech which you reworked. That's the one where Nancy talks about being hooked on crack, right? You said you don't recall where it is or who you did it for. If this is any help, I heard Bob Fass play it twice over the past few months.

I called on the phone last night in an attempt to mention this to you, but, as expected, you don't like having listeners on the air.

Thanks fror the great shows,

Enjoy,

--Dan
(in Brooklyn)

Actually, I'm not sure Bob has a copy of that tape. I don't know who has a copy. Hell, I'm hoping that I find a copy of it as I dredge through the remains of the National Debris Preserve for my tapes archives. But, who knows?

Subject: Something you mentioned.
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 21:32:22 EDT
From: Tom
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul:

I was listening to your show on the morning of April 14, 2003, and you mentioned something on your program. You vaguely mentioned an assault in the US Senate of a senator sometime before the Civil War. You could be referring to this:

Source: http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/1850_59.htm

“Congressman Preston Brooks from South Carolina attacks staunch abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner from Massachusetts on the floor of the Senate, beating him senseless with a cane. The beating is so severe that Senator Sumner requires more than two years to recover. Congressman Brooks resigns but is immediately reelected by his constituents and receives dozens of canes from people all over the South to replace the one he broke over Senator Sumner's head.”

I guess that would somehow make C-SPAN more entertaining.

Here is a related article on mudslinging in Congress in the bad old days. http://www.kevinbaker.info/c_cp.html

Good luck with your diet and in curing your diabetes. Sorry if this a nuisance.

Best regards, Tom

Yep! That's the incident I was referring to!

Our listener from Japan, Kyo, has an idea about a non-intrusive way of measuring blood glucose.

Subject: Toshiba system detects diabetes without blood sample
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 01:42:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Kyo"
To: rpm@glib.com

hi, r.paul

looks like the big co. Toshiba is up to some good, see story.

Toshiba system detects diabetes without blood sample Friday, April 18, 2003

i wonder if they needed to have a quick tester of the blood, that does not need a sample of blood to check their workers at nuke plants. Toshiba makes the or some of the plants in Japan.

also, the cool thing about this news website, is that after each story, anyone can post a comment, that's something we will never see at the NYT site. www.japantoday.com

it gives too much power to the people.

Kyo

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=4&id=257137


Subject: Browsers
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 01:42:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: Heather
To: rpm@glib.com

Dear R. Paul

Have you considered Opera (www.opera.com) as a browser? It seems to work better than both Netscape and Explorer, and is very customizable.

I once had my laptop, a Pentium 166, slow down so much it was unusable online due to spyware. Running Adaware (probably the first version) showed 31 such programs running. I'd love to use the current version now, but the program requires a .dll I don't have. :/

Congratulations on the weight loss. Keep on walking, and enjoy the middle third.

Heather

Opera is a really niche browser. The statistics at my Web site show it to be used by only 0.2% of the visitors to the site. I also like the open source aspect of Mozilla, which is now going to morph into something else anyway.

As for spyware, you should try Spybot, which I think doesn't require that particular .dll file.

There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to 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.

If you want to subscribe to the “Free Pacifica!” list just click on this link and follow the instructions, and you'll be subscribed. Could open your eyes a little bit.

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.

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

You can also send me E-mail.



WBAI related links

Free Pacifica Web site

WBAI Listeners' Web page

WBAI Management's official Web site


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The contents of this Web page are copyright © 2003, R. Paul Martin.