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Wow, this whole thing…
… The main station building is crisscrossed with wires, soundboards and computer monitors. Several household fans keep the equipment from burning up since the AC went out. The rest of the building is virtually empty, with the exception of two offices turned bedrooms where Lucke and his 21-year-old son, Tristan, sleep on cots. They’ve lived here together since 2008, when they began sleeping on the floor of the lobby to deter vandalism and watch over the equipment. …
… But in May 2018, Lucke says that the man ordered him to divert ad revenue from KWCX (which was still owned by the North Carolina media company). Lucke says he refused and that he hasn’t been paid since; according to a Department of Economic Security form signed by the owner, the non-payment was attributed to a lack of funds. The new owner did not respond to requests for comment.
Lucke says he can’t remember the last time he had a day off, and the homepage of his personal website now proclaims: “KHIL has not paid Mark Lucke since April 2018! HVAC has been broken since December 2017! And he has still kept it on air!”
Mark and Tristan rely on Snap and Medicaid. He also hosts an online shop for his self-published horror novels and poetry collections, as well as KHIL coffee mugs and other merchandise. Both say that the only thing that makes them feel “normal” is going to the Pizza Hut a few blocks away and sitting in the sunny window.
It is there at the Willcox Pizza Hut, over a bowl of pasta and marinara sauce (which will last Lucke two meals), when he tells me that the pain in his chest feels like it’s bursting out of him. Some of his earliest memories involve being taken to the honky tonk bar by his parents, and watching them get drunk. “I saw horrible things as a child,” he says. Ironically, many of those memories are set to the soundtrack of classic country music – Conway Twitty, Jim Reeves, Mel Tillis singing Send Me To Tucson – and can trigger his post-traumatic stress disorder. …
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For rural radio stations to survive, Barry Cohen says “they must become embedded in the community to the point that they are considered a necessary utility. In turn, the community must support them with both listenership and ad dollars.”
I have mixed feelings about local radio stations now. This is probably because positive experiences with public radio and college stations were later tainted by right-wing groups who used radio to push their narratives and misinformation. They attack public radio whenever possible. In NJ, this local radio station turned with the rise of Tea Party Republicans and got steadily worse with incidents like this:
At this point, I struggle to get Lonesome Rhodes from A Face in the Crowd out of my mind whenever GOP supporters gain large numbers of listeners. 
BITD, hearing that content over the airwaves meant those folks lived at a distance that was too close for comfort. Unfortunately their reach is much broader now, leaving radio for people who cannot bridge the digital divide or loyal fans of that format.
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… The next full moon will be the Harvest Moon, on Sept. 29. In addition to being one of the best-known full moons of the year, it’s the last supermoon in 2023.
Find out the exact time of moonrise for your location, and prepare for the spectacular sight of the blue supermoon on the eastern horizon next week. …
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Gift link
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Wow.
Good interview.
I learned a lot.
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… And, if it’s an especially big moon you’re after, consider catching the moonrise in the east or moonset in the west. Experts say this is when foreground objects combine with a low-hanging moon to create the “moon illusion” — the time when the moon tends to look the largest.
(You can check the local rising and setting times for your area using the U.S. Navy’s Moonrise calendar).
Anyone looking to take in more detail of the lunar surface could use binoculars, a telescope, or an astrophotography lens. But astronomers like Teske say those tools aren’t necessary for a moving experience.
“Get out there and observe it. Just enjoy the beautiful view of the moon,” he said. “Really think about what you’re seeing out there.”
After all, this isn’t just a hunk of rock orbiting the Earth about a quarter of a million miles away. It could be the next frontier. …
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The Aditya-1 solar mission launches hot on the heels of India’s first moon landing
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Obligatory!
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Interesting.
Mushroom poisoning’: rocket scientist dies after Russia’s failed moon mission
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Did he use the wrong mushroom hunter’s manual?
/s
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Or he simply had the unfortunate luck to be a Russian still in Russia.
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Nice backing band.
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Spaceweather.com Time Machine - September 3, 2023
… “Last night was absolutely epic!!” says Ethan Hohnke, who sent this picture from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore near Empire, Michigan.
“Northern lights could be seen dancing over the waters of Lake Michigan before the bright Moon rose,” says Hohnke. “I was standing near the 45th parallel when I took this picture.”
The lights spread even farther south than that. Photographers captured the red glow of atomic-oxygen auroras in Colorado (+38.9N) and Missouri (+38.6N). In these southernmost photographs, auroras were not visible to the naked eye, but easily recorded by cameras and cell phones with nighttime exposure settings. …
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OH! Duh, of course, that’s what I need to be doing. Crucial bit of info there.
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Sure blew my mind XD
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Some interesting strategies to reduce polarization in the US - national service and workshops/discussion groups for finding common ground:
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