dimland radio 8-22-20 show notes

Can’t Pretend That Growing Older Never Hurts Part Two

I gave an update to my mom’s medical challenges. The doctors determined she needed a pacemaker and they installed it last Wednesday. She got home Friday.

I wish I could say that she was well on the road to being herself again. This morning I got word she was taken back into the emergency room having another several anxiety attack. This isn’t over yet.

Stay tuned.

The Cat Is Good Though

Kitty with her new feeder.

Callie, our cat, has been more of a pain in the ass lately. She seems to constantly need attention and/or food. She had really been ruining our sleep (a reason to not have pets).

Amy decided it was time for a vet visit. Hoo boy! That means a vet bill (another reason to not have pets). The vet told us to get an automatic pet feeder. Which we did and I must say it has helped.

A couple days later, the vet called to tell you the blood work showed that kitty is in purrfect health. They may not have said it that way, but that’s the way I want to think they said it.

Letterman Swearing?!

During these dark days of the Covid, I’ve been looking for any moment of respite I can find. And I can find lots and lots of clips from Late Night with David Letterman. And I found one set of show clips of his “Why We Edit” segments.

At about he 32 minute mark is a clip of what they called their “foul show”. A show that had to be edited because they decided to let it all hang out. It’s funny, of course. It’s Dave. How could it not be funny?

The thing is Dave swears in the clip and it’s not bleeped. We hear him swear. There is no way this segment aired uncensored. So, that brings up the mystery as to how this unbleeped version exists.

Cool Thing: Scientists Take First Picture Of A Solar System Similar To Ours

Science succeeded in something historic. A photograph was taken of a solar system with multiple planets for the first time. This solar system is 300 million light years away and the photograph was taken by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. So cool!

Flat Earthers, Evolution Deniers, And The Dunning-Kruger Effect

None of us is immune to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, but the poster children for it have to be flat eathers and evolution deniers. There are plenty of videos of science promoting YouTubers taking on these science deniers.

SciMan Dan is one such YouTuber. Here’s one of his videos dealing with the ignorant arrogance of Kent Hovind, young earth creationist, evolution denier, and king of Dunning-Kruger. And in this video he takes on a flat earther.

I talked about a simple proof that demonstrates how we know the earth is a sphere and not flat. It involves the moon. You may not have been aware of this but the moon looks different to people living in the Southern Hemisphere to those living in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you live in, say, Minneapolis and you travel to Australia, when you look at the moon it will appear upside down. This is because we live on a spherical earth and not a flat one. If the earth were flat the top part of the moon would be the same no matter where you travel on the planet.

This video explains why the moon and the constellations appear upside down to a Northern Hemispherer when they venture to the Southern Hemisphere.

Creatures Of Habit

Baseball is back. The league is doing what it can to keep everyone involved during the Age of Covid. Regular testing, no fans in the stands, and masks are some of the measures being implemented. The mask wearing could be improved (cover those noses!) and more universal.

It was the masks that gave me a good chuckle at a recent game. I wish I could have found an image. I couldn’t so you will have to take my word on this.

“Say that again.” “Mumph mum murm mumph.” “WHAT?! Take that glove away. I can’t understand a word you’re saying.””

During mound visits in which catchers, pitching coaches, or managers want to discuss something with the pitcher, it is common to see the fellows covering their mouths. This is to keep the other team from reading their lips.

My chuckle came when the pitching coach put his hand in front of his mouth when talking to his pitcher. I laughed because the coach was already wearing a mask. Creature of habit, I guess.

Be patient. Wash your hands. Stay home. WEAR A MASK! Stay safe.

Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: Generation by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and English Roundabout by XTC

Second ad break bumpers: Talent Show by The Replacements and Tape Your Wife To The Ceiling by The Suburbs

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

Please subscribe on iTunes! Just search for Dimland Radio in the podcast section. And if you could leave a good rating and a positive review it would be awesome.

Subscribe to Dimland Radio on PodBean!

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’d like.

