Season 3 Episode 12

Hello! Thank you for putting your ear to season 3, episode 12 of the Listening Tube. I’m your host, Bob Woodley. On this episode, we’ll hear about climate change, sort of, the evolution of sound recordings, and a Rocky Mountain flower that’s come to represent tragedy. But first, (not the headlines)…

A big part of the high level of inflation in the United States is the cost of fuel. When the cost of fuel is high, the price of everything goes up. Because it not only costs more to produce products, including food, but it also costs more to transport those products to the consumer. What we need is something that can replace oil in the production of other products. Well, we have it, and it’s now going to be produced in Pennsylvania. In Beaver County, on the western edge of the state border, a refinery recently went operational that will take ethane from natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale area and according to a story by the Associated press, crack the the liquid with heat to create ethylene, which is used to make all kinds of things, including tires, plastics and even antifreeze. Anything we can do to take some of the pressure off the production of crude oil, from which the bulk of our transportation is dependent, will help to reduce the prices of everyday things. If more oil is available to satisfy our transportation needs, then the price of moving goods to the consumer should drop. When polyethylene from a refiner in Pennsylvania can replace oil in consumer goods, it’s a step in the right direction to reducing some of the inflation we’ve been experiencing since early 2021.

The plant itself was no small feat. It’s huge, covering 385 acres of land, resembling an oil refinery with pipelines running from everywhere to everywhere else. The whole operation covers about 800 acres, and includes a water treatment plant and a power plant. The site used to be a Zinc smelter, so the area is accustomed to industry of the chemical nature. The Shell company built the refinery, taking advantage of tax breaks of 1.65 billion dollars over 25 years, but investing an estimate 6 billion dollars on the project, making it perhaps the largest industrial projects in the state. Construction began in 2017. 

The current demand for ethane is just above 2-million barrels a day, most of which is produced on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana and Texas. The Pennsylvania plant will eventually add 96-thousand barrels a day to the tally. The advantage is multiplied when you consider that 70 percent of the demand is within 800 miles of the new refinery, also reducing the amount of fuel needed to transport it from the Gulf Coast. Being someone who lives within that 800-mile radius, I can tell you that I’ve seen evidence of another fracking boom in Pennsylvania. An equipment company that supplies the fracking industry has recently opened a new branch in the area. Many wells have already been drilled, sitting idle, waiting for the right economic condition to present itself. With the new refinery on-line, Shell wants its 6-billion dollar investment to start generating a return. To get it, they need the ethane from the natural gas wells. While environmental groups have had issues with the refinery, Shell is confident it’s using the latest technology to reduce pollutants. Air and water permits have been approved by the state. Let’s hope that this large dent in the demand for petroleum to create consumer products will have a positive impact on consumer prices and the fuel needed to transport them to where we buy them.

There’s another Associated Press story I found interesting this week, not only for the content, but also for how it was written and the words used therein. I’ll get to that in a bit. The subject matter was a decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit a previous ruling temporarily blocking Arkansas’ ban on so-called gender-affirming care for anyone under the age of 18. Gender-affirming care is another name for sex-change drugs and surgeries, including puberty-blockers and double mastectomies. The state of Arkansas passed the law despite the veto of the Governor. It was the first state to pass a law prohibiting doctors from providing such services. Personally, I don’t believe children should be allowed to make this kind of a decision, especially if you haven’t yet reached puberty. Whether or not the age limit should be 18 is somewhat debatable, but certainly those who haven’t yet gained a full understanding of what sexuality is shouldn’t be allowed to be subject to irreversible measures. To be clear, Arkansas has passed other restrictions on transgender medications, but this one would have also stopped medications for those already receiving it. That’s why it was vetoed and that’s why the court won’t allow it. But Arkansas’ Attorney General plans to appeal, saying through a spokesperson, “(they) will continue to wholeheartedly defend the ban because it protects children from these experimental life-altering procedures.”

