Dimland Radio

dimland radio 11-19-11 show notes

More Evidence Man Landed On The Moon

After a little talk about not swearing on my show, I even said “penis,” I talked about some way cool images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The photos show the landing sites of Apollo 12, 14, and 17. That led me to briefly talk about people not believing man has walked on the moon. Will this convince them? Probably not.

Cam Newton Name Count

A couple weeks ago (maybe three) the MN Vikings played the Carolina Panthers, that gave me the opportunity to put my theory of how sportscasters like to same certain players full names every time, instead of just the last name. Well, I was right, but I did notice that I may have been subject to some confirmation bias.

A Christmas Story

A riveting tale of six suckers, an child (me at about 8 years-old), and a mother’s forcing the child to share. Find out what happens when a sucker goes missing.

The Beatles Sang What Now?

The album Rubber Soul saw the Beatles take a change in direction musically and lyrically. It also saw John Lennon write and sing a song with this lyric: “I rather see you dead, little girl than to be with other man.” The song was “Run For Your Life.”

Disturbing, eh? John pulled that line from an Elvis song, “Baby, Let’s Play House.” Some abandonment issues I guess.

Movie Recommendation: Bullitt (1968)

A gritty and gripping police drama starring Steve McQueen. Done in a pretty realistic fashion as far as police dramas go. Watch for that car chase. It’s excellent.

Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: ‘Well, I Wonder’ by The Smiths & ‘Somebody Got Murdered’ by The Clash
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Bone Machine‘ by Pixies & ‘Those Who Move’ by Naked Raygun
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

dimland radio 11-12-11 show notes

Excuses, Excuses

I started out talking about why I didn’t do the show last week. In doing so, I talked about how Amy and I met and then about one of the two yearly freelance cartooning projects I do each year for Cold Side Silkscreening.

Comic and movie-lover: Doug Benson

Then I talked about Amy and I going watch comic Doug Benson record his podcast, Doug Loves Movies. The episode we attended can purchased on iTunes for $1.99, just look for the Doug Loves Movies from Minneapolis, 11-5-11. If you do buy it listen closely at the beginning, you just might hear Doug mention a Dr. Dim. Hmmm, who could that have been?

Our name tags for Doug Loves Movies.

Great minds thinking alike.

Doug mentioned me because he has his audience bring name tags so they might be picked to be played for by one of his guests in a movie trivia contest Doug calls the Leonard Maltin game. (Don’t ask. I won’t explain it here.) Amy brought a babydoll to be part of her name tag and after the show another audience member found Amy, because she to had used a babydoll for her name tag.

It’s Just A Flesh Wound

Sorry, no picture of my head wound, but here’s a picture of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

We dog-sat for friends of ours and while walking Ginger the little Cavalier King Charles back to the house, I smacked the top of my head into a tree branch. At first, I was just a little stunned (I didn’t see stars though) then, once back in the house, I realized I was bleeding like a stuck pig.

Whee! What fun.

Those Lying Numbers

I then ventured into the realm of politics (sort of). A couple graphs caught my eye on the Facebook. Both were giving percentages based on how evil Republicans and Ronald Reagan in particular are. I talked about how the numbers were deceptive.

I had written two blogs based on each graph, here and here.

Movie Recommendation: Winnnebago Man (2009)

I dovetailed my political talk into this week’s movie recommendation. ‘Winnebago Man’ is a documentary about a cantankerous fellow who became famous for his profanity laden outtakes from an industry video presentation tape that he was working on during the 1980s. The outtakes went viral and he became something of a legend. The filmmaker decided to track the man down and ‘Winnebago Man’ is the result of that search.

Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: ‘Jason & The Argonauts’ by XTC & ‘Ashes To Ashes’ by David Bowie
Second ad break bumpers: ‘What Difference Does It Make‘ by The Smiths & ‘Tears’ by The Chameleons UK
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

politics and skepticism

“Note that this disparity began with Reagan’s ‘trickle down’ economics and rewriting the top tax brackets so the rich paid MUCH less–and now we have income disparity like some 3rd world dictatorship…”

(I will make the concerted effort not to identify the person quoted here. I don’t want to be “that guy.”)

This quote was found on Facebook included with the graphic above. The graphic purports to show the income growth disparity from the period of 1947 – 1979 and the period 1980 – 2007. The implication of the graph and the explicit statement in the comment lay the blame for this alleged income growth disparity at Pres. Ronald Reagan’s doorstep. It was his “trickle down” economics that was responsible.

Thanks to several sharp-eyed internet skeptics (your humble writer included) the graph and the commenter were called out on the misleading nature of the information presented. As I’ve stated in a previous blog, numbers can lie even while telling the truth. The following is a short list of what’s wrong with the graphic’s implication.

