Dimland Radio

hey, ted, what’s your sign?

Ok, the following isn’t very scientific, but it is a quick, small sized study conducted by me. It was prompted by a meme (see above) that I spotted in my Facebook newsfeed. As you can see, according to the meme, which offers no evidence other than its say so, the top five signs that are most likely to murder are Aries, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Virgo, and Cancer.

Bullshit, right? Of course.

However, I thought I’d see what I could find out about the validity of this claim. I decided to make a list of 50 murderers, mostly American serial killers, and their zodiac signs. No, I can’t think of 50 serial killers off the top of my head, so I used Google and Wikipedia to find them as well as to get their birthdates. I also found a website that gave me the signs of the zodiac and their dates. Not believing in such childish silliness, I don’t have the signs set to memory.

I wrote each name down first and then used Wikipedia to find their birthdates and determine their signs. One name, Amy Archer-Gilligan, had to be scratched from the written list because Wikipedia did not have an exact birthdate for her.

Once a name was picked, Wikipedia gave me their birthdate, I checked the zodiac chart, and wrote down if it was a hit or a miss according to the meme. The list is in the exact order of the murderers I thought of or found. You will notice that there are a few in alphabetical order. Those were the ones I pulled from Wikipedia’s list of American Serial Killers.

Another name I struck from my original written list was Lizzie Borden. Borden is popularly thought to have murdered her father and stepmother, however she was acquitted of the crime, so, much like OJ Simpson, and she could not be included. I replaced her with Christopher Peterson. Borden would have been a hit and Peterson is a miss. Both names were chosen prior to my knowing their birthdates.

Here is the list, starting with everyone’s favorite Ted Bundy (My apologies these aren’t aligned more nicely.):

Ted Bundy                        Sagittarius           Hit
Jeffery Dahmer                 Gemini                 Miss
Henry Lee Lucas              Virgo                    Hit
John Wayne Gacy             Pisces                 Miss
Andrew Cunanan               Virgo                    Hit
Eric Harris                         Aries                    Hit
Dylan Klebold                    Virgo                    Hit
Aileen Wuornos                 Pisces                 Miss
David Berkowitz                Gemini                 Miss
Dennis Rader                    Pisces                  Miss
Gary Ridgeway                  Aquarius              Miss
Andrei Chikatilo                 Libra                     Miss
Richard Ramirez                Pisces                  Miss
Albert Fish                         Taurus                  Miss
Charles Manson                 Scorpio                Hit
Ed Gein                              Leo                       Miss
Edmund Kemper                Sagittarius            Hit
H H Holmes                       Taurus                  Miss
Timothy McVeigh               Taurus                  Miss
Ted Kaczynski                    Gemini                 Miss
Eric Rudolph                       Virgo                    Hit
Terry Nichols                      Aries                     Hit
Anders Behring Breivik      Aquarius              Miss
Jared Lee Loughner           Virgo                    Hit
Albert DeSalvo                   Virgo                    Hit
Carl Panzram                     Cancer                 Hit
Kenneth Bianchi                 Gemini                 Miss
Richard Chase                   Gemini                 Miss
Ottis Toole                          Pisces                  Miss
Charles Albright                  Leo                      Miss
Rodney Alcala                    Virgo                    Hit
Howard Allen                      Aquarius              Miss
Richard Angelo                   Virgo                    Hit
Benjamin Atkins                  Virgo                    Hit
Joe Ball                               Capricorn            Miss
Jake Bird                            Sagittarius            Hit
Richard Biegenwald           Virgo                     Hit
Richard Speck                    Sagittarius            Hit
John Allen Muhammad      Capricorn              Miss
Lee Boyd Malvo                 Aquarius               Miss
Wayne Williams                 Gemini                  Miss
Anthony Sowell                  Leo                       Miss
Robert Shulman                 Aries                     Hit
Paul Michael Stephani       Virgo                     Hit
Joel Rifkin                          Aquarius               Miss
Dorothea Puente               Capricorn              Miss
Marie Noe                          Virgo                     Hit
Susan Smith                      Libra                     Miss
Kenneth McDuff                 Aries                     Hit
Christopher Peterson        Aquarius               Miss

As I stated, this is not scientific and I’m sure it is likely that I may have made an error or two. I’m not a statistician, but I tried to be as accurate as possible.

So, counting the hits and misses, I get 22 hits (44%) and 28 misses (56%). I realize that another set of names could have the hits outnumbering the misses and that I just happened to get it the other way round. I also think that had the meme included six signs (half of the 12 zodiac signs) the result might just have approached 50%.

