dimland radio 4-13-19 show notes

Posted byJim "Dr. Dim" FitzsimonsPosted inscienceTags:, , , , , , , , , ,

Our Winter Weather Has Returned

For the second April in a row, we in the Upper Midwest got hit with a snowstorm. Not s much snow as last year, but the wintry mix of rain/sleet/snow lasted three days. The storm blew in on Wednesday after having a Monday with lots of sun and a temperature hitting almost 70º.

Ah, spring in Minnesota.

Where Have All The Trees Gone?

Since the early 2000s, a little invasive pest has been making its presence know. The emerald ash borer came to North America from China and found out there are an awful lot of ash trees on this continent (7 to 9 billion in the US alone). They’ve been feasting ever since and the ash trees began dying.
 
It’s the larvae that cause the most damage.
 
I talked about how parts of our neighborhood having been changing drastically in the last week or two.
 
Cool Thing Number One: It’s Julian Assange

Julian Assange, the Wikileaks guy, was arrested in Ecuador last week. He looked as though he had let himself go a bit. George Hrab, of the Geologic Podcast, nailed it. He created the image below.
 
It’s… brilliant!

Cool Thing Number Two: What Else? The Picture of A Black Hole!

Photo credit: USA Today & NASA
Yeah, it’s blurry. Yeah, it looks like a donut. But it’s a god damn black hole!
 
Sure, it’s blurry. It’s 55 million light years away!
 
Learn more about this excellent achievement in science here.

A Dimland Radio Science Hero: Katie Bouman

Katie Bouman is the young computer scientist whose work on developing an algorithm made the capturing an image of a black hole possible. She was part of a team of 200 or so scientist and she’s become the face of this scientific breakthrough.

 
The photograph of her reaction to seeing that first image clearly demonstrates the kind of joy that is made possible by science. It’s a fantastic image.
 
Click here to watch her TEDx Talk from 2016. In it she explains what she and her team are doing to photograph a black hole.
 
Cool Thing Number Three: Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker Teaser Trailer



Simply put, the trailer is awesome. It looks like the final part of the third Star Wars trilogy could be pretty damn good. I am pretty exited for this one.

 
And, Of Course, The Ubiquitous Nerd Anger

Within minutes of the new Star Wars trailer being dropped, at least one angry nerd had to be first in line to hate the movie before it has even been released.

 
I talked about nerd anger last week as it pertained to the Joker trailer. And, as if I were psychic, I compared the angry reaction toward Joker to that which the Star Wars movies have been receiving since The Force Awakens. I watched the trailer for the new Star Wars movie and I thought it was awesome. The angry nerd in the exchange below seems to have forgotten some of George Lucas’ shortcomings in the movies he was responsible for. I sarcastically helped to remind him.
 
 
 Halloween In April. Talk About Dracula (1931)
 
 

For no reason, other than I wanted to I talked about the Universal Studios horror classic Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. It’s not a prefect film. In fact, it gets pretty stagy after the first act. But, right up until the moment the Count arrives in England it’s pretty damn good.
 
I also did a little comparison to the Spanish language version, which was made at the same time as the Lugosi version. In some ways the Spanish version betters the more famous version. It looks better, using more camera movements, better edits, and some nice close-ups of the vampire’s eyes.

But, although the Spanish version may be better from a technical aspect, it lacks Lugosi.

 
“Come here!”
“¡Vete aquí!”
 Bela is just more creepy and threatening.

Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram‘ by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: ‘(The) Mayor Of Simpleton‘ by XTC & ‘You Better You Bet‘ by The Who
Second ad break bumpers: ‘(The) Ledge‘ by The Replacements & ‘Is It A Crime?‘ by Sade
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook‘ by $5 Fiddle

That’s it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

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Images used under Fair Use.

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