Two Important Anniversaries
This past Groundhog Day was significant for more than the traditional terrorizing a rodent every February 2nd to let everyone know winter will continue. (Yeah. It’s early February. Of course winter will continue. Duh!) It also marked what would have been model/actor/artist Farrah Fawcett’s 75th birthday. She died June 25, 2009 at the age of 62. She had succumbed to the cancer she had been been receiving treatment for since diagnosed in 2006.
She had a brief period in 2007 when she was declared cancer free. But, cancer is a bastard and it came back and metastasized to her liver.
I did link her illness, the second bout of it at least, to the importance of skepticism. Farrah did follow the science-based treatment (surgery, radiation, chemo) and there was some success after her initial diagnosis. From what I can find, it appears that when the cancer returned and was listed as stage IV (not good at all) she turned to treatments that were referred to as “aggressive” and “alternative”.
Whenever I read or hear the word alternative as a qualifier of medicine my skeptical alarms go off. There is no such thing as alternative medicine. Do you know what we call alternative medicine that works?
Medicine.
I don’t know if actual medicine would have worked for her when the cancer returned, but I have my doubts the alternative helped. However, I’m not really a doctor. I’m no authority.
So, it’s been close to 13 years since the first woman I ever became infatuated with had died.
I couldn’t help but mention that I still resent Michael Jackson for dying the same day. Twelve hours after Farrah had been declared dead, the King of Pop lost his life. Now I’m sure it wasn’t his plan, but couldn’t he have waited a couple days? Let Farrah have her day!
Instead she got a few hours of attention and then he dies and it was Farrah who?
Farrah Fawcett wasn’t just a gorgeous face, a fantastic smile, long flowing hair, and a pair of nipples; she was an artist!
This week saw another important (to me anyway) anniversary. February 1st was the 40th anniversary of Late Night with David Letterman debuting on NBC, forever changing late night television. And I was all in! I had liked Dave before his Late Night show. In fact, I was not happy that he had a daily morning show on NBC. I was going to school at the time. How was I suppose to watch the show?
Luckily, the morning show never found an audience and was canceled after 18 weeks. Dave was then actually paid by NBC to do nothing for a year until they could get him back on the air. And on that first day in February in 1982, the greatest late night talk show debuted. History was made.
I also brought a little skepticism it this talk by checking the Oscar predictions made by former window cleaner turned cold reader psychic Morris Fonte. On the show which aired March 18, 1986, Morris, a frequent guest of Dave’s, came in to make predictions on some of the winners in the upcoming Oscar ceremony.
He did poorly.
Maus Is A Best Seller
In the tradition of unintended consequences, the Tennessee School Board’s removal of the graphic novel series Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman from the eighth grade curriculum has sent the book to the top of Amazon’s best sellers list. It’s the Streisand Effect. By removing it from that curriculum, the board had put the graphic novel about the Holocaust in the news and on social media. Sales have skyrocketed. People have been buying it. Hopefully, for their kids.
Maus can be read online here.
Books Are Burning by XTC
And in an effort to one up the Tennessee School Board, Tennessee pastor, conspiracy theorist, and Trumper Greg Locke has organized a good, old-fashioned, fascistic book-burning.
That’s right. The good Reverend is determined to rid the world of demons, witches, and witchcraft. He had his followers throw Harry Potter and Twilight books into the fire. There was no word if Maus was included in the burning, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been.
You know who else was into burning books?
It was in 1933. It was in Germany. And it was the same people who would later burn people.
1933. 2022. Looks the same to me.
Email Scam
It’s not exactly new, but I just encountered it this week at work. I received an email alerting me that three of my emails failed to send and it gave me a convenient link to click to fix it. That was kind of them.
Only, I’ve never received an undeliverable email alert that referred to more than one email at a time. Also, this alert went straight to my junk mail. Hmmm. Those alerts usually go to my inbox. I mean, my email catcher knows when it sends me a message it’s not junk.
Well, I looked into it. It’s a scam. If you get that email don’t click the link. Just delete it and forget it.
Cool Thing: Great Art Explained
I ain’t gonna write much about this really cool series on YouTube. I’m just gonna post images and links to Michaelangelo’s David, Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, and da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
Check them out!
Mask up! GET VACCINATED! GET BOOSTED! And if you have been vaccinated, THANK YOU!
Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: Girls On Film by Duran Duran and Bikini Red by The Screaming Blue Messiahs
Second ad break bumpers: It’s Hard by The Who and What Difference Does It Make? by The Smiths
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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