Dimland Radio

dimland radio 12-8-12 show notes

The Storm Of The Day!

I started the show talking about the weather. I knew we were going to get some snow, but I was told earlier in the day that the amount of snow would be more than originally predicted. Batten down the hatches, everyone!

Dimland Radio’s War On Christmas

Why should Fox News have all the fun? I jumped into the “War on Christmas” by ranting about the guilt imposed on me by the bell ringers of the Salvation Army at the entrances of the stores I frequent. And I went on about a car ad campaign featuring a very Santa-like salesman. The jokes of the ads center around the salesman possibly being the gift-giver himself. One ad in particular is very funny. Or it was last year, but this year it was changed a little and the humor was diminished by that change.

I also mentioned Penn Jillette’s take on the fictitious war. You can listening to Penn’s take here. And, although I didn’t mention it on the show, Jon Stewart has a very spot on take on this whole mountain-out-of-a-molehill business.

JFK, GHWB, and BE

Or maybe it’s just some other guy?

There’s a conspiracy theory out there that says that President George Herbert Walker Bush had something to do with President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s death. There’s a picture from the day, shortly after the assassination, showing, among others, a man in a grey suit standing by the Texas School Book Depository building. He does look kind of, sort of, possibly similar to a man that might maybe be GHWB. But there’s another person it might be… Beatle’s manager, Brian Epstein!

The image just isn’t clear enough to be certain who it is, but I think it’s BE! What was he doing November 22, 1963? DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW?

Wanna Feel Old?

‘War Games’ will turn 30 years-old in 2013. The classic film is about a couple of teenage kids unwittingly hacking into NORAD’s missile launch control computer. This sets of a series of events that brings the world perilously close to nuclear war. In those days there was a palpable fear that President Ronald Reagan was going to get us into a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It didn’t happen. (Spoiler!)

A couple things about the movie stood out. One was the amount of advancement our technology has made in those 30 years. The other was how upset my wife got when the two teenagers remarked about how old some fellow was when he allegedly died. He was 41 years-old.

A couple weeks ago my wife had turned 41 herself. Poor Honey Bunny, you’re not old.

Movie Recommendation: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Twentieth Century Fox

A sweet, quirky, wry, and vulgar family movie by director Wes Anderson. Anderson’s movies are all a bit odd and that’s what I like about them. ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ is also odd and I like that. It’s not really vulgar, The characters, voiced by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, and others, use a lot of profanities, but instead of saying the actual word or bleeping it, the characters say, “Cuss”. As in, “What the cuss?” or “You cussed that up.” (I’m not sure those are actual quotes, but that’s the general idea.)

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: ‘Nobody Told Me‘ & ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)‘ by John Lennon
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Woman‘ & ‘(Just Like) Starting Over‘ by John Lennon
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

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 12-1-12 show notes

Two And A Half Men Isn’t Funny

To me anyway. I went on about my snobbery toward TV sit-coms taped before a live audience. They just don’t live up to the quality of the single camera sit-coms, such as Arrested Development and The Office.

Oh, and on the listen back of the show, my son pointed out that I mistakenly call the show Three and a Half Men. Maybe I was included their man servant. Do they have a man servant?

Speaking Of…

The “half” man of the sex jokes sit-com Two and a Half Men, Angus T Jones, has advised people to stop watching the filth that is the show from which he earns a reported $350,000 an episode. The show goes against his Christian values. But then he apologized. And then we hear that he’ll leave the show after this season.

The damn show has been on for ten years! Let’s wrap it up!

“Nottabug”

I revisited the UFO story out of Denver that has gotten wide attention recently. The Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, has weighed in (as have many other skeptics). He actually got in touch with the reporter, Heidi Hemmat, who was responsible for the non-investigative report. He told her of an easy experiment that would determine if the objects are far from the camera and therefor very large and fast moving, instead of close to the camera and likely to be bugs…

Use two cameras! If it’s a large craft of some kind, far from the camera, it will be seen on both cameras. There! See? There’s a way to determine what the UFOs are.

Read Phil Plait’s blog on this topic here.

Kudos To Law & Order

I have been watching old episodes of Law & Order through Netflix lately. There is one episode from season five called ‘Cruel and Unusual,’ which is about a severely autistic young man who dies while in police custody.

Without going into the entire show synopsis, ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) demonstrates in court how facilitated communication doesn’t work. I applaud the producers of Law & Order for getting this bit of pseudoscience right.