Regardless, there is no good credible scientific evidence that astrology is anything more than fanciful and wishful thinking. People should not be any more concerned with those who happen to be born under those five signs than of those born under the other seven.

By the way, my sign is Scorpio. Astrologers! Put your charts away!

dimland radio 7-5-14 show notes

Absent-Minded

Because of the Fourth of July weekend, this was a live show, complete with fireworks sounding in the background.

I started the show telling about how I had left my keys in the mini-van. Running. Smart move, Sherlock! I was able to call my father, who lives nearby, and he was able to swing over to my house, get the spare key from my wife, and come to my rescue.

Duh.

A Straw Man Found On Facebook

Seems a little biased, eh?

Facebook can get pretty annoying and very tribal. And my Facebook newsfeed is fed by a lot of political lefties and the meme you see above is an example of what I get loads of each day.

The meme is a straw man and a false dichotomy. It sets up a straw man definition of conservatives and liberals that makes it easy to argue against conservatives. And it’s just plain false, because people are never that black or white. People are far more nuanced.

So, I related one of my favorite tales from my very conservative days, when I got a table full of liberals to shut up. Oh, I shamed them, but good!

Dov “I Have Boundary Issues” Charney

Way back in 2004, I was working at a garment printing shop (Cold Side Silkscreening) as their office administrator and one of their customer service people. I told of how it became important to get garments that were American made and that we started getting shirts from a company called American Apparel.

American Apparel was founded by a fellow named Dov Charney. Dov seems to be a character who has stepped out of 70s porn in his look and his attitude. He was the subject of a glowing article in the now defunct women’s magazine, Jane.

The article, written by Claudine Ko, told us of American Apparel’s forward thinking on how to treat its employees with much better than the industry pay and working conditions, including clean and comfortable working space, massages, optional health care packages, and so on.

She also told her readers how much Mr. Charney enjoyed masturbating. And about his doing it in front of her several times. She told of his partaking in some undisclosed sexual act with a female employee, also it front of her.

Ms Ko spent about a month with Charney gathering info for her article. And when the time came for her to leave, she really didn’t want to go.

An argument I made at the time, other than American Apparel being open for sexual harassment lawsuits, was that I had to believe that had Ms Ko been writing about the CEO of Haliburton, with pretty much all the other details being identical, including employee treatment and pay, along with the masturbating, her reaction would not be so kind. I can imagine her needing to take a “Silkwood” shower after her meetings and she would have blasted the man and the company to the moon.

But, I guess, when the subject talks about supporting feminism and worker’s rights he can get away with pretty much anything.

For a while that is. Dov Charney and American Apparel have been sued for sexual harassment several times. The company is deeply in debt. And, just recently, Dov Charney, after dodging bullets for so long, has been ousted from the company he founded.

Movie Recommendation: How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

DreamWorks Animation

It’s a rare occasion when a sequel equals, or perhaps, exceeds the original. How To Train Your Dragon 2 certainly equals the brilliant original. It is a visual treat and a lot of fun. albeit its tone is a little darker.

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘Guess I Must Have Been In Love With Myself‘ by Pete Shelley & ‘Girls On Film‘ by Duran Duran
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Gardening At Night‘ by REM & ‘God Damn Job‘ by The Replacements
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 6-28-14 show notes

Start The Show Angry

Each week I listen to a movie review podcast called Comedy Film Nerds. It’s very enjoyable and the hosts, Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini, are funny and really know their movies. Graham, however, seems to have fallen for the organic/natural fallacy and he is also a gluten-free fellow. He’s never said if he has Celiac Disease or if he has been diagnosed (by a legitimate medical doctor) as being one of the exceedingly rare people with gluten sensitivity. I get the impression he is one of the many misinformed people who have the notion the gluten is bad. It’s not.

Well, late in their show from last week, Graham made a joke about Monsanto not caring about killing kids with their “shitty food.” I hit the roof. Monsanto is this decade’s Halliburton: a giant evil corporation that only wants money and to cause misery.

I don’t think many corporations would be very successful following that business model, but, perhaps, I’m naive.

I think Graham believes the fallacy of “Frankenfoods”, the fear of genetically modified (GM) crops. He doesn’t realize that virtually all the food we eat has been modified in some way. Corn, bananas, apples, oranges are not naturally occurring in the forms we know today. They have all been designed or modified by humans.

But, Graham and others like him through their fear and being misinformed would lead to children starving and going blind in parts of the world where GM crops can do the most good. It’s always easy to be wrong on a full stomach.

Here is a more balanced take on GM crops and Monsanto by skeptic Dr. Steven Novella.

I’m Pretty Sure I Didn’t Screw Up

The Boy and me with the tickets!

