To: broadcast-randi-hotline@ssr.com Subject: I'm honored indeed Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 01:

From: James Randi --- Wizard To: broadcast-randi-hotline@ssr.com Subject: I'm honored indeed Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 01:40:57 -0400 Right on the heels of being given the opportunity to open the James Randi Educational Foundation, a privilege that is still something I'm trying to get used to, this news just arrived.... The International Astronomical Union has agreed "in honor of [my] unparalleled work," to give my name to an asteroid! Asteroid 3163 "Randi" had, up till now, the preliminary name "1981 QM". It was discovered on August 28th, 1981 by C. Kowal at Mount Palomar. More details: Period of orbit 3.71 years (1354.5 days) Perihelion distance 1.60 AU Aphelion distance 3.19 AU Today, its distance from Earth is 1.52341 AU (227,898,789 km). The asteroid would be visible in the constellation Pisces (morning sky) its magnitude is about 17. Now, that's a VERY faint "star" and I'm told it's about 12 km. in diameter. But dammit, it's MY star, and I'm busting with pride! This news has been published in the last edition of the Minor Planet Circulars. My sincere thanks to Andreas and Jean Dill, who applied to the IAU for this recognition. I've always know what it's like to have good friends, and this is as heavy proof as I've ever received. We are closing shortly on the home office site for the Foundation, and will be moving in soon. Books for the library, and videotapes, are coming in every day. From Martin Gardner, I got a marvelously quacky 1923 book telling the world that vaccination will never work, that homeopathy will save the species, and that auto-suggestion can cure any ailment.... Sure. As plans for the Foundation activity begin to form up, I recognize the enormous responsibility that has been thrust upon me, the reach that the Internet/WWW facility will provide us, and the work that lies ahead. It's daunting, but everything that I've ever hoped for. James Randi ************************************************** ** PROVIDED FOR YOUR REFERENCE BY THE MODERATOR ** ************************************************** Requests to be added to or deleted from the randi-hotline mailing list, must be sent to the service address: Internet: randi-hotline-request@ssr.com PLEASE BE PATIENT. All requests are processed before each new mailing to the list and these can be widely spaced. You *will* be added if your request was sent to the correct address. Mail to James Randi can be sent to: Internet: randi-hotline@ssr.com The Amazing One reads all mail and will generally respond eventually. This can change with growing volume, of course... Thanks to Anson Kennedy, back issues of the randi-hotline are now available on the World Wide Web: http://www.mindspring.com/~anson/randi-hotline/ Back issues of the randi-hotline are also available via anonymous FTP to: USA: ftp.netcom.com directory: /pub/an/anson/Mailing_Lists/geller-hotline ftp.ssr.com: directory: /Randi Please try netcom.com first, since ftp.ssr.com is very busy. EUROPE: mercurio.iet.unipi.it directory: /pub/Randi Our gratitude goes to Anson Kennedy and Massimo Macucci for providing the ftp sites at netcom and unipi.it, respectively. Randi also has a web page - check it out at http://www.sincity.com/randi/randi.html