dimland radio 8-28-10 show notes

I did it again. Another stellar show.

I was cool once Part 2

I enjoyed talking about the old days last week that I decided to do it again. This time I talked about one particular concert my friend John and I had seen. The concert at First Avenue in Minneapolis was The Cramps with The Screaming Blue Messiahs opening. That Cramps were good, but the real show was The Messiahs. They were fantastic. I played a few clips of their songs to give the listener a flavor of the marvelous noise this band made.

You can read a more detailed account of the show here. You'll need to scroll down a bit or you could read about the other concerts on that page.

Ten Minute Topic with Chris Brown

Fellow skeptic: Chris Brown

This was the first installment of a new segment for Dimland Radio. In Ten Minute Topic, fellow skeptic, Chris Brown, and I talk skeptically about some topic for about ten minutes. But don't hold us to the ten minutes. Remember, Chris and/or I could be wrong about any of the stuff we talk about, however unlikely. It is ok to be skeptical of the skeptics.

For our first installment we talked about the Book of Revelations. Actually, Chris did most the talking. Chris revealed the most likely candidate for who was the Antichrist. You'll have to download the show to hear the identity.

Chris learned much of what he talked about from Bart Ehrman, a Biblical scholar of some note. Please check out Dr. Ehrman here.

Quietest place on earth

No, it's not the Z Talk chat room during my show. It's a specially constructed studio at Orfield Laboratories, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN. It's so quiet it made the Guiness Book of World Records. I would be interested to hear an EVP that might come out of that room.

You can read more about the silence here.

Movie recommendation

It was time for a Western to be recommended, so I chose one the was directed by and starred Kevin Costner. No, not that one. I suggested that my listeners check out the 2003 Western, 'Open Range'. It's excellent and has a very authentic feel to it. It costars Annette Benning and the incomparable Robert Duvall.

Put in your Netflix queue now.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Alice's House' by The Psychedelic Furs & 'Night Time by Killing Joke
Second ad break bumpers: 'Constant In Opal by The Church & 'Your Autumn Days by Figures
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

dimland radio 8-21-10 show notes

No sexual innuendo on my show. Ever. (At least not so far)

I was cool once

Legendary Minneapolis nightclub: First Avenue

It's true! There was a time when I was hip to the cool music and the supercool Minneapolis night club, First Avenue. (If you saw the Prince movie 'Purple Rain', you've seen the night club.) I talked a little about hanging out there, slam dancing, and the hardcore punk band, Husker Du.

Hardcore punk group: Husker Du

I found a video on YouTube of Husker Du in concert at First Avenue taken on January 30, 1985. And I was there! You can't see me in the video, but I was there. I wrote about this show right here on this blog. Check it out here.

90s pop punk group: Elastica

I was also at First Avenue when Elastica filmed the live portions to the video for their song 'Stutter'. No, you can't see me in that one either, but I was there. Really, I was.

Around the table with a funny baby

I asked people to check a cute and humorous video of my then less than a year old son playing around the table in our living room.

Please check it out here.

It's Not True

So you don't drink eight glasses of water each day, do you think you're dehydrated? Odds are that you aren't. You see, the idea of drinking that much water a day at minimum is a myth. Most people get plenty of water not only from what they drink, but also from what they eat.

You can find more info here, here, and here. So if you're thirsty, have something to drink and try not to worry about it.

Will beg for money

Hang on! This homeless fellow has three hands!

I then speculated on whether panhandlers work in shifts. I've see what looks like shift changes taking place and I've always been curious about it. Maybe all ask one of the fellows about it someday.

Science makes a change

Triceratops

Torosaurus (no longer)

Yes, it's true. That dogmatic, stick to its old ideas forever, never changing practice of science changed. I'm being sarcastic. Science is an ever changing process. As knowledge and evidence is accumulated, scientists find that they have made mistakes and have been wrong about some of their ideas and theories. However, because science isn't set in stone, it is capable of changing its mind. Can we say the same about religion?

Case in point, paleontologists have recently found that the triceratops and the torosaurus are not separate species of dinosaurs, but they are, in fact, one species. The triceratops is the younger version of the torosaurus. Now all those museum nameplates will have to be changed.

Read more about it here.

Natural benefits of tart cherry juice

I had been hearing ads for a tart cherry juice concentrate that, when added to most any beverage, has all kinds of health benefits. I was always quite skeptical of the claims. But there's a recent study that suggests that cherry juice can help you fall asleep faster. Although the study was very small, only 15 people participated, it shows that I may be wrong in my skepticism. We shall see.

You can read more about it here.

Movie recommendation

This week's movie is the documentary 'Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who'. If you are a Who fan (and why wouldn't you be?) you must watch this film. It is very comprehensive and the extras disk has some fascinating short docs on each band member's musical contribution to The Who's sound. The one about Keith Moon is especially intriguing.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'I Apologize' by Husker Du & 'Creatures Of Love' by Talking Heads
Second ad break bumpers: 'Falling (Theme to Twin Peaks)' by Angelo Badalamenti & 'Invaders Of The Heart' by Cheap Trick
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

dimland radio 8-14-10 show notes

This, my 23rd edition of Dimland Radio really had a full chat room. That is if you consider two people a full chat room. Oh, well. The show must go on...

Cold open: The number 23!

I started with another cold open in which I mentioned this show was number 23 for me. The number 23 is thought to have some metaphysical qualities. I, of course, don't accept that for a second, but I told how a friend of mine spread the 23 virus to me and, for a time, I started seeing 23s everywhere I looked. So it seemed anyway.

I did give a few examples of how the number 23 would frequently show up in movies, TV shows and other places, showing someone had chosen to use that number. Interesting if not earth-shattering.