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law on behalf of four families with children already undergoing sex-change procedures. Of course, they’re happy the law was overturned. It was the statement they made about the decision that caught my eye. A spokesperson said, “Families across Arkansas are thankful the 8th Circuit has rejected the state’s effort to enforce this baseless and cruel law.” There’s that word again. Baseless. If you want to try to make someone else’s opinion or beliefs, the way to do that today is to call them baseless. The tactic was first employed by the media to describe any claims of cheating in the 2020 election, and now it’s being used by other organizations such as the ACLU to deny credibility to an opinion not in line with their own. Even if you disagree with someone, calling their beliefs baseless is an insulting and disrespectful way to do so. If that’s the only argument you have, you don’t have much of an argument. The ACLU spokesperson went on to say, “Arkansas should be a safe place to raise all children — transgender youth included — and denying them life-saving health care does the exact opposite.” My question is, how can puberty blockers and double mastectomies be life-saving health care? I’m no expert, but it would seem to me that the only way a double mastectomy could be life-saving is if the patient had breast cancer. And if a sex-change is the exact opposite of life-saving, does that mean not getting a sex-change will kill you? That’s what the ACLU is saying. They’re trying to equate an age requirement to get a sex-change with a death sentence. Hey, once you’re an adult, you’re free to do to your body whatever you wish. But just like there are age restrictions on driving, voting, drinking alcohol and other activities that require a certain level of maturity, the decision to get a sex-change also needs to have restrictions. Many age restrictions are implemented to protect us from ourselves, and the permanent changes that come with a change of gender should be no exception. 

Let’s go back liner

1644

John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship. John Milton was way ahead of his time when it came to individual liberties. He was also an early advocate of divorce. Written in the form of a speech, Areopagitica was spoken before the Parliament of England, but the pamphlets of the speech were in direct violation of the law the speech was arguing against! A year before, Parliament approved the Ordinance for the Regulating of Printing. That regulation made it mandatory for any author to get a license from the government before they could publish anything. That way, the government had the last word on what got published and what didn’t. That sounds vaguely familiar for some reason. Hmmm...maybe it’s because today, governments still try to have the final say in what gets published and what doesn’t. In the United States, it seems that the federal government used the FBI to lean on publishers and social media sites to stifle stories that might shed an unflattering light on those in power. Unless, of course, you’re a conservative. Then anybody can publish whatever they want. In Russia, journalists who write true stories about the war in Ukraine can be fired from their jobs or even arrested for spreading disinformation. 

1703

The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains for days. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die. “Climate change!”, said no one.

1859

Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, the anniversary of which is sometimes called “Evolution Day.” Controversial from the get-go, Darwin’s theory of evolution led to the Scopes Monkey Trial in the United States. Hear all about it in Season two, episode 9 of the Listening Tube.

1863

President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November (since 1941, on the fourth Thursday). I hope you have a nice one.

1877

Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound. My, how far we’ve come since then. The early phonograph used a cylinder covered in foil that would rotate while a stylus ran along the grooves in the foil to reveal what was recorded on it. Eventually, the cylinder was replaced by a disc made of shellac, which would later be replaced by vinyl. Recording tape came along, ushering in reel-to-reel machines, cassette decks and 8-track players. Then came the compact disc, which lasted much longer than records and were easier to store than recording tape. Today, most recordings are done digitally, such as what you’re listening to right now, and the songs you pay to download so you can hear them whenever you want. While recording tape and foil cylinders will likely not make a comeback, and compact discs are fading from use, the vinyl record is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Remastered original recordings are being released on vinyl, a much heavier vinyl than was used in the heyday of record-buying, and fetching a much higher price as well. Some of the old records are increasing in value if they’re still in good shape. Speaking of records, it took just twelve years to go from the original phonograph to the first jukebox, as it was also this week in 1889 that the first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.

1905

Albert Einstein publishes his answer to the question: Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content? This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass, and leads to the mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc². Until then, mass and energy were thought of as two different things. Einstein’s formula showed that not only are they the same, but can change into each other.

1917

Ukraine is declared a republic. Not an independent republic, but a republic within the federated state of Russia. Vladimir Lenin was in power, and the provisional government wanted to declare itself and its boundaries. It wasn’t long, though before Ukraine would declare its complete independence. That wouldn’t last long, either, as in 1922, Ukraine became one of the original Soviet Socialist Republics. It would stay that way until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Now, the tyrant Putin is trying to command it as a part of Russia once more.

