Dimland Radio

dimland radio 10-4-14 show notes

Did You Know?

Did you know that at the bottom of each show notes entry is a listing of the songs I played on the show? Whenever possible I link to the videos of those songs so you can check them out. Last week I linked to concert footage from the recent Replacements concert. So, check it out!

Old Friends And Memories

I then talked about a couple old friends from way back in my working at Wendy’s. They were boyfriend and girlfriend and were coworkers at the Wendy’s. When they got married, I was asked to be in their wedding party.

That lead me to talk about dancing. I used to dance back in those days at First Avenue, but the music I danced to was usually of a faster tempo and way cooler than the popular music of the day. Well, at the reception, a danceable song was played and I cut the rug.

So, 28 years later the girlfriend/wife of that couple tracked me down through Facebook. I was very excited to hear from her.

You’re A Naughty One, Saucy Jack

The identity of Jack the Ripper has finally been determined. Well, not really. It’s just that yet another person has written a book claiming to have discovered, through the science of DNA, just who the Ripper was.

Russell Edwards is the latest in a long line of writers believing he has cracked the case. But, there is lots of room for doubt. He may have the right guy, but his evidence has too many problems to be definitive.

You can read more here and here.

Walter O’Brien Isn’t Human, Allegedly

On a recent Adam Carolla Podcast, Adam’s guests were Nick Santora and Walter O’Brien. They were on to promote the new CBS series Scorpion. The series follows a group of super-geniuses as they help the American government battle terrorists. The show is based on O’Brien who is himself a super-genius.

A few claims were made on the show that set off my BS detector. O’Brien kept referring to the left brain/right brain thing, which really isn’t a thing. (See here and here.) And Santora added a couple eyebrow raising statements.

One was how super-geniuses have 20% higher rates of unemployment, substance abuse, and suicide. Really? 20% for each of those? Methinks Santora is pulling numbers out of his butt.

The other was the howler that, because O’Brien possesses a 197 IQ and his brain is 20% (yes, again 20%) denser and heavier, has is “literally a different species.” Literally? Really? O’Brien is incapable of reproducing with other humans?

I think Santora is just a tad bit guilty of over-hyping his new series. There are others who have their doubts about the claims of Mr. O’Brien.

Movie Recommendation: From Hell (2001)

20th Century Fox

I have recommended this grim, stylish film about Jack the Ripper. I figured since I was talking about Jack the Ripper on this show that I should recommend it again. It may be bleak, but I find it well done and fascinating.

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘On The Phone’ by Man Sized Action & ‘Outside The Trains Don’t Run On Time‘ by Gang of Four
Second ad break bumpers: ‘OK This Is The Pops‘ By Tones On Tail & ‘One Step Ahead‘ by Split Enz

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 9-27-14 show notes

Why No Dimland Radio For Two Weeks

It’s been two weeks since I’d done a show. Breaks can be nice, but when you return you see how much you need to do to catch up.

I had taken the last two weeks off, because one Saturday night I had to work and the other I went to see The Replacements.

The Replacements Come Home

For the first time in 23 years, The Replacements played a concert in the Twin Cities. They played at Midway Stadium in St. Paul. As stadiums go, Midway is quite humble, but 13,000 fans filled the general admission show very nicely.

I hadn’t planned on going, but my older brother sprung for tickets, so how could I refuse. I wrote a review of the concert for the Stuck in the 80s blog. You can read it here.

Big Pharma Creates Customers, You Say?

Time/Warner (a big corporation) would like to thank these “occupiers” for buying their masks.

An image of three “occupiers” holding a banner with the words (looking photoshopped, see above), “The pharmaceutical industry does not create cures, they create customers” appeared on my Facebook newsfeed. I commented using the Adam Carolla argument that Big Pharma has reduced HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a treatable chronic condition. No, not a cure, but also not evil as the meme seems to be suggesting.

My comment did get a response from the original poster and I answered his claims of expense and availability in Africa. My responses were met by a couple “yeah yeahs” and a “Kk.”

I think I may have won the point.

Adrian Peterson Doesn’t Spare The Rod

NFL elite, future hall of famer, running back of the MN Vikings, Adrian Peterson is also a part-time father to as many as seven kids. He also subscribes to the “spare the rod, spoil the child” philosophy of child discipline. Recently, we all saw the images of the aftermath of a beating AP meted out to his four year-old son using a switch (a thin branch with its leaves removed). The pictures were horrible and the MN Vikings suspended AP for one game.