Here is a skeptical take of facilitated communication.

Movie Recommendation: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

Paramount Pictures

Yeah! That’s right! I LIKE THIS MOVIE! Is it the best of the four Indiana Jones movies? No, but it’s still lots of fun and entertaining. Yes, it stretches credulity to the breaking point, but ALL of the films do that! I think it has become fashionable to take the hipster stance and dismiss the film, but had it been the first released I think there would be a lot more love for it. So, grab that big barrel of popcorn, turn off your incredulity device, and sit back and relax and enjoy the ride.

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: ‘Slow Train To Dawn‘ by The The & ‘Cat’s In The Cupboard‘ by Pete Townshend
Second ad break bumpers: ‘White And Lazy‘ by The Replacements & ‘Back On The Chain Gang‘ by The Pretenders
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 11-24-12 show notes

Snow Driving Again

I started the show with recounting my Thanksgiving Day driving fun on the way home from the family festivities. It wasn’t the worst driving conditions, but I was glad to be home, I can tell you.

Pants

This had been a topic I had been trying to get to for a couple of weeks, but so other topic kept getting in the way. Well, finally, the topic of pants would get its due.

I started going on about short pants and my disdain for them. Wearing them, I mean, they’re fine for other people, but I just hate them. My dad isn’t that fond of them either.

And then there’s this whole sagging pants thing. Which I turned into…

It’s Not True: Sagging Pants

Brilliant, ain’t it? Wish I thought of it.

Perhaps you’ve heard that sagging pants originated in prison as a signal to other inmates as to the availability for sexual encounters. Well, although the “pants on the ground” look did originate in prison, it doesn’t mean the “wearer” is ready for some action.

Snopes.com comes to the rescue again.

Never Meet Your Heroes

Or watch them on Letterman.

I knew Pete Townshend was into spiritualism and such. I didn’t know he dabbled in pseudoscience. He and Dave talked about suffering from tinnitus, nerve damage in the ears that cause a constant ringing sound. In fact, I have nerve damage in my left ear.

But I digress.

Pete said he’s been treating his tinnitus with “a lot of New Age stuff” and working with a homeopathic doctor. Oh? Well, he says it’s working and maybe it is, but since his claims are subjective it’s difficult to know for certain that the “alternative medicine” is working.

Maybe it is, but I have my doubts. Especially about homeopathy, which if it’s being done right has NOTHING in it.

Alternative medicine that works is called medicine.

The Bloop Mystery Solved

If it walks like an icequake and quacks like an icequake, it’s an icequake. That’s what the “Bloop” turns out to be. The mysterious sound from the ocean depths is consistent with the known sounds of icequakes.

It’s all right here.

Movie Recommendation: The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

United Artists

An excellent villain played by Christopher Lee. A creepy sidekick play by Herve Villechaize. Britt Eckland in a bikini. And a good one on one confrontation between Bond and the villain in a cool setting. And the energy crisis. What else could you want? Sean Connery as Bond? Well, you can’t have everything and Moore was a pretty good Bond until the series got too campy and silly (Octopussy, anyone?).

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: ‘Escape From Planet Earth‘ by The Alley Cats & ‘Crummy Stuff‘ by Ramones
Second ad break bumpers: ‘The Unheard Music‘ by X & ‘Homosapien‘ by Pete Shelley
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 11-17-12 show notes

Cops And The Dumpster Area

I told about the brush with the law I had the night before my show. I clean a building on Friday nights. It’s just something I do. I’m just that kind of guy. Well, I do get paid for it.

Anyway! I had just thrown a bag of trash in the dumpster and was walking back to the building when two sheriff’s vehicles pulled into the parking lot. One of the officers hopped out of his vehicle and went over to the dumpster area which I had just left to search it. My guess is they were looking for some scofflaw.

I watched curiously and then went to ask the other officer what was up. As I approached, he told me to get back in the building. I got the message, turned and hurried back into the building. I never found out what they were doing exactly.

Bigfeets Don’t Fail Me Now

I related a couple of stories about the probably nonexistent creature. One was about yet another not very good video of a blobsquatch. Actually, it’s an excellent video of a blobsquatch, it just isn’t very good evidence for bigfoot.

The other story was of bigfoot hunter Jeff Meldrum and his proposed search using a radio-controlled blimp equipped with a thermal imaging camera. Meldrum has good science bona fides, but I don’t think his new method will be any more successful in establishing the elusive beast’s existence than any have been thus far.

You can learn more here, here, and here.