Images used under Fair Use.

dimland radio 8-15-20 show notes

Can’t Pretend That Growing Older Never Hurts

There was no show last week, because my brain was pretty much fried after a week of stress over my mom having some serious anxiety attacks. She ended up in the hospital and still hasn’t quite recovered. It’s been a challenge for Dad, me, my wife, and, of course, Mom.

So Hard To Pin Down

Speaking of my parents, Dad told me that the nylon window screen to their kitchen window had seen better days and needed to be replaced. We talked about him doing it himself or there must still be some hardware stores that can do it. Maybe even Home Depot can do it.

Dad thought that the nearby Batteries Plus store might be able to fix it.

“Batteries Plus?” I asked.

This is where a person’s experience and knowledge colors their perception. Dad saw a sign outside the store that read: “Screen broken? We fix it” He knows nothing of smart phones or tablets and he had his damaged window screen on his mind, so that is the direction his thinking went.

“Um, Dad? I don’t think they mean window screens.”

Comic Books!

So much hair! Such big glasses! So much thinner!

I wanted to keep this show form getting too heavy with the COVID and Fearless Leader talk, so I indulged myself in talking about comic books. There was my start as a young buyer of comic books leading to me becoming a serious collector. I talked about some of the history of comic books – they started, when the super-hero genre began, and of some of the pioneers in those early days of this American form of pop literature.

I talked about Captain America and of his historic first issue with a very gutsy punch depicted on the cover. I hemmed a little on when the comic book was released. The cover date says March, 1941, but I was correct (at least according to Wikipedia) the issue hit the newsstands in December, 1940. I blogged about it! Click here.

After WWII super-hero comic books began to drop off in popularity. They were replaced be war, western, sci-fi, horror, and romance comics. Timely Publications, publisher of Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner dropped those heroes along with changing its company name to Atlas Comics.

In 1954, the US Senate became concerned that comic books were turning America’s teens into juvenile delinquents. Hearings were held and publishers were grilled. The comics industry created the Comics Code Authority as a way to self-police their product and save the kids of America from a life of depravity and crime.

Through much of this history was a fellow who would become synonymous with comic books, Stan Lee. He started working for Timely at age 16 doing minor tasks and worked his way up to writer of feature stories. Stan hoped he would have become the next great American novelist, but there he was writing comic books. By 1960, he was getting ready to quit.

But, he held on and created…

Oh. You know what he created. If you don’t, listen to the show.

Biographics Gets A Few Things Wrong

There is a YouTube channel called Biographics. The channel features short video biographies of famous and infamous people throughout history. The videos are hosted by Simon Whistler, who does a fine job talking us through the various histories.

The videos are well produced and very informative, but are they getting their facts right?

I watched their biography of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics and they got a few things wrong. And if I noticed those things in a subject I know something about, I wonder how much they get wrong in subjects I know little or nothing about.

Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comics, presented a series about the history of comic books. The first episode of which focused on how Marvel Comics came to be and how it took over the comic book world. As far as I can tell, it is far more accurate.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: M*A*S*H And “It Spun In”

I blogged about this on Warehouse Find this week. I had the audacity to be pedantic about one of television’s greatest (and saddest and most shocking) moments: The season finale of the third season of M*A*S*H and the final scene in which “Radar” informs the surgical staff of the death of a much beloved character.

The pedantry centers on three words: It spun in.

Be patient. Wash your hands. Stay home. WEAR A MASK! Stay safe.

Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: Lead A Normal Life by Peter Gabriel and Epic by Faith No More

Second ad break bumpers: Turning Japanese by The Vapors and Sweetest Taboo 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

Please subscribe on iTunes! Just search for Dimland Radio in the podcast section. And if you could leave a good rating and a positive review it would be awesome.

Subscribe to Dimland Radio on PodBean!

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’d like.

Images used under Fair Use.

dimland radio 8-1-20 show notes

Planes Crash A Lot

I start the show making a couple clarifications to some of what I talked about last week. First I wanted to make sure that I explained the gotcha the YouTuber thought she had when she discovered the all 900 of the three-digit numbers come up in a Google search of new cases of COVID.