1922

Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people in more than three-thousand years to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, better known to us as King Tut. Anointed pharaoh as a young boy, Tut ruled Egypt for about nine years. More than 50 years after it’s discovery, artifacts from Tut’s tomb made their way to the United States for a major exhibit of the riches found there. The Treasures of Tutankhamun went on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from November of 1976 until the following March. The media frenzy and overwhelming public interest propelled King Tut to worship status once again, more than 33-hundred years later. Once mummified in a quest for immortality, Tutankhamun finally reached that status when Steve Martin released a song in his honor in 1978…..

Song clip

1926

The deadliest November tornado outbreak in U.S. history strikes on Thanksgiving day. 27 twisters of great strength are reported in the Midwest, including the strongest November tornado, an estimated F4, that devastates Heber Springs, Arkansas. There are 51 deaths in Arkansas alone, 76 deaths and over 400 injuries in all. “Climate change!” said no body.

1927

Columbine Mine Massacre happens when striking coal miners are allegedly attacked with machine guns by a detachment of state police dressed in civilian clothes. The Columbine mine was near the town of Serene, Colorado, just north of Denver. The massacre didn’t just happen, as they were preceded by miners getting beaten with clubs over the right to enter the town. The reason the state police were dressed in civilian clothes is because they were civilians. The Colorado State Police had recently been disbanded. The now unemployed officers re-banded with the mine guards. When they prevented the striking miners from entering the town, the clash began. The difference was that the miners didn’t have any weapons, while the other side was equipped with a variety of them, including tear gas. All forms were eventually used against the miners, with six of them being killed and dozens wounded. Today, nothing remains of the town of Serene nor the Columbine mine. Another Columbine is now remembered for a massacre, and ironically, it, too, is in Colorado, just south of Denver. Littleton, Colorado is home to Columbine High School, the site of a mass shooting by two students. Thirteen were killed and 20 wounded. 

1950

The Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950, otherwise known at the time as the “Storm of the Century”, strikes New England with hurricane force winds resulting in massive forest blow-downs and storm surge damage along the Northeast coast including New York City. This storm also brings blizzard conditions to the Appalachian Mountains and Ohio Valley, becoming one of the worst storms of all time. 353 people die in the event. “Climate change!” said no body.

1963

In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald is later captured and charged with the murder of both the President and police officer J. D. Tippit. Oswald is shot two days later on live television by Jack Ruby while being escorted by police. Lyndon Johnson would be sworn in as the new President about two hours after Kennedy was pronounced dead. Today, both Kennedy and Johnson might be considered Republicans, even though in the 1960’s, they were definitely democrats. Johnson continued a number of Kennedy’s policies, but allowed the escalation of America’s involvement in Vietnam, something to which Kennedy was opposed. There were 16,000 American military members in Vietnam when Kennedy died, and he had already ordered a thousand of them to come home by the end of the year. Johnson immediately rescinded the order upon becoming President. Johnson’s escalation eventually led to this week in... 

1969, when the Cleveland Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The photos were taken by an Army photographer who was traveling with C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Light Infantry Brigade when they entered the village in March of 1968. He finished his enlistment later that month, and gave the photo’s and told his story to a reporter at the paper. While the Army urged the Plain Dealer to not publish the story or the photos, they decided to break the story to the American public. It was an unbelievable story for many people, if not for the vileness of the subject matter, then for the shock that American soldiers could commit such atrocities. The photographer told a story of American soldiers entering the village of My Lai and systematically slaughtering the entire population; men, women and children. He had gone to the Army first, but it was after he was a civilian again. He gave the Army’s Criminal Investigation Department prints of the photos and a six-page statement. Two soldiers had been charged by the time he went to the Plain Dealer. He said about 30 soldiers killed about a hundred civilians, mostly illiterate peasants. There were no enemy forces there, and the only American casualty was a soldier who shot himself in the foot. 

1971

During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (AKA D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found. He has never been identified. It was a brilliant plan, assuming it worked. Although the high jacker has never been found, some of the money has. A bit of it turned up in 1980 near the Collumbia River. That renewed interest in the case, but didn’t lead to any important information about the suspect. It was 45 years later, in 2016, that the FBI formally ended the investigation. Many of the security measures we’re familiar with at American Airports, like metal detectors, baggage inspection and other measures were quickly established after the incident. 

1977

'Vrillon', claiming to be the representative of the 'Ashtar Galactic Command', takes over Britain’s Southern Television for six minutes at 5:12 pm. This is what he said: “"This is the voice of Vrillion, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command speaking to you. For many years you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth. We come to warn you of the destiny of your race and your world so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid the disasters which threaten your world, and the beings on our worlds around you.