But then New England kicked the Vikes’ ass, so AP was reinstated. However, the public outcry, comments by the Minnesota governor, and threatened loss of sponsors brought the Vikings organization back to its senses.

I had serious doubts that I would continue to watch the Vikings if Peterson was still playing.

Blowhard Sean Hannity Was Beat As A Child

In the wake of the Peterson allegations coming to light, Fox News blowhard Sean Hannity had a panel discussion on whether parents who spank should be arrested. Hannity related how his father beat him with a belt and had punched him in the face. Hannity felt he deserved it.

However, Hannity does not beat his kids. He takes their iPhones away. Sean was able to find an alternative to hitting. I wonder why, if it was ok for Sean’s dad to hit him, would Sean find a less violent way to discipline his kids. Perhaps, Sean Hannity learned what our society (most of it anyway) has learned over the years: beating your kids isn’t an acceptable way to punish.

It’s Not True: Miss Three Boobs And Vagina Cookies For 2nd Graders

I had two not trues for this show. The first was that Jasmine Tridevil did not have a third breast implanted a la Total Recall, so that she could get on reality TV and be unattractive to men, but still be pretty. The procedure, if done, would take a long time and be quite painful and the results would not appear as the do in her posted image.

The vagina cookies story is more plausible, but I couldn’t find any news site covering this story. Which would be a juicy story if true. Come on! A mom bringing cookies with vaginas made of frosting for a 2nd grade class treat? Fox News wouldn’t cover that?

Snopes.com has entries for both of these stories (here and here). It does give the vagina cookies an undetermined status, but here at Dimland Radio we call it bullshit.

Movie Recommendation: None

There was too much to talk about for me to get to a movie recommendation. Tune in next week. Until then you are on your own.

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘Skyway‘ & ‘Bastards Of Young‘ by The Replacements
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Takin’ A Ride‘ & ‘Can’t Hardly Wait‘ by The Replacements

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 9-6-14 show notes

In Search Of Has Arrived

I succumbed to my personal nostalgia and purchased the In Search Of DVD collection. The entire series of pseudoscience arrived Friday and I’ve begun binge watching it. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought it, I mean how many times will I watch the shows? But the price was good and my younger self really wanted it.

Perhaps I should do a dissection of each episode. But, that would be a fair amount of work though.

Congratulations Cosmos

The Emmy awards were handed out recently and the Fox science series, ‘Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey’ picked up four awards. The series had been nominated for 12 awards. Its four wins were:

Outstanding Original Main Theme Music

Outstanding Sound Editing

Outstanding Writing

Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.

Maria Menounos Was A Millionaire At Age 23

I’m just sayin’.

Talk about bragging rights at the high school reunion, television presenter, Maria Menounos was a millionaire by the time she got to age 23. I wondered (probably unfairly, although I tried to be fair) how the fact she’s a stone cold babe helped her achieve that financial status. She is smart, quick-witted, talented and very good at what she does, but if she had a face for radio…

Firewalking Ain’t No Big Thing

Ms Menounos, while a guest on the Adam Carolla Podcast, talked a little bit about motivational speaker Tony Robbins and firewalking. I don’t know much about Tony. I know what he’s famous for and maybe he helps people, but I’m leery of the whole motivational thing.

Firewalking, on the other hand, I have learned that there ain’t much to doing it. Yes, a person needs to wrap their mind around actually doing it, but if the hot coals are prepared properly and one walks quickly, there is little chance of getting burned, even if the coals are measured at 750 degree F.

Walking barefoot across a metal grill used at the local Wendy’s while heated to half that temperature? That’s a different matter. No about of motivation will prevent someone from getting horribly burned.

Here’s the science behind firewalking.

More Police State Talk

I don’t exactly agree that we live in a police state, but I could be ignorant and naive. I talked about a meme I saw comparing friendly neighborhood TV cops to today’s jack-booted thugs. The examples I gave for the TV cops were Andy and Barney of The Andy Griffith Show and Pete and Jim of Adam 12. They were the “aw shucks” form of TV fantasy 60s/70s law enforcement.

I also gave real world examples of the jack-booted thugs from those same time periods. Reality is way more complex than the meme suggests. Take a look at what some cops were doing in 1963 and 1968.