The impression I got was that her gotcha had something to do with the “media” lying to us about the pandemic. The media is perhaps exaggerating the seriousness of the virus or just making the whole thing up. It’s just a cold or flu. So, Google is helping fool the sheep by making certain there are hits no matter what number is searched on their site.

I also needed to qualify plane crash when it came to my talk about the Law of Large Numbers. A friend pointed out the I needed to say major plane crash not just plane crash. Major plane crashes, such as commercial airliners with many passengers, are relatively rare. But! Small plane crashes happen quite frequently.

I did a Google news search for plane crash and found five crashes had taken place in America in the past week. Alabama, Texas, Montana, Nevada, and Alaska all had plane crashes since July 28th. Maybe Google is conspiring to make plane crashes seem to be happening more often than they really do. Hmmm.

Herman Cain 12/13/1945 – 7/30/2020

Herman Cain, African-American businessman, conservative, ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2012. He was a Trump supporter and not a fan of masks and social distancing during this pandemic.

In June of this year, he attended the Trump COVID Infect-A-Thon 2020 in Tulsa, OK. He did not wear a mask. He did not social distance himself. In early July, he was hospitalized with COVID-19. On July 30th, he died from the deadly disease. The pandemic claimed another victim.

His death is sad and was likely avoidable. He was 74 and had more life to live.

Wear a mask!

Chris Brown Weighs In On Masks

A voice from the past returned to Dimland Radio. Some years ago, my friend and fellow skeptic Chris Brown would join the show for a brief chat on some skeptical topic. I think we called it the Ten Minute Topic with Chris Brown, but it’s been so long I can’t quite remember.

Well, recently Chris had taken to Facebook to ask anti-maskers why being requested or required (depending where they live in America) to wear a mask to limit the spread of COVID-19 is some great attack on their rights. I thought his points were well made and asked if he would record an audio file so I could play it on the show. And wouldn’t you know it? He did.

Thank you, Chris. It’s good to hear your voice again.

Speaking Of Masks

Since the topic of masks came up I thought I’d talk about a smelly, dead animal again. Not the same smelly, dead animal. This time it was a dead raccoon (see image – WARNING!).

The smell of the dead raccoon got me thinking about the 2001 HBO WWII mini-series Band Of Brothers. When you listen to the show you’ll get the connection. And I promise it does have something to do with masks.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: Private Webster Knows German, Doesn’t He?

Having watched Band Of Brothers as often as I have, I have begun to notice little subtleties and inconsistencies. My pedantry focused on Private Webster. In one episode, we learn he is fluent in German, the next episode it seems he had forgotten it.

What gives?

Be patient. Wash your hands. Stay home. WEAR A MASK! Stay safe.

Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: No Reply At All by Genesis and Eight Miles High by Husker Du

Second ad break bumpers: Ashes To Ashes by David Bowie and Reel Around The Fountain 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

Please subscribe on iTunes! Just search for Dimland Radio in the podcast section. And if you could leave a good rating and a positive review it would be awesome.

Subscribe to Dimland Radio on PodBean!

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’d like.

Images used under Fair Use.

dimland radio 7-25-20 show notes

A Few Cool Things (One Is Pretty Gross)

First was my excitement in seeing the building I clean on Tuesdays and Fridays had all the light fixtures replaced and converted to using LEDs. I was thrilled because I’m the one who changes the light bulbs and with LEDs I may not have to change another bulb for a long, long time. So cool!

The tired old fella.

Next was my trying my hand at plumbing. My wife and I had noticed the old faucet for the kitchen sink was getting harder to use and would leak occasionally. We agreed it was time to replace it and we also agreed on the style of the new faucet.

The new energetic fella!

I went out to The Home Depot (I wore my mask) and picked out a good one that was moderately priced. I first sent a photo of it to Amy for her approval. Very important to do that. I sent her photos of two similar faucets and we agreed on which was the best choice.

