A Plethora of Topics!
A Plethora of Topics!
Look, a new bunch of posts! And
the post below this, the one that looks as though nothing has been
written in it since April 13th -- well, guess what?! Some
of that post is new, too!
__________________________________________________________
WE SHALL NEVER FORGET
As the years flow by the distance between then and now
always expands. As time passes there are
fewer and fewer left to recount and give first-hand retelling of historic
events. And so it is as survivors of The Holocaust number fewer by the year.
Iíve written in this space about WBAI, and some of the
people who worked on-air there. They helped
shape my professional resolve to be in radio; they also played an important
role in influencing my worldview. A recent
blog post about Bob Fass prompted all sorts of e-mail (much of which, sadly, I
lost in an e-mail files data crash ñ right before a scheduled backup, of course). I mentioned Larry Josephson
in that post, and have written about him
some other times, as well.
Tomorrow is YomHaShoah, translated in
to English as the International Day of Holocaust remembrance. I grew up in a time when the Holocaust was
fresh, remembered, discussed, a true and present fact of recent recall. Now it is a subject of a long time ago, it
lacks a sense of freshness, of touch, of concern or contemporary topicality to many,
perhaps most people on the planet.
New York Cityís public radio station, WNYC, will be running a program
tomorrow evening, Never Again. Larry
Josephson is the host and Executive Producer.
His interview with Elie Weisel is part of the program, which was
produced by The Radio Foundation for its Only In America series. Larry Josephson has long been
associated with creative and entertaining radio, as well as creating pieces
that invoke great thought. His talent as
both an entertaining observer and as a producer and host of serious programming
puts him among a rare few. He also cares
about old radio, archiving some of the greats, and he has a strong feel for
comedy, as well.
Obviously the Never Again subject
matter is very serious. The Holocaust
was a worldwide tragedy. It affected not
just the 6 million Jews (and their many million more beloved survivors), but
also The Gypsies, Catholics, and other groups who suffered genocide and
oppression at the hands of the Nazis.
You can listen to the program on WNYC.org, which streams on the net. You can also
hear it on an MP3 from the Only In America website.
Serious subject matter, requiring special
care and ability from a producer/program host.
This is where Larry Josephson is head and shoulders above most others in
the world of radio journalism and program development.
Tomorrow is a day of considerable
note. Yom HaShoah. If you are of a mind to give it consideration
tomorrow, check out Larry Josephsonís Never Again, either via WNYC or the Only In America website.
CRYSTAL MESH
My friend, fellow blogger, and zip
code neighbor Howard Greenstein attended (and was a presenter) at Mesh Forum. Many interesting sessions, and great
blogging commentary and reportage from Howard (et al, see the links) on his
blog
. There are a few zillion conferences
each year. Many of them seem interesting,
some seem like they might just be the equivalent of a fun vacation,
some seem like detention after school, and others just look plain interesting. Then there are some that seem like a complete
hoot. I canít afford the time or the money
to attend all the conferences that attract my eye.
David Isenbergís recent Freedom2Connect conference in March was a must-attend for me,
and it remains among the very best of all conferences Iíve ever attended. And Iíve been a media guy, a music and
entertainment biz guy, and a telecom guy (among other things, call me Sybil);
that means Iíve attended approximately 16 trillion conferences in my time.
A good many of the topic areas at
F2C were also covered at MeshForum.
Howardís report on MeshForum makes it seem like one worth paying closer
attention to (and yes, attending) next year.
HIGH FIVES!
Today is one of those special mathematical days. Not only is it that American holiday based on event in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo, but it is also the
only time we can write 05/05/05 as
the date . . .until the next century.
Every year and eleven days this is the case, for a certain amount of
time. Then it changes, since this is not
a base ten progression. After it
changes, it returns to a year plus eleven days (yes, yes, 12 days on leap years), until, of course, it stops and starts
again.
This is math with a little touch of minor chaos in the
series structure. I may have to send
this discussion to Bob Frankston, to get his take on how this might be associated with theories of
evolution and
the purity of math. Few things are more
enjoyable than speaking with Bob about these topics. May 5th is the 125th day of the year.
125, another number that has oh-so-much to do with fives. There are 250 days left in the year. You divide that by 5, and get 48. Every two days you get 48 hours. Does that mean that 48 = 2/7?
Multiply 5 times 3, and you get the number of minutes Alan Shephard
spent in sub-orbital flight back on May 5, 1961. That was also a first, occurring on a
fifth. Those of us who recall that
flight (we listened to CBS Radio Network coverage of the flight on the PA
system in my grade school on that day) clearly remember that this was the very
first US
manned space flight.
Today is also the day in 1821 that Napoleon Bonaparte died,
in exile on the isle of St. Helena. Mexicans recall the invasion of their country
by Napoleon III, and how they defeated the French troops, with a little help
from their friendly neighbors to the north.
That, too, a May 5th event, back in 1862.
This is also a day when faith based thinkers, or at least people who have a little faith in the mind of those who are able
to think, recall that John Scopes was arrested on 5/5/25 (a mere 80 years
ago!!!) for having the audacity/good sense (ìwe blog, you decideî) to teach Darwinís Theory of Evolution.
