July 21, 2021 Zimmerman podcast interview on Pratt on Texas

Today Robert Pratt made available an hourlong podcast interview I did with him earlier this week, devoted entirely to discussing my new book, Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space.

The podcast is available here.

This was my first long interview discussing this book. It is also the first where you can hear the detailed impressions of it from someone else. Robert Pratt is a very educated radio host, with deep knowledge of western history and culture. That he repeatedly noted how Conscous Choice surprised him by teaching him things he hadn’t known and hadn’t even thought of I found very gratifying. I’ll let his closing words in the interview sum up his opinion of my book:

I really do believe that everybody needs to get a copy of Conscious Choice. It is that important a book. It is one of the most important books given today’s social upheaval.

There are lot of good histories out there, but they are mostly just retreads of the primary documents that we’ve read before. I get bored with them.

This book is new. This book is primary source history that will enlighten you and give you knowledge.

If you listen you will find out that I am not spinning his words. Nor is he merely providing a plug for a guest. This is his honest appraisal of Conscious Choice, after reading it.

On the radio

For those who wish to listen to me and even call in to ask a question or comment or disagree with something I have said, I will be on The Space Show with David Livingston. tomorrow night for probably two hours, beginning at 7 pm (Pacific).

As always, your calls will be welcome. I don’t bite, though as John Batchelor says, I can get grumpy.

In addition, I will be on WCCO-AM in Minnesota to talk space stuff on the next night, March 31st, for forty minutes, beginning at 10:00 pm (Central).

On the radio

Tomorrow, September 24, 2020, at 6:00 pm (Central) I will be spending an hour on Pratt on Texas with Robert Pratt, aired on 790-AM KFYO in Lubbock, 1470-AM KYYW in Abilene, and 1290-AM KWFS in Wichita Falls. Also available here.

We will talk space a bit, but the bulk of the hour will be talking about the insane panic over the Wuhan virus, and the refusal of people to see that the epidemic is fading, and that it wasn’t the horror it has been sold has.

On the radio, today and Sunday

For those who want to hear me on the radio, I will be doing one hour at 6:00 pm (Central) later today with Robert Pratt on Pratt on Texas, aired on 790-AM KFYO in Lubbock, 1470-AM KYYW in Abilene, and 1290-AM KWFS in Wichita Falls.

We will be talking about space, and also about masks and the tyrants presently found in many statehouses nationwide.

On Sunday I will also be talking space and science with Steve Thompson in Minnesota on WCCO-AM, also for an hour, beginning at 6:00 pm (Central).

On the radio

If you find yourself bored after watching the first hour of this year’s State of the Union speech by Trump, you can always switch channels and listen to me on The Space Show with David Livingston. tonight! I will be on from 7 pm to 9 pm (Pacific), talking about a whole range of topics.

I would also encourage my readers to call in with questions and thoughts. The give and take of conversation makes things so much more fun.

Thank you!

My quickie one-week-long fund-raising campaign for Behind the Black has ended.

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated, subscribed, bought books, and in general expressed their bountiful support for the work I do here. I would thank you all personally, but there are too many and if I did I wouldn’t have time for anything else. Consider this message as my personal thank you!

This post will remain at the top of the page for the rest of today. Scroll down for updates.

Caving today

Though I have scheduled some posts to go up later today, I will not be able to do any live posting until late tonight, as I am participating in a cave conservation project for the day. We are doing a damage inventory of the formations in a cave in southern Arizona so we will know when any new damage or vandalism occurs.

Off to Denver tomorrow

Tomorrow I fly to Denver, Colorado, to give a lecture that evening, August 6, 2019, at 6 pm (Mountain) as part of annual AIAA Young Professionals Networking/Movie Night event held at the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Littleton, Colorado.

My subject: Unknown Stories from Space: Astronaut adventures that did not reach the press. My abstract:

In the last fifty years the human race has begun the exploration of the cosmos. Sometimes, the events have been newsworthy and famous, such as Yuri Gagarin’s first flight and the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Other times, the adventures of men and women in space have been been ignored, hidden, or just plain forgotten. Did you know, for example, the first female tourist in space actually flew more than two decades ago?

