dimland radio 4-24-10 show notes

Another fabulous show! Just me rambling on. No, I mean, just me making brilliant points and commentary as usual.

Theater of the mind

I mentioned this last week, but I wanted to promote it again. Z Talk Radio is doing something way cool. They are playing old time radio shows after Paradigm Shift (Fridays 10 - midnight central) and Dimland Radio. When my show ends Saturday Scare Fest begins and you can listen to the theater of the mind shows of the horror and mystery genre. After Paradigm Shift, it's Frontier Fridays where you'll hear old westerns such as the Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke and others.

Oral surgery insurance payment denial?

I talked about getting a notice in the mail stating that the oral surgery I received last month wouldn't be paid for. What?! Before I had the procedure we got the approval for coverage, so what's the deal? Turns on the surgery was covered under our medical. The notice we received was from dental and it was the dental insurance that didn't cover. Why do they do that?

South Park insults Islam

I went over some of the goings on with the South Park (it's still airing?) depicting Mohammed in a bear suit. Matt Stone and Trey Parker were "warned" by an American-based radical Islamic group that what they did was insulting to the Prophet and Islam.

You can read more about it here.

Boobquake

A young female skeptic found it so ridiculous that some Iranian cleric blamed earthquakes on the fact that women dressed immodestly she decided to respond. Jennifer McCreight, a Purdue University student, started as a joke a Facebook page called Boobquake. She's encouraging women to sign up on that page and post their cleavage photos. Boobquake day will be Monday April 26, 2010. Can't wait to check it out, I'm not sure why.

Let's hope there's not an earthquake on Monday.

You can read more about it here.

The Facebook fan page for Boobquake is here.

Edward Current

Edward Current is an atheist who poses as a fundamentalist Christian in a series of video on YouTube meant to satirize the Christian viewpoint. He's not for everyone, but I think he's pretty funny and worth checking out.

I mention the "miracle" on the Hudson and my views on that I also correct Edward Current's error in mentioning that Jesus was born without sin. Wrong! His mother was born without sin. Mary was the Immaculate Conception, not Jesus.

You can find the video I talk about and more here.

MN Twins Sunday game jinx?

You know I'm a skeptic and I don't believe in jinxes, but I still find it annoying that the only Twins' games I get to watch (Sunday afternoons, mostly) are usually losses. I don't know why it is, but every game I've been able to watch so far this season my Twins lose. Grumble, grumble.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Skin Deep' by The Stranglers & 'White Train' by The dB's
Second ad break bumpers: 'Astronomy' by Red Guitars & 'The Jezebel Spirit' by Brian Eno & David Bryne
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next week for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com You can also download my show from the Z Talk On Demand page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

airbags ain't funny!

There’s something happening in a lot of the comedic films and TV shows and it needs to stop! It’s the recent comedy cliché of an airbag deployment for cheap laughs. I admit I can be pretty pedantic at times and, perhaps, this is one of those times, but I hate it whenever the airbag is used as a comedic device.

It’s not funny. And it seems as if every comedy maker uses it at some point. As I said, it’s become a cliché.

I spotted the latest rearing off its ugly head in an ad for the comedy film ‘Date Night’. ‘Date Night’ is probably already out of the theaters, it didn’t get the best reviews, but it was in them long enough for me to see the ad on TV. The film stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell, both of whom I like, and from what I understand they do the best they can with substandard comedic material. I’m not surprised to hear that the material wasn’t very good, having seen that tired and lame airbag popping and staying inflated while Steve and Tina try to get out of their car. Hahahahaha! That’s hilarious! It’s so funny, because…

It’s not funny.

Airbags do not work the way they are depicted on those comedies. They deploy too slow, too late, for no reason (other than a lazy attempt at getting laughs), and they stay inflated! If they worked that way in the real world, people would be severely injured or die. And that’s not funny.

When airbags deploy it is instantaneous and explosive, and they are deflating at practically the same instant they inflate. That way the airbag catches and cushions the passenger, minimizing injury from an accident. And they don’t just deploy on their own. The vehicle has to be moving at a certain speed, or hit by another vehicle traveling at a certain speed, when involved in a crash for the airbag to be engaged. When a vehicle crashes while traveling at least 14 mph or when a stationary vehicle is hit at about 28 mph, the airbag pops. (I got these numbers from Wikipedia, so they may not be entirely accurate.) The impact also needs to be head on or near head on in cars with front airbags only to get deployment.

I’m not always so literal when it comes to comedy, after all I’m a huge fan of Monty Python, but this airbag thing makes me angry. It doesn’t make me laugh, it never has. It’s time for Hollywood to dump this lame, stupid, overused, lazy, comedic crutch.

And if you think it’s funny, go buy another copy of ‘Wild Hogs’ and leave me alone.

dimland radio show notes 4-17-10

No guest on this show. I may have tweaked a nose or two by covering this year's JREF Pigasus Awards. Trisha, a regular listener and chat room member gave me the "interesting show" response. I know that doesn't necessarily mean something negative and Trisha is a friend of the show. I understand the audience doesn't always agree with me. That's cool. I press on.