This is in order that you may share in the great awakening, as the planet passes into the New Age of Aquarius. The New Age can be a time of great peace and evolution for your race, but only if your rulers are made aware of the evil forces that can overshadow their judgments. Be still now and listen, for your chance may not come again. For many years your scientists, government and generals have not heeded our warnings; they have continued to experiment with the evil forces of what you call nuclear energy. Atomic bombs can destroy the Earth, and the beings of your sister worlds, in a moment. The wastes from atomic power systems will poison your planet for many thousands of your years to come. We, who have followed the path of evolution for far longer than you, have long since realized this - that atomic energy is always directed against life. It has no peaceful application. Its use, and research into its use, must be ceased at once, or you all risk destruction. All weapons of evil must be removed.

The time of conflict is now past. The race of which you are a part may proceed to the highest planes of evolution if you show yourselves worthy to do this. You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace and goodwill. Small groups all over the planet are learning this, and exist to pass on the light of the dawning New Age to you all. You are free to accept or reject their teachings, but only those who learn to live in peace will pass to the higher realms of spiritual evolution.

Hear now the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. Be aware also that there are many false prophets and guides operating in your world. They will suck your energy from you - the energy you call money and will put it to evil ends giving you worthless dross in return. Your inner divine self will protect you from this. You must learn to be sensitive to the voice within that can tell you what is truth, and what is confusion, chaos and untruth. Learn to listen to the voice of truth which is within you and you will lead yourselves on to the path of evolution. This is our message to our dear friends. We have watched you growing for many years as you too have watched our lights in your skies.

You know now that we are here, and that there are more beings on and around your Earth than your scientists admit. We are deeply concerned about you and your path towards the light and will do all we can to help you. Have no fear, seek only to know yourselves, and live in harmony with the ways of your planet Earth. We of the Ashtar Galactic Command thank you for your attention. We are now leaving the plane of your existence. May you be blessed by the supreme love and truth of the cosmos." Nobody was ever found responsible for the message, and no pirate of the airwaves was ever caught. Then, ten years later in 1987, two Chicago television stations are hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom. There was no audio to record, only video.

1988

In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed. I’m pretty sure I saw it fly over my apartment in Port Hueneme. It had the right shape, and I could only see it, as it didn’t seem to make much of a sound.

1993

Rachel Whiteread wins the £20,000 Turner Prize award for best British modern artist. The award was for a sculpture in east London called House, and it’s a three-story high representation of row houses that had recently been torn down in the same block. But as I’m sure you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, because the same work also earned her £40,000 K Foundation art award for the worst artist of the year. So she was awarded 60-thousand pounds for the work, two-thirds of which was for being bad at it. My wife is skilled in a variety of artistic disciplines, and she’ll often destroy a work because she doesn’t like it. She never considers that someone else might like it very much. 