We received the tickets to the upcoming Paul McCartney concert. A few weeks ago, I related the story of how I got the tickets and of my panic when I thought I screwed it up. At the time, customer service confirmed I bought the tickets. Later, the credit card statement noted the tickets had been charged. Now, with the tickets arriving in the mail, I’m pretty sure I didn’t screw up.

I’ll know for sure when we are in our seats and the legendary musician takes the stage.

Nice Parking, Mr. Special

I encountered one of those asshole types who think they can park any which way they want. This dude took up three spaces directly in front of the store that I and others were trying to go to. I had to park on the other side of the lot and figured I would try to identify the prick when I got into the store.

Well, he was leaving as I approached and fit what I thought would be the profile of such a jerk.

Dimland Radio Science Heroes: Sen. Claire McCaskill and John Oliver

Recently, pseudoscience peddler, Dr. Oz was brought before a Senate hearing committee to answer questions about his promotion of snake oil on his highly rated TV show. (Thanks a lot, Oprah.) Sen. McCaskill wanted to know how Dr. Oz could justify calling the unsupported by scientific evidence diet supplements “miracles in a bottle.”

TV’s John Oliver did an excellent segment on this hearing and also dug into the history of the snake oil products and how they are protected by certain members of congress.

It’s a joy seeing Oliver take this scam to task. Plus, you get a tap-dancing Steve Buscemi. What could be better?

Examples Of Police Brutality?

I talked about a couple examples of what is being claimed as police brutality that I have seen on my Facebook newsfeed.

One sort of showed a 19 year-old woman at a Gay Pride event in Pittsburgh being roughed up by a cop. She had been getting in the face of a anti-gay rights “Christian” fellow when the cop acted. The officer claimed she struck and grabbed at him and that he wanted to get her away from the crowd. Because of the crappy amateur camera work we didn’t see the young woman hit the cop, but we did see her get knocked around.

The other video showed a man lying on his back, surround by cops telling him to get on his stomach. The man was drunk and had been starting fights when the police were called in. He refused to turn over and kept kicking at the officer, so they had to use force to get him to comply. I thought those cops showed incredible restraint, but the crowd and the person who posted the video on FB apparently disagree. There is more video, released by the police, that show more hitting by the officers before they backed off. I have not seen that video. I just read about in the link above.

Landscape! Dammit!

I then went into the problems with amateur videos on the internets. Too many people keep their camera in the portrait (vertical) position instead of landscape (horizontal) when making videos. It really annoys me, but I can’t really blame the amateurs. The companies ought to set their cameras to default to landscape when taking videos, but there is an app for that.

The other thing about amateurs taking video is they don’t understand the rule of always keeping the camera on the action. Pros know to do this, but amateurs will too often drop the camera to look with their eyes. When they do that the viewer can’t see what is going on. That was the main problem with the first police brutality video I discussed. The person taking the video kept looking with her eyes and not the camera, so we didn’t see what initiated the cop taking the actions he took.

Movie Recommendation Ikiru (1952)

Toho Studios

This Akira Kurosawa classic follows an older man through the last days of his life. He learns he has stomach cancer and maybe six months left to live. He had been working in the Japanese government bureaucracy for thirty years and he realized he hadn’t been living life. After an attempt to enjoy the excitement of the Japanese nightlife and spending time with a younger woman, a former co-worker, he determines to do something important in the days he has left.

This is a terrific film.

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘Fight For Love‘ by 54-40 & ‘Freak‘ by Bruce Foxton
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Four Engines Burning (Over The USA)‘ by The Screaming Blue Messiahs & ‘Freeze Tag‘ by Suzanne Vega
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 6-21-14

Does This Show Smell Stale?

Well, it is a week old. This was the show that didn’t play last week. I gotta say it was nice not having to produce a new show this week. I did enjoy having some time off.

New Show Policy…

I have decided that, when appropriate, I will no longer stifle the “shits” and “bullshits” on the show. Sometimes there is no better way to describe the nonsense than to just say, “Bullshit.”

You’re an adult. You can handle it.

Getting Vaccinated. Well, Almost

Vaccination is a recurring topic on Dimland Radio. I believe it is important to keep getting the word out the vaccines are safe and effective and that they do not cause autism. Each year, I get my flu vaccine and this year I’ve been thinking it would be a good idea to make sure my vaccination schedule is current and to look into getting the shingles vaccine.

I had talked about it with my doctor last year. I’ve had chickenpox, so I do have the shingles virus in me. He advised me to check if my insurance covered the shot and, if so, get it. It took a while, but I finally looked into it.

I’m covered!

But, there’s more to the story on the show.