Theater of the mind

Z Talk Radio is doing something way cool. They are playing old time radio shows after Paradigm Shift (Fridays 10 - midnight central) and Dimland Radio. When my show ends you can listen to the theater of the mind shows of the horror and mystery genre. After Paradigm Shift, you'll hear old westerns such as the Lone Ranger. This to me is far out, I was very interested in those old shows when I was a kid. I'm especially thrilled that Z Talk has procured a few episodes of my favorite radio show, The Shadow.

The JREF annual Pigasus awards for 2009

Each year on April 1st (yes, April Fool's Day), the James Randi Educational Foundation announces the "winners" of their annual Pigasus awards. These awards are given to the individuals and organizations who have done the most (regrettably) to advance or promote superstition and psuedoscience in the previous year.

This year's recipients can be found here.

Dimland Radio promos

I knew it was out there, but I finally heard the promo for my show that was produced by Z Talk Radio. It's a good promo that even mentions my website, www.dimland.com. I didn't think to mention my website in the promo I wrote for my show. I'm glad somebody did. The Z Talk edition has a line that I wasn't thrilled with. It states that "science is religion on Dimland Radio." Well, it's not. I could tell that a skeptic did not write that copy. No skeptic would ever equate science as religion.

Skeptical news items

Ripped from a recent issue of the Skeptical Inquirer were these two stories:

Study Reveals Ginkgo Biloba Ineffective for Memory

African Albinos Murdered for Witchcraft

A (hopefully) humorous story about my son, Hayden

My son, Hayden, is so cute and smart and wonderful and awesome, even when he's making his dad stop peeing in midstream to run to find out why he's crying. It turned out Hayden was fine. He was just playing. That little stinker.

Correction

For some reason (I'm not as smart as I think, perhaps?), I didn't remember that "mg" stands for milligram, not microgram. How stupid is that?

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'This Ain't No Picnic' by The Minutemen & 'Bliss' by Urban Guerrillas
Second ad break bumpers: 'Warm Leatherette' by The Normal & 'And I Moved' by Pete Townshend
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next week for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com You can also download my show from the Z Talk On Demand page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

dimland radio 4-10-10 show notes

I had my first guest ever! It was Christy Necaise. Christy is the founder of the International Community For Paranormal Investigation & Research. She educates her investigators in the importance of being skeptical and how best to evaluate evidence. Christy also co-hosts a few programs on the Z Talk Radio network. Currently they include Paradigm Shift, Ghost Tech and Omni Fringe Radio, with two more shows on the horizon.

We talked about confirmation bias

I was impressed to hear that Christy uses the Skeptic's Dictionary website for one of her resources. It is a great website and there is also a book version you can get.

www.skepdic.com

The book version is available at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Skeptics-Dictionary-Collection-Deceptions-Dangerous/dp/0471272426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271014469&sr=8-1

Orbs and pareidolia

Christy talked about how orbs can happen in photography. She believes orbs are almost never pictures of ghosts. ( I would just say never, but that's me.) We also talked about pareidolia and how it is important for her investigators to be very aware of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Azeztulite/Pics%20to%20analyze/IMG_2939.jpg

http://icpir.org/photogallery/Vulture-Mine-Investigation

Extra innings

Christy and I enjoyed are conversation so much, we went a half hour past the time my show normally ends. We had the luxury of doing so because there is no live programming following my show. But Z Talk Radio will being playing old time radio programs following my show. That is cool! I dig those old shows. I hope they can get The Shadow.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' by The Police & 'The Queen Of Eyes' by The Soft Boys
Second ad break bumpers: 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)' by Kate Bush & 'Brainiac's Daughter' by The Dukes of Stratosphear
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next week for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com You can also download my show from the Z Talk On Demand page.

dimland radio 4-4-10 show notes

Just when I thought I was getting to hang of this radio thing, I forgot to have my iTunes activated properly with my broadcast software. I spotted the error in the first few minutes and corrected it. But we I listened to the show afterward, I noticed that my opening did not broadcast. Whoops. Well, I'm working on it.

Condolences to Tanya Douglas and her family

Z Talk's own, Tanya Douglas and her family recently suffered the loss of her father-in-law. I took the first few minutes of the show to express my deepest sympathies.

Scooby Doo, How Could You?!

I talked about being disappointed by the animated feature 'Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost'. My main objection was that there was an actual ghost in it. You read more in the previous blog entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo_and_the_Witch's_Ghost

Movie talk

I talked about an AARP movie quiz, continuity errors and lens flare. My favorite film continuity error comes from 'A Christmas Carol' from 1951 - a face in the mirror! It was likely a crew member and not a ghost.

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/powerof50/articles/top_50_movie_zingers.html

I talked about 'Wall-E' with the lens flare usage. There is no camera used in the creation of Pixar films such as 'Wall-E'.

There was no camera used in 'Wall-E' yet we still accept the lens flare.