In Search Of... Again




This week I returned to one of last week's topics, the original paranormal weekly TV program, 'In Search Of...' I didn't get to really explore why I love the show so much and still do, so I figured I talk about it again. This time I talked a bit about the UFO episode, as well as how cool the music for the show was and how perfect Leonard Nimoy was for the host.

It's Not True

Have you seen her? She's the gal who dramatically quit her job by sending a series of pictures of herself holding a dry erase board detailing her resaons for quitting and getting the last laugh on her boss. It's pretty funny, but it's not true.

See the original post here and the hoax revealed here.

Lazy co-worker update

Last week's ultimate story of a former co-worker who made me crazy with his poor work ethic was ruined when I had to disclose that he had what was a possible brain tumor. Well, the update is that whatever it was wasn't cancerous and was removed successfully. It appears he'll be ok, so that means I'll be able to tell more stories of his aggravating ineptitude. Yay!

At The Movies comes to an end

Ok, it's not the end of the world, but Saturday, 8-14-10, marked the end of the 35 year institution known as 'At The Movies'. Started on PBS (then titled 'Sneak Previews') in 1975, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert created the movie review show that has never been topped. I started watching Siskel and Ebert in the late 70s and the weekly show quickly became the only show I could not miss for the next 30 plus years.

All good things must come to an end.

Movie recommendation

Sure, I could say that the reason I had no movie recommendation this week was to honor the ending of 'At The Movies'. The truth is, I just ran out of time. I had a movie picked out, but it will have to wait until next week.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me' by Rosanne Cash & 'I Wanna Destroy You' by The Soft Boys
Second ad break bumpers: 'l Remember' by Naked Raygun & 'I Against I' by Bad Brains
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

dimland radio 8-7-10 show notes

There were a couple of weird iTunes glitches, but I powered through...

Correction

I made a minor correction from last week's show. When talking about how old the universe is, I said it was 13.72, but I neglected to say 13.72 what. Well, it's 13.72 BILLION years-old, give or take.

Ultimate story of a lazy co-worker... ruined

We all have worked with a self-important, always pretending to be busy, narcissistic jerk. You know the type. I told the ultimate story of one such co-worker, oh it was a good one. However, I had to go and ruin it. I had to tell everyone that this fellow had been recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. Bummer.

It was a good story though.

By the way, the old adage states that if you can't think of a co-worker of the type I described above, you're probably the jerk.

Another date for the end of the world! Everyone panic!

Some group of the-end-of-times type Christians are claiming to know exactly when God will destroy the world. It's gonna be 10-21-11! Better cash out those 401Ks, everyone!

Read about this silliness here. And we'll see you 10-22-11.

It's Not True

This week I talked about the popular myth that slaves build the pyramids of Egypt. Evidence shows that workers may have been drafted to work on them for a set period of time, but they were not slaves. There is evidence that the builders were well cared for and that they took pride in their work.

Read about this myth here.

In Search Of...

I didn't get to everything I had intended to in this segment. I guess it was more of a whetting of the appetite for next week's show. I'll talk more about this granddaddy of the "true" paranormal TV shows.

Movie recommendation

It was released in 1974, one of a series of the disaster movies that were some popular at the time. 'The Towering Inferno' is chock full of 70's tacky goodness, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and a very tall building on fire. I talked a bit about the back story on the dispute as to who would get top billing and the unique solution.

Put it in your Netflix queue now!

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'I Bought Myself A Liarbird' & 'Mayor of Simpleton' by XTC
Second ad break bumpers: 'Vanishing Girl' & 'My Love Explodes' by The Dukes of Stratosphear
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

dimland radio 7-31-10 show notes

I'm going to start making my show notes a little shorter. If you want a more fleshed out version, listen to my show!

Cold Open Rant

Before I even played the opening to the show I went on to rant about how much I disliked the movie musical 'Chicago'. He had it coming! He had it coming! He had it coming! ARRRRGGGHH!

Speaking Minnesohtan

Inspired by Z Talk regular, Winnie and her ability to do various accents, including the Minnesotan accent, I brushed off my Minnesohtan. I'm pretty good at it, but I'm a life long Minnesotan, so I guess I have an advantage. I told the story of a trip to Wyoming and the needling received for the accent.

It's Not True

This week I talked about the popular myth that people only use 10% of the brain. We use 100% of our brain. Our brain is always active, even when sleeping. Think about it... if we only use 10% of our brain we could remove the unused 90% and we'd be fine, right?

It's not true. Read about this myth here.

Phil Plait's "Don't be a dick" speech at TAM8

I wasn't at The Amaz!ing Meeting 8 (TAM8) in Las Vagas this year. In fact, I've never been to the largest yearly gathering of skeptics. Maybe someday. And since I wasn't at TAM8 I missed Phil Plait's speech on changing the tone that has creeped into the skeptical movement. He advised skeptics to avoid being dicks toward believers.

Much of his speech and one blogger's reaction can be found here. You can find Phil Plait's blog here.

Movie recommendation

This week I recommended the 1997 sci-fi film, 'Contact'. The film is based on Carl Sagan's novel of the same name. The story is of how it would happen and what might happen if we humans make contact with an intelligent alien lifeform. The subject is handled in an intelligent and scientifically plausible way. I was intrigued by it's comment on taking things on faith. And it's opening sequence is breathtakingly beautiful.

Put it in your Netflix queue now!

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Washaway' by XTC & 'Summer Fun’ by The Barracudas
Second ad break bumpers: 'OK Wait' by Naked Raygun & 'Destination Unknown' by Missing Persons
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