– The two time periods compared are of differing lengths (32 years vs 27).
– The top 1% is not separated out from the top 20% on the part of the graphic showing when “we all grew.”
– The two time periods are taken from two different sources and therefore should not be compared.
– There is no indication of adjusting for inflation.
– There is no indication of the growth of GDP over the two periods.
– The graphic arbitrarily chooses the cut off line between the two periods in order to imply that Pres. Reagan’s economic policies are to blame.
– Ronald Reagan did not become president until January 20, 1981 and his economic policies, after making compromises with the Democratically-controlled Congress, did not take affect until much later.

That last point says it all and not just because it was my contribution to the rebuttal comments to the person I quoted at the top. This chart clearly shows an anti-Reagan and anti-Republican bias. As does the quote. If 1980 was the last year of Pres. Jimmy Carter’s term in office, how can Reagan be blamed for the income disparity in 1980 and in most of, if not all of, 1981? But the casual viewer of that posting in Facebook will almost certainly come away thinking that it’s all Reagan’s and those evil Republicans’ fault.

This is especially distressing to me. Not because I’m a great supporter of Ronald Reagan (I’ll keep that to myself), but because the person I quoted is supposed to be a skeptic. The person is well-known to most of us skeptics. And well-respected. I’ve heard the person interviewed, give talks and have read much of what they have written (blogs away I haven’t gotten to the books yet, but I will).

This person is a scientist. But also human.

I’m a Facebook friend of this person and that’s how I spotted their posting. I’ve also seen other postings that clearly indicate this person is a supporter of Pres. Obama, the Democrats, and even the Occupy movement. Now, I’m not saying that I’m not a supporter of them as well (I’ll keep that to myself), but it seems to me that when politics get involved, even the most scientifically minded and the most ardent skeptic can be susceptible to confirmation bias. That is: my guys are good; you’re guys are bad and I accept only that evidence, no matter how flawed, which confirms my position.

As of this writing, the skeptic has not addressed the many reasonable illuminations of the problems of the graphic. Nor even admitted they could be wrong.

dimland radio 10-29-11 show notes

Cold Open: A Reading From The Book Of Strangely Enough!

I read a selection from C. B. Colby’s book, ‘Strangely Enough’. A story titled ‘The Whistle’. Very creepy.

Baseball! Again!

I just had to talk about this past World Series and, especially, game 6. Believe or don’t, I spent the first two segments of the show focusing on that game, two predictions I had made about it, and about how awesome it was.

Correction: During my talk about great World Series sixth games, I mentioned that Sports Illustrated online had ranked the 1991 World Series (Twins/Braves) as number 1. It was not Sports Illustrated, it was ESPN online that did the ranking. Here is their number 1 pick.

Stop Making Sense: TV Division

Those robotics should go up into the hips.

I pointed out how the graphics of the opening sequence of the show The Six Million Dollar Man incorrectly show the bionics of Steve Austin’s legs. The mechanical parts should go all the way up into his hips, not stop 2/3 up his thigh. I also mentioned that The Bionic Woman’s opening sequence got it right.

You can watch The Six Million Dollar Man open here (it’s in Spanish, that’s the only version I could find) and The Bionic Woman’s here.

Movie Recommendation: The Mummy (1932)

Another classic horror movie starring Boris Karloff as the title character. Don’t look for the mummy walking around in its wrappings, you won’t see it. But it is creepy and Karloff underplays the mummy really well. I particular enjoy the flashback sequence showing how the mummy came to be buried alive.

Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: ‘Antonin Artaud’ & ‘In The Flat Field’ by Bauhaus
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Terror Couple Kill Colonel‘ & ‘Stigmata Marytr’ by Bauhaus
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

numbers can lie

Ok. Who was it that said there are lies, damn lies, and statistics? I don’t know, but let me step out on a limb and demonstrate something. As you can see in the graphic (above), the “evil” (I say that for the majority of my Facebook friends who, apparently, don’t think highly of America’s 40th president) Ronald Reagan was the biggest deficit spender and he was a Republican. And all the other Republican presidents represented were bigger deficit drivers than the Democrat ones.

Setting aside the fact that it is Congress that does the spending, not the president, ask yourself… From what initial debt amount is that percentage increase?

Suppose Jane’s debt is one dollar (I’m using simple numbers, because they are easier for me) and she increases that debt by $1.86*. That would represent an increase of 186%.

Now suppose Jack’s debt is $1000 and he adds $230 to it. That would be a debt increase of 23%.

So, who is the bigger spender: Jack or Jane?

Of course, I could be accused of using numbers to make the Republicans look better than the Democrats, but that’s my point. Statistics can be used to make any point someone wants in order to make one party look bad and the other good (or less bad, because the debt increased with each president). We need to put these percentages in perspective. What was the debt amount when each president took office? By how much did Congress, during each president’s term, add to that debt? Also, are these percentages adjusted for inflation?

It’s quite possible that the Republicans are terribly evil people and that Democrats are altruistic saints (how’s that for hyperbole?), but when you see graphics like this one bear in mind that numbers can lie even while telling the truth.

*Correction: Anonymous,thank you for pointing out that I had my math wrong (see the comments). I have made the correction and it makes my point even better.