Penn & Teller: Bulls Hit

I transitioned from 'Wall-E' into talking about Penn & Teller's skeptical program that airs on Showtime. I used 'Wall-E's first 20 minute depiction of a trash ridden world to talk about Penn & Teller's take on recycling. The world will not be buried in trash.

Warning! Penn & Teller: Bulls Hit contains bad language and nudity. They also use sarcasm and insults toward those with whom they disagree. View at your own discretion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvz-z7CvsYA

Ouija Boards and Haunted 911

While sticking with Penn & Teller: Bulls Hit, I'm mentioned trying to describe a Ouija board test they had done to the hosts (Ray & Wayne) of Haunted 911. I difficulty getting the point across through the Z Talk chat room, so I decided to talk about it on my show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG4wTZuT3wM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA5uYhXpa-E&feature=related

Minnesota Twins baseball!

I closed out the show with a little Twins talk. They have a new ballpark, just for them. There will be no more sharing a stadium with our football team, the Minnesota Vikings.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Your Silent Face' by New Order & 'Beat Surrender' by The Jam
Second ad break bumpers: 'Abacab' by Genesis & 'Whatever' by Husker Du
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next week for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com You can also download my show from the Z Talk On Demand page.

scooby doo, how could you?!

Some of my readers may be aware that I have recently started doing an internet radio show. It’s called Dimland Radio and you can find it at www.ztalkradio.com Saturday nights at 11:00 central. In fact, you can read my show notes each week right here at my blog. There, that gets the plug out of the way.

The first topic of my first show was ‘Scooby Doo, Where Are You?’, because it was the first kids’ program that encouraged a skeptical viewpoint. It debuted in September 1969, focusing on four kids and their dog roaming the countryside in their Mystery Machine van, looking for mysteries to solve. These intrepid trust-funders (there was never a hint of any of them having a job) would stumble upon a mystery of some apparent supernatural event and search for clues. Chased by ghosts, witches, werewolves and other assorted creeps, our heroes would always manage to reveal the truth and catch the bad guys.

The bad guys, as I’m sure you are aware, never turned out to be anything near being supernatural. It was never an actual ghost or witch or werewolf. It was nearly always a person in a costume (there was the one episode where the creep was a robot run amok). It’s a wonder that the kids, especially Shaggy and Scooby, would continue to be scared of “g-g-g-ghosts!” After all the times the mystery turned out not to be supernatural, you’d think they would no longer believe in ghosts or the like.

Just the other day, when I got home from work, I joined my son in watching a Scooby Doo animated movie online via Netflix. (Oh, Netflix! How truly wonderful thou art!) The show was called ‘Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost’. It was produced in 1999, 30 years after the world was introduced to Scoob and the gang.

Oh, boy! Was I disappointed!

First, it was 1999 and the world was beginning to be bombarded with the whole global warming, the earth is in danger message. So, of course, a kids’ cartoon had to deliver some save the earth message whether it pertained to the plot or not. In this case, it didn’t.

We were introduced to a grrl rock band named the Hex Girls. They called themselves “eco-Goths”, which seemed to mean that they were girls that liked to look like the undead and sing about how much they love the earth. And, as if to add some authenticity to the group, one member was Wiccan. I found it interesting that they treated Wicca as though it was an ethnicity, as in being Jewish, and not a religion, as in being Catholic. I may be wrong, but I don’t think Wicca can be considered an ethnicity.

But this was a minor annoyance.

What really bothered me was the fact that, at some point in the intervening 30 years, Hanna-Barbera thought it would be a good idea to drop the no supernatural policy as applied to Scooby Doo. And that’s what I was so disturbed by when watching ‘Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost.’ There was an actual ghost. My skeptic’s heart was broken.

Sure the first two thirds of the show held to the guys in costumes and other trickery angle, but act three went supernatural. A character who turned out to be a double-crossing villain found a book of spells and released the witch’s ghost from whatever limbo in which she had been imprisoned. It wasn’t smoke bombs and mirrors or any other tricks, nope, it was magic. Black magic!

It was also very anime. Lots of energy blasts, lightning bolts, explosions, yelling and screaming in that anime fashion. Trees became animated, as did pumpkins. People were lifted into the air and held in some sort of energy field. Finally, it took the pure of heart Wiccan girl to read the spell that would rid the world of the evil ghost and her helper. Mystery solved.

When the show ended I felt that I had been insulted by Hanna-Barbera. I explained to my son how it was wrong for Scooby to have been promoting supernatural, after having shown that such mysteries always have a real world explanation. Scooby had taught kids that the supernatural, the paranormal and the unexplained are merely mysteries that can be solved.

I don’t have a problem with other shows and movies, for kids or adults, indulging in the supernatural fantasy. I am a fan of The X-Files, Jonny Quest, Harry Potter, Dracula, Frankenstein, haunted house movies, etc. Those shows never held that the supernatural was just unexplained natural phenomena (well, Scully tried). But when Scooby went supernatural, I felt so damned insulted.

Scooby Doo, how could you?!