The $100,000 Shifting The Burden Of Proof Challenge

Internet preacher and ball cap wearer, Joshua Feuerstein has issued a $100,000 Challenge to atheists. He’s challenging atheists to prove his god doesn’t exist. Joshua, that’s not how it’s done. Those making the positive claim – God exists – have the burden of proof. The nonbeliever does not have that burden.

A few YouTubers and others have responded to the challenge. I include links to three of them. Two of them are very good responses, Bionicdance’s and the Thinking Atheist’s, but Cult of Dusty’s isn’t so good. Sure, Dusty makes a good point or two, but he smothers them with his vitriol and ad homenim attacks.

You can see for yourself:

Cult of Dusty
Bionicdance

The Thinking Atheist

Hey, Spider-Woman! Nice Bu…Whoa! Spider-Man! Have You Been Working Out?

Apparently, a variant cover of a recent issue of the Spider-Woman comic book has raised a few…eyebrows. Spider-woman is depicted climbing onto a rooftop with her butt in the air like she just don’t… Anyway, her costume also appears to be painted on her body. Well, duh! Superheroes have been drawn as though they were naked for decades. Sure, the anatomy has gotten more accurately drawn as the artists got better and society’s standard more accepting of that way of depicting superheroes, but they’ve been drawn estentially naked since I started buying comic books in the 70s.

Maddox of the Best Show in the Universe does an excellent take down of the outrage over Spider-Woman’s butt. Be warned the video in this link is NSFW.

Movie Recommendation: Crazy Heart (2009)

Fox Searchlight Picures

I really enjoyed this movie. Jeff Bridges (who won an Oscar for this role) plays “Bad” Blake, a country singer whose career had seen better days. “Bad” now drives himself to low paying gigs at bowling alleys and small time honky tonks. He still has his chops, but his drinking has pushed him off the main stage and he stopped writing songs. Enter a young single mom (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who seems to give “Bad” a reason to give a damn again.

Two near miss tragedies also give “Bad” a reason to clean up his act. Bridges is wonderful as the messed-up, but always charming “Bad” Blake. And there are times I swore I was looking at Kris Kristofferson.

I knew I really enjoyed this movie, because as it was getting to the end I found myself wanting to spend more time with “Bad”.

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘Never Talking to You Again‘ by Husker Du & ‘Next Position Please‘ by Cheap Trick
Second ad break bumpers: ‘New World Man‘ by Rush & ‘No Language in Our Lungs‘ by XTC

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 8-30-14 show notes

Best Laid Plans

I started this (my 200th!) show with a little tale, a follow-up, if you will, of the aftermath of my ice bucket challenge. I went to great lengths to make it clear that I wasn’t going to challenge anyone. I had no desire to force someone to either dump a bucket on themselves or give money to ALS. I thought I made that clear.

But, an aunt of mine, who is a Facebook friend, thought that because I tagged her in the post showing my ice bucket completion that I was challenging her. Oh, well. I tried.

Still, I was awfully jazzed when Dr. Rachie, a prominent skeptic (especially in Australia), had liked my bucket post and commented on it!

As of this writing, my ice bucket video has had 95 views on YouTube.

A Real Radio Professional: Freddie Coleman

When it comes to radio (terrestrial or internet) I am a rake amateur, but ESPN Radio’s Freddie Coleman is a true professional. I listen to his show, at least part of it, a few times a week and I never hear an “um,” “uh,” or “you know.” I don’t think you can get through a minute of my show without one of those. I don’t know how he does it.

Pedantic Moment: Only American Teams Have Won The World Series?

British comedian, Eddie Izzard, has a routine in which he jokes about America’s streak of winning the World Series. He’s impressed that no other country has won has ever won this “world” event.

Um, Eddie? Look up who won the World Series in 1992 and 1993.

Never Found In The 80s: King Crimson Connections Week

I did another week long series focusing on musical artists that all have a certain connection. This time that connection was King Crimson. I recruited fellow 80s Nation member, Douglas Arthur (host of the Assault of the 2-Headed Space Mules podcast) to help me with this series. He’s much more knowledgeable about King Crimson than I.

For King Crimson connections week, we profiled the following artists:

I’m A Hateful, Flag Waving What Now?

It is the internet and when you voice an opinion, you’re bound to get insulted. Not every time, but it does happen.