Colonizing the planets shall be the most challenging task the human race will ever undertake. In telling some of these obscure space tales, Robert Zimmerman will explain why these tales are important for future space explorers, and how they illustrate the best in human nature.

If you are Denver or nearby please consider coming by. It will be a great event.

Update: If you want to get tickets in advance you can get them here.

Off to Huntsville, Alabama

I am about to leave for Huntsville, Alabama to give a lecture: tomorrow, July 25, 2019, at 6 pm (Eastern), at the National Geographic Theater located at the US Space and Rocket Center.

This event is part of their “Pass the Torch” lecture series. My subject: How Apollo 8, not Apollo 11, won the 1960s space race and changed the world

If you are Huntsville or nearby please consider coming by. It will be a great event.

New Zimmerman op-ed at The Federalist

In the piece, Trump’s Promising New Space Plan Won’t Work Without Cutting The Pork, I take a close look at Trump’s Moon plan and actually come away somewhat encouraged.

For one, it is pretty clear that Gateway has been dumped, or at least deemphasized significantly. Second, the plan shifts the focus from NASA being the builder of the program to NASA being a customer of the private sector.

Read it all. There’s a lot more.

On the radio

I will be visiting with Robert Pratt today at 6:05 pm (Eastern) for an hour on his Texas radio show, Pratt on Texas, aired on 790-AM KFYO in Lubbock, 1470-AM KYYW in Abilene, and 1290-AM KWFS in Wichita Falls.

I expect we will be discussing SLS and the effort of the corrupt culture of Washington to keep that unproductive boondoggle alive.

Planet-wide groundwater system on Mars

Old news: The European Space Agency today released a press release announcing the results of a science paper that appears to have found evidence of a planet-wide groundwater system on Mars.

I call this old news because I reported on this paper a month ago here on Behind the Black: Well water likely available across Mars.

We are now near the end of my February birthday-month fund-raising drive. If anything should justify a donation or subscription, this story should provide it. You can either wait for the mainstream press to rewrite press releases, or you can support my effort to get real news to you now, reported with both enthusiasm and honest skepticism.

I really do hate to brag, but I also don’t believe in false modesty.

On the radio

Tonight and tomorrow I will be doing two long radio interviews, for those interested. Tonight I will appear for an hour once again on WCCO-AM in Minnesota with Steve Thompson. Tomorrow I will do one of my regular long appearances on The Space Show with David Livingston. In the second case, I encourage my readers to call in to ask questions and raise new issues. It enlivens the show to have callers to talk to.

January 26, 2019 Zimmerman on Martian Revelation

I did a long two-hour appearance on a live internet show this past weekend. If you want to listen, you can do so here. Be warned, the audio starts automatically, and I do not appear until the show’s second hour, though you can jump forward.

In some ways this is one of the more interesting interviews I’ve done in awhile. We touched upon SLS, NASA, the bureaucracy, the failure of the federal government in all things, the Space Force, Trump and his real failures and successes, and most importantly, the fundamental necessity of Americans to stop asking the government to do things for them.

Even more entertaining, this was one of the rare times you can hear two guys from the New York metropolitan area having it out, both with loud brass New York accents.

Give it a listen.

Parabolic Arc’s annual fund-raising campaign

Doug Messier’s space website, Parabolic Arc, is running its annual fund-raising campaign right now, and I would like to urge my readers to consider giving a donation.

Doug and I might disagree on some matters, but the work we both do at our websites complements each other quite nicely. In fact, the areas where we disagree actually enhances this fact, as you will get different perspectives of the same issues from us.

The bottom line is that anyone who checks out both Parabolic Arc and Behind the Black on a daily basis will pretty much find out everything that is happening in space, and get that news before anyone else. Your donations there will thus be greatly appreciated.

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