Installation was helped along by my father loaning me his faucet wrench, which extended my reach making it easier to get the old faucet removed and the new one in place. Without that tool I would have had to wake up Amy to have her help. She was sleeping like an angel, I couldn’t disturb her sleep. And the boy was out with friends, so it was up to the faucet wrench and me to get the job done.

Ouchie!

The new faucet was successfully installed, but then the drain pipes began to leak. Oh, for the love of Mike! I got the leak stopped and only skinned one knuckle. Welcome to the world of plumbing. Still cool when everything was done.

This next thing was cool in a sick and gross sort of way. Our trash bin had been really stinking very, very badly in the days leading up to pick-up day. Each time I would open the lid my nose would be punched with the most horrific smell. “Did something die in there?!”

Well, turns out something very likely did die in there (or maybe in the house, because that trash under the sink had been awfully bad smelling before I took it out). On the morning of trash pick-up day I had another small bag to put in the bin. I opened it and the interior was covered in… maggots.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Gross! But it’s the circle of life and still kinda cool.

Mask Up, Minnesota

If there had been a 5% infection rate threshold for kicking in the mask mandate in Minnesota, and I could have been wrong about that, the governor decided not to wait until it was reached. The current rate of infection in the North Star state is at 4.6%, however the statewide mask mandate went into affect yesterday. And it’s about time.

People need to wear masks if we are going to get a handle on this pandemic. The “my rights are more important than your rights” crowd needs to realize that. I even used a constitutional argument for the mandating of mask wearing.

Facebook Follies

And still Facebook is being used to spread misinformation about the pandemic. It’s being used to sow doubts about science and the intentions of government in its response to this major public health crisis. It’s also being used to discredit social movements such as Black Lives Matter. I have people I know personally either posting for public consumption or coming directly to me with bullshit about the pandemic, masks, and ActBlue’s donation distribution practices.

The above image was posted on Facebook. It’s intent was to show the hypocrisy of Minnesota’s governor (fourth from left). “Look! They’re all standing next to each other and none of them is wearing a mask!”

OK. What is that in the governor’s hands? Isn’t that a mask? Isn’t it just possible the people in the photo took off their masks for the picture and put them back on and separated as soon as it was taken?

Also, the image gave me all the information I needed to find this report, which confirmed that the masks were removed for the photo op.

Another friend privately shared a Facebook video of a fellow thinking he had a gotcha on ActBlue, the donations platform that caters to Democrat, liberal, and, even progressive causes. I explained this on a previous show. ActBlue makes it easier for their clients to deal with donations by taking them off their clients’ shoulders. Yes, ActBlue charges a fee, but the campaigns and causes that work with them must think it is more cost effective and less time consuming to let ActBlue handle it.

It’s no mystery. There’s nothing shady going on. If BLM engages ActBlue’s services to collect donations, they get those donations minus ActBlue’s fee. Same thing as with the conservative donations service WinRed.

My friend was adamant that there was something underhanded going on and I couldn’t convince her there wasn’t. This was the same result I got when another friend sent me a private message linking to a Facebook video of another supposed gotcha moment.

This time it was about the media making up numbers of new cases of COVID-19. You see, a person discovered that if you put any three digit number followed by “new cases” in a Google search, you will get results for all of the 900 three digit numbers! Shocking! The media must be lying.

Except my friend and the gotcha video maker are apparently unaware of the Law of Large Numbers. I tried to explain to my friend the out of all the countries, states, counties, and cities reporting new cases around the world, and with the current number of approximately 15 million total reported cases of COVID-19, the likelihood of 900 numbers each being represented in the new case counts at some point in this pandemic are pretty good.

My friend didn’t see it that way.

Be patient. Wash your hands. Stay home. WEAR A MASK! Stay safe.

Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Eurythmics and America Is Waiting by Brian Eno & David Byrne

Second ad break bumpers: Respectable Street by XTC and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police

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

Please subscribe on iTunes! Just search for Dimland Radio in the podcast section. And if you could leave a good rating and a positive review it would be awesome.