Phone and email liner

I’d like to talk about a meme I saw on social media recently. It originated from a group called Republicans and Democrats United for Biden-Harris. It says, “Things I notice...The people who told Kaepernick and Lebron to stick to sports haven’t said that to Herschel Walker”. First of all, this is not an endorsement for Herschel Walker. It’s a critique of a meme. For those of you who may not know, Herschel Walker is running for a Senate seat, and the winner will be decided December 4th. What you might also not know about Herschel Walker is that he was a professional football player. Drafted by the Cowboys, even though he was already signed by the USFL, Walker ended up on the Cowboys when the USFL folded. After four seasons will Dallas, he was traded to the Vikings that involved 18 other players and draft picks. I remember seeing his wife on TV crying because she loved her friends in Texas so much and didn’t know anybody in Minnesota. He retired after the 1997 season. Herschel Walker was also a member of the 1992 United States Olympic Bobsled team, and even did one performance with the Fort Worth Ballet. He truly is a world-class athlete in many disciplines. So why shouldn’t he be compared to Lebron and Kaepernick? Well, Herschel Walker didn’t get into politics until later in life, not when he was a star on the gridiron. Lebron and Kaepernick expressed political views while they were still on the stage of professional sports. Now, I’m not saying they shouldn’t. They’re certainly free to express themselves and their opinions. But that’s where the meme is misleading. Sure, there are people who think that professional athletes should stick to sports. There are sports stars who alienate some of the fans with their political activism. But Herschel Walker’s days of being a professional athlete are behind him, so the meme relies on a false equivalency, and people’s willingness to fall for it. One person commented on the post and said former professional athletes should remain in the field after they’re done playing, such as a television analyst. He started out in sports, so he should stay in sports. Because that’s all he knows, right? Well, that reasoning doesn’t hold any water, either. That’s like saying a small business owner shouldn’t get involved in politics because all he knows how to do is run a business, or that his opponent in the race, a preacher, should only be allowed to work in a church. If people from other professions are dissuaded to run for office, where will our politicians come from? That’s like saying only people who study political science should have any political views. The author of the meme began by saying, “Things I notice…” Well, maybe nobody else noticed it because of it’s sheer absurdity. But it became a meme not because an athlete is running for office, but because of the political beliefs of the athletes. Herschel Walker is a conservative, while Lebron and Kaepernick are liberals. More than liberals, some of the statements they’ve made areon the lunatic fringe of liberalism. The people who suggested they stick to sports were just trying to give them some sound advice. You may have already made millions of dollars and have contracts for even more, but one wrong word can make it all go away. You may think that because you’re a liberal, the media will stick up for you, Hollywood will stick up for you. Kathy Griffin learned the hard way that that’s not always the case. She though Donald Trump was a fair target, and she could be as extreme as she wanted in her criticism of him. She would have been lucky to get some advice that suggested she stick to comedy. Nobody told Sonny Bono to stick to music when he ran for the Senate, and rightly so, as he hadn’t had a hit record since his breakup with Cher. Nobody told Al Franken to stick to comedy when he ran for Senator from Minnesota, probably because he hadn’t been funny for awhile. And that’s another difference between Herschel Walker and Lebron James and Colin Kaepernick. The latter two haven’t run for public office. They just spout politics while on the stage of another act, that being sports. I would have no problem with either of them running for the Senate, as it would mean they’re willing to match their actions with their words, something they don’t have the inclination to do. They only have to preach it, not live it. It’s easy for Lebron to criticize America while he’s in a partnership with the Chinese Communist Party and their systematic human rights violations, including the extermination of religious groups and ethnic minorities. Kaepernick is the same way, preaching justice for minorities while taking money from Nike, who use cheap Chinese labor to create sneakers they sell to us for exorbitant prices. At least Herschel Walker is backing up his words with his actions by running for public office. But here’s the irony of the meme: by comparing Walker to Lebron and Kaepernick, the author of the meme is suggesting that he be silenced. Just as James and Colin were advised to shut up and play, this meme is suggesting Walker shut up, too, even though he’s done playing. Because when a person puts their reputation on the line in the form of becoming a candidate for office, and bares their soul and proclaims their policies and beliefs, and asks people to choose whether or not you agree enough to vote for them, it puts the opposition in a bind. If you want to beat them, you have to put your reputation and opinions and beliefs on the line as well, and if you don’t have a valid opposition, your only recourse is to attempt to silence them so the constituents don’t have enough information on which to base an educated decision. One way to do that is to create the perception that the opponents opinions aren’t worth your time, so you probably shouldn’t even listen in the first place. The meme suggests that since Walker was a professional athlete, he’s not worthy of your attention, and he should just go back to playing with balls. On the other hand, is opponent is a preacher. Reverend Raphael Warnock is an accomplished public speaker, so he’s worth your attention, unlike the football player. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is it not the Democrats that have the most opposition to religion dictating policy? I can’t vote in Georgia, so it’s irrelevant to me, but what I see happening is that we’ve made it so difficult to criticize something with which we disagree that to silence the opposition is now the only strategy left. People are so quick to label any criticism as some kind of social error, like racism or sexism or homophobia or transphobia or some other label meant to demean your opinion that the easiest way to debate your opponent is to silence them. If you find fault with the policies of a Black candidate, you’re racist, if you find fault with a female candidate, you’re sexist. Regardless of how solid your argument is, it will be reduced to a phobia by those who don’t have a valid counterpoint. My advice would be that if you witness someone trying to silence someone else in a political race, you should listen to what they have to say. Then ask yourself why the opponent is trying to silence them instead of presenting their side of the issue. 

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2022. Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube! I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.