It happen to me when I commented on a Facebook friend posting of a video of an alleged moment of police brutality.

I commented: “This is the problem with these amateur videos. Not only is it in the hateful portrait format, the person taking the video doesn’t keep the camera on the action, so we don’t see the start of the confrontation.”

That’s all I wrote.

Another commenter apparently saw through my statement to what I was really saying. He wrote, “Hateful, flag waving, ignorant, human skid marks like Jim Fitzsimons reveal their true nature every time. Probably punches his wife and beats his dog. Probably runs in the family.”

Is this guy spying on me?

Movie Recommendation: Some Kind Of Monster (2004)

Paramount Pictures

This documentary about the metal band, Metallica, suffers from three things: 1) Way too long at two hours and twenty minutes. 2) Way too much talking about their feelings. (They were going through group therapy at the time.) 3) Way too much Metallica music.

Other than those things, I did find the film interesting. If you are a Metallica fan, you might find this much more enjoyable than I did.

Not much of a recommendation, is it?

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘Message Of Love‘ by Pretenders & ‘My Kingdom‘ by Echo & the Bunnymen
Second ad break bumpers: ‘The Model‘ by Kraftwerk & ‘My Life‘ by Man-Sized Action

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 8-23-14 show notes

Ice And Buckets And Challenges

I would have to guess it is safe to say the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is one of the most successful viral campaigns since the swine flu. It seems as though everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

The campaign has been wildly successful in raising awareness and, especially, money. Lots and lots more money than the ALS Association normally takes in through charity.

I talked about Lou Gehrig being the one person to first make the public at large aware of this awful disease. After all, that’s why it’s called Lou Gehrig’s disease. I should note I got the number of consecutive starts Gehrig made during his legendary streak. I was off by one game. It was 2130, not 2131.

I sneaked in a little political talk by mentioning that Pres. George W bush, who has taken the challenge, got more hateful venom thrown it him by comparing his taking the challenge to waterboarding. My, but some people on the Left really love having someone to hate so much, aren’t they?

It’s Not True: Teen Dies In Ice Bucket Stunt

An article from Huzlers.com was that shared on Facebook alleges that a teenage boy was killed instantly when an ice bucket challenge went wrong. The video in the article is real, but the story is fake. The kid didn’t die.

Huzlers.com is a internet tabloid site preying on the gullibility of internet surfers. I dissected the piece to demonstrate how to determine the validity of such articles.

This fake news item was number three in the Washington Posts’ weekly roundup of fake news on the internet.

Haters Gonna Be Talked To As If They Are Five Year-olds

I took a slight detour from the ice bucket talk to bring your attention just how much I hate the phrases: “Haters gonna hate” or “My bad.”

What are we back in kindergarten?!

And when did disagreeing with someone come to mean that you hate that someone? It is quite possible to hold a different opinion from another person and not have it mean that you hate that person.

I also talked about how orgasmic Pres. Obama makes so many of my Facebook friends. But, if I say more, I’ll be accused of being a hater.

Everyone Seems To Be Dumping Ice Water Over Their Heads..

Including…Me! Yep, Glen Ferguson, fellow ZTalker and host of a show called Canadian X Talk Radio, which is on the same station my show Dimland Radio, called me out to take the challenge. I did, but I did it my way.

This Whole Israel/Gaza/Hamas Thing Is Messed Up

Then, I talked about something I have so mush experience in dealing with (actually I’m lying here): Foreign Policy!

I waded out into the Israel/Gaza/Hamas quagmire. I tend to side with Israel, or, at least, I somewhat understand the position Hamas has put them in: Israel defends itself and kills innocent civilians that Hamas uses as human shields and the world condemns Israel?

There are others who have a take on this. Pat Condell, who is very outspoken and not sympathetic to the Islamic world, has several videos on Hamas and Israel (here, here, and here). Sam Harris, noted atheist, has written a piece more critical of Hamas (here). And President Bill Clinton believes Hamas is employing a “crass strategy” to sully Israel’s image to the rest of the world (here).

Movie Recommendation: None

You’re on your own this week.

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘Like It Or Not‘ by Genesis & ‘Lilydale‘ by 10,000 Maniacs
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Lyin’ Ass Bitch‘ by Fishbone & ‘Ladybird‘ by XTC

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.