Subscribe to Dimland Radio on PodBean!

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’d like.

Images used under Fair Use.

dimland radio 7-18-20 show notes

Just Wear A Mask

It’s become my mantra on social media lately. I keep seeing anti-mask nonsense being shared and my respond has been to simply write “just wear a mask” in the comments. There may be subtler, kinder, and more nuanced ways of influencing the anti-maskers, but I’m not sure those methods would work either. So, just wear a mask.

Although, as of this writing, the Minnesota governor Tim Walz has not mandated mask wearing for the entire state, he does hold that as an option. He has set a threshold of a 5% infection rate as the trigger for the mandate. The latest rate was 4.7%, so we are close.

However, several retailers across the country are seeing the wisdom of wearing masks and are mandating they be worn by their customers. The retailers include Target, Walgreens, CVS, Home Depot, and Walmart. (Oh, the anti-masker tantrum videos we will soon be seeing.) This is a good thing.

Such a simple thing to do to help protect our neighbors and to keep the economy open. Is it really so much to ask?

Just wear a mask!

A Dimland Radio Science Hero: Dr. Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD)

Prescription: Break off a hunk of that doctor!

Dr. Zubin Damania (a real medical doctor) explains why wearing masks is a good idea. It helps keep down the spread of the COVID. Masks may also decrese the severity of the illness should you get infected, by limiting the amount of virus you are exposed to.

You go, ZDoggMD! (The kids still say that, right?) You are a Dimland Radio Science Hero!

Dead Mouse In The Middle Of The Store

Dead mouse in the middle of the store.

Dead mouse in the middle of the store.

Dead mouse in the middle of the store.

Stinking up to high, high heaven.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: Real Reason To Remove Vader’s Mask

To be more accurate as to why we wear masks and seeing as how Luke isn’t wearing one, this meme…

…should read like this…

Excuse Me, Fellows. But What Your Jesus Statue Was More Accurate?

There’s been a sea change in America or at least the beginning of one. People are waking up to the systemic racism and are demanding changes. Aunt Jemima is gone, the Washington professional football team is ready to change their name, statues honoring Confederate heroes are coming down. I think this is a good thing.

I saw this photo of five well-armed white dudes ready to protect a statue of Jesus from the marauding mobs of statue destroyers. These men are resolutely standing on guard outside their church to protect their Jesus.

And that’s great. I hope they don’t actually have to deal with those mobs. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt over a statue.

However, that statue seems to be depicting a northern European man. Surely by this time, with all we know about history and culture and anthropology and biology and DNA and genes and heredity and all that, we know that Jesus, if he existed, wouldn’t look like that. Right? After all, Jesus was from Judea, not Sweden.

In 2002, Popular Mechanics used all we know about history, biology, anthropology, and culture and created what should be a good approximation of what a 33 year old man, born in the Middle East in the first century would look like. It ain’t Max von Sydow!

So, if all the current depictions of Christ were changed to reflect reality, would those statue protectors be just as gung ho?

A Cool Thing: Grackles Murmurating In Texas

It’s called murmuration. That’s when birds such as starlings, warblers, and grackles flock together and fly around without knocking into each other. Often they make awesome shapes and patterns as they fly through the sky. I’m told this happens in Texas every year in certain store parking lots.

The video at this link (in horrible, horrible portrait format – what are ya gonna do?) shows one such gathering of grackles, not crows as the video title states. It’s really cool.

Be patient. Wash your hands. Stay home. WEAR A MASK! Stay safe.

Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: You Know Better Than I Know by Pete Shelley and One At A Time by The Who

Second ad break bumpers: New Dreams by Naked Raygun and Every Word Means No by Let’s Active

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

Please subscribe on iTunes! Just search for Dimland Radio in the podcast section. And if you could leave a good rating and a positive review it would be awesome.

Subscribe to Dimland Radio on PodBean!

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’d like.

Images used under Fair Use.