It's Sunday 10/8/2000 19:09:24 and I've finally gotten around to updating this Web page. I think it's finished now. On the program we ran a short clip, 8 minutes, from the KPFA program Flashpoints, and we talked about a couple of things. I didn't put that big a dent in the mail backlog, but we got some in. So I'm thinking that this page is probably done now, at last. Of course you can always check back for the continuing Pacifica soap opera.
The Pacifica National Board is apparently trying to set up “shadow ” Local Advisory Boards (LABs) around the country in an effort to undermine the current LABs. In essence, this increasingly elite Pacifica National Board, which has more and more people who would seem more likely to be the targets of a WBAI or Pacifica report than to be on its National Board, is trying to fire the listeners. And we thought they were going to come for us first! Additionally, some listeners are getting together a letter of support to Amy Goodman in light of the hard time Pacifica Management is giving her. Details on all this and more can be found at the Pacifica Theft Page.
I was not able to listen to WBAI at 10:22 PM on the night of the program, and I was told by a listener that the Web cast wasn't functioning when we were on the air.
The relation between central, truly massive black holes and the size of the central bulge of a spiral galaxy, such as the one we're in, has now been pretty well established by some scientists. Just a few years ago no one would have guessed at this relationship where the black hole is 0.15% the mass of the bulge. Oh yes, the spiral arm parts, where we live, are irrelevant.
Here's a page about the central black hole in the nearby Andromeda Galaxy (M31) as seen by the Chandra X-ray observatory. Here's another page, without any explanatory text, which shows the X-ray image of the center of M31 in relation to the familiar image of that galaxy as seen in visible light.
The scientists who've worked on this think that the tight relationship between the size of the central black hole and the galactic bulge is probably evidence of some sort of universal law that we're just beginning to see. This relationship has important implications for how galaxies were formed early on in the life of the universe. It also seems to show that spiral arms are mere add-ons which came along after the galactic cores were already in existance.
As of September 29, I was supposed to have Verizon DSL. As of today, October 8, all I have is a blinking light on a DSL modem, which means that there's no active connection yet. Oh well, at least I have company.
As I mentioned on the air, there's a tri-state area bisexual conference being held at NYU October 20th to 22nd.
I also mentioned on the air the fact that daylight would be running out on us especially noticeably during the month of October. Here's an illustration, courtesy of the Astronomical Applications Dept. of the U. S. Naval Observatory.
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BROOKLYN, NEW YORK Location: W073° 58’, N40° 39’ Rise and Set for the Sun for Oct. 2000 Eastern Standard Time - Add one hour for daylight time, if and when in use. | ||
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Rise Set h m h m 01 0553 1737 02 0554 1736 03 0555 1734 04 0556 1732 05 0557 1731 06 0558 1729 07 0559 1728 08 0600 1726 09 0601 1724 10 0602 1723 |
Rise Set h m h m 11 0603 1721 12 0604 1720 13 0605 1718 14 0606 1717 15 0607 1715 16 0608 1714 17 0609 1712 18 0611 1711 19 0612 1709 20 0613 1708 |
Rise Set h m h m 21 0614 1706 22 0615 1705 23 0616 1703 24 0617 1702 25 0618 1701 26 0620 1659 27 0621 1658 28 0622 1657 29 0623 1656 30 0624 1654 31 0625 1653 |
You can see that on the night of the program the sun set in Brooklyn at 6:36 PM. Tonight, October 8th, it set a full ten minutes earlier at 6:26 PM. Daylight time stops on the morning of October 29th, and by Halloween the sun sets at 4:53 PM! No wonder some of us get depressed at this!
If you'd like to generate a sun rise/sunset table for whereever you live go here and fill in the short form.
We didn't get to as much mail as I'd thought we would. But we got through some of the backlog. In the first missive here I've actually left out most of the article and simply placed a link to it on line. That way if you want to read the whole thing you can and if not you can skip it. As I said on the air, there's a big brouhaha among anthropologists about Neandertals at this time. One of the scientists involved with the report below, Erik Trinkaus, has one view of Neandertals and there's another camp, headed up by scientist Ian Tattersall, who have another view. I talked about this on the program earlier this year.
The above link to a story about Mars possibly having water is somewhat old news now, but it was quite stirring when it came out some months ago.
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from you, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. How should I deal with this?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as it suggests in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
Lev. 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations that are around us. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians.
Can you clarify?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 10:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 20:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear prescription glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Sincerely,
Very confused
Oh, my. I guess Susan is referring to my going on about the fact that horseshoe crabs mate using the same rhythm that we do.
The next E-mail is about the program Max, Sidney and I did about Paul Wunder, who died on June 28th. I'm still finding myself thinking of new things I have to tell Paul Wunder, but it's no longer possible.
I really enjoyed you, Sidney & Max reminiscing about Paul, Jack, the “den” and the old days in general. Paul obviously meant a great deal to you all as he did his listeners. Thanks to the 3 of you for sharing the stories last night.
A ListenerYou're quite welcome Troop A. I did a whole lot of gay radio in the early to mid eighties on WBAI, as did a host of others. I'm glad it was good for folks. I'm looking into the whereabouts of copies of the “Oakdale, Indiana” series, which was done by the Lesbian Program.
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.
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.
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