Unsinkable Rubber Ducks

Who doesn’t love a rubber duck? Well, in most cases, rubber ducks are just peachy, unless you’re talking about the phrase I’ve been hearing lately.

Unsinkable rubber ducks refers to the likes of Peter Popoff, Uri Geller, Kevin Trudeau, and many others. As often as they are exposed as not being what they pretend to be, they keep popping up again. It’s a lot like whack a mole or being a Dutch boy dealing with dikes.

Rubber ducks can also be objects, such as the ADE 651. You may recall that device. It’s the dowsing rod that doesn’t detect bombs or guns or anything else for that matter. But, despite its main seller, Jim McCormick being convicted and sent to prison for the fraudulent dowsing toys, security forces in Iraq, Pakistan, and Thailand are still using them or similar devices.

People are going to die needlessly, because of an inability to admit being wrong or an absolute belief that these piece of shit devices work.

How Is This Guy A Doctor Exactly?

I was fairly vague about this. I didn’t want to be too specific about whom I was talking. I have a good friend who, along with a colleague of his, is working on another paranormal TV thing. Just what we need, right?

I mentioned that my friend is constantly referring to his colleague as Dr. So and So (I’m being vague, remember?). The only thing is, I can’t find out how this fellow is a doctor. My friend had provided a couple links that were supposed to have biographic information.

One link I can, frustratingly, no longer find. It was that link that stated the doctorate was honorary. Honorary? Who goes around with an honorary doctorate calling themselves doctor? And the honorary doctorate was from a dubious source, not a college or university.

Look, I know my nickname is Dr. Dim, but at the top of every show I make it clear that I’m not really a doctor. And, as far as I can tell, neither is this guy. Not that an amateur in the field his is in (I’m not telling) can’t make discoveries. And not everyone with a PhD is brilliant and infallible. I just wish I had more info on this guy. Where was he educated. What degree, if any, did he earn? In what field?

There is something I can find in abundance on the internet on this “doctor.” When he does his “scientific” investigations he uses…DOWSING RODS!

Guys, you want to have a chance to be taken seriously by scientists in your paranormal TV show, if that’s even possible, ditch the dowsing rods.

I will not link to any of this, because I want to keep this under wraps until the show actually materializes.

Another Gotcha Moment That’s A Notcha Moment

Recently, a YouTuber “Truther” believes he’s found a video of the second tower being crashed into by a jet airliner that proves no planes hit the towers at all. Yep, after several videos, professional and amateur, captured the plane hitting the south tower from multiple angles and, after thousands of eyewitness in the area and the millions watching on television, this nimrod finds one video he thinks shows a computer generation layering glitch, so, of course, that means no planes hit the towers. See the logic?

That’s it! Throw everything else out! He’s found a video showing the left wing of Flight 175 passing behind a pair of buildings situated behind the Twin Towers. How is that possible? It has to have been faked.

Even noted skeptic Dr. Steven Novella (an actual doctor) of the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe podcast was wrong, although far more steadily standing in reality, in his explanation. He thought it had to do with the darkness of the wing and the buildings the plane passed in front of. In the video the wing merely looked like it was going behind the building behind the towers. (It should be noted that the actual explanation was given in the comments on Novella’s blog and he acknowledged the validity of that explanation.)

But, that was wrong, Mike Hall of the Skeptics with a K podcast decided to figure out where those buildings actually were in relation to the towers. The reason the plane appears to fly behind those two buildings is because the plane flies behind them. The two buildings which appear to be behind (to the north) the towers are, in fact, several blocks in front (to the south) of them!

Mike Hall is a Dimland Radio Science Hero

Here is more about this and a Sandy Hook “truth” story.

Movie Recommendation There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane (2011)

HBO

Why did Diane Schuler drive the wrong way on the freeway at 70mph with her two children and three nieces in her minivan, crashing head-on with a SUV, killing herself and seven other people? The lone survivor being her young son.

Diane was a model wife and mother, an excellent manager and friend. She seemed to have everything together, so why did this happen? She had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system, but her family insists she wasn’t a drunk. A convenience store’s security cameras caught her making a stop and asking for some pain reliever. She didn’t appear to be drunk.

What happened? Was she a closet alcoholic? Did she have a stroke? What went wrong?

You can watch this tragic mystery here.

Music heard on the show…

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

First ad break bumpers: ‘Entre Nous‘ by Rush & ‘Eliminator Jr‘ by Sonic Youth
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Eye in the Sky‘ by Alan Parsons Project & ‘Eighties‘ by Killing Joke
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 6-14-14 no show

No Internet, No Show

There was a show prepared, but our internet went out and I couldn’t make sure the show played. It didn’t play, so I’ll play it next Saturday. Sorry.

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.