It’s Not A Bug! It’s Not A Bug! I’m Telling You It’s Not A Bug

The latest UFO video that’s been making the rounds is very likely video of bugs flying closely by a video camera. But don’t tell news reporter Heidi Hemmat that, she doesn’t want to hear it. She emphatically tells us that it’s not a bug, but all signs point to it being a bug.

Here is Heidi Hemmat’s report and here is Ben Radford’s analysis of the bug video. I mean UFO video. No, I mean bug video. It’s a bug, Heidi!

Mad Props For Probst

With all the other daytime talk shows following the easy path of mystery-mongering when it comes to psychics, it was so refreshing to see Jeff Probst take a skeptical approach to the topic. With the assistance of skeptic Mark Edward, Jeff demonstrated the deception of the psychic reading industry. Will it wise people up to the nonsense of psychics? Maybe not everyone, but it might plant that sorely needed seed of doubt.

Good work, Jeff. I hope your show lasts and that you do more shows of a skeptical nature.

Read Mark Edward’s account here.

Movie Recommendation: Them! (1954)

Warner Brothers

I turned to my son for this week’s movie recommendation. He suggested this above average 1950s sci-fi classic. Because of nuclear weapons testing, some ants have become giant-sized and threaten to destroy humankind. Not to worry, the humans prevail. Or do they?

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: ‘Time The Avenger‘ by The Pretenders & ‘Rat Patrol‘ by Naked Raygun
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Shout To The Top‘ by The Style Council & ‘Angels Of Deception‘ by The The
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 11-10-12 show notes

A Freelance Project

It’s filled with debauchery, lewdness, strange behavior, and inside jokes. It’s one of the few freelance projects I do each year. A local fraternity has an annual pub crawl and each year they have t-shirts made for the occasion. I’ve been doing their design since the late 90s and each year it gets more complicated. But I do enjoy the challenge and the fellas are so appreciative. And they pay.

A Fellow ZTalker Gets On The News

Every year as Halloween approaches local TV news organizations run “fluff” stories about haunted houses, ghosts, and ghost hunters or some such related nonsense. Well, in Arizona one such story ran and it featured fellow ZTalker Kale Kelly. It also featured an Arizona skeptic and gave that skeptic equal time AND the last word. I was impressed.

You can see that report here.

Snow Driving

Inspired by a loyal listener in chat, I told a couple harrowing tales of driving through snow storms. One story happened to me, so you know that’s true. The other was a story told to me by my father about a fellow with whom he worked. That story might not be true, but I don’t think my dad made it up. Still.

Election 2012 Round-up

You may have heard that Pres. Obama won re-election. I mentioned that, but I also talked about anti-science Rep. Paul Broun and his re-election. There was a write-in campaign for Charles Darwin in that otherwise uncontested race. Darwin did get almost 4000 votes. A far cry from being able to win, but maybe a message was sent.

I also talked about Minnesota’s own national embarrassment, Michele Bachmann. She, too, was re-elected, but by the narrowest of margins. This despite her having out spent her Democrat opponent by 12 to 1 and that her district had been recently redrawn to be even more Republican. Maybe a message was sent there, too.

The Evil Empire Buys Star Wars

No, not the Hated Yankees, in this case by “evil empire” I mean Disney. Disney has purchased the Star Wars franchise for a mere four billion dollars. There is some trepidation and some excitement at this news. Will Disney damage the Star Wars brand even worse than George Lucas has? Well, I’m optimistic. So, is the writer of this list of reasons why the new trilogy won’t suck. I guess time will tell.

Movie Recommendation: Field Of Dreams (1989)

Universal Studios

The Facebook page The Movie Hobo posted the question asking followers to name a movie or scene that makes them cry. Well, as much as I hate to admit that I’m capable of such a thing, one movie immediately popped to mind. ‘Field Of Dreams’ is a love letter to baseball, a ghost story, a tale of obsession, redemption and second chances. It has a hippie undercurrent vibe to it and a somewhat unnecessary anti-censorship element, but overall it is touching and heartwarming.

And, in the end, Costner delivers a line that brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it. I don’t want to spoil it, so all I’ll say is it has to do with playing catch. I’m tearing up now. I better go.

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: ‘Tom Sawyer‘ by Rush & ‘Your Phone’s Off The Hook (But You’re Not)‘ by X
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Straight Lines‘ by Suzanne Vega & ‘Bitter Fruit‘ by The Alley Cats
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.