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

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 6-21-14

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

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 6-14-14 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.

 

 

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 6-7-14 show notes

Rage As Management Style

 

I talked a little bit about "reality" television. I haven't watched much of it, but I did acknowledge the shows can suck you in. I then mentioned Chef Gordon Ramsay and his method of training by rage. At least, that's how the advertising makes it look. I'm telling you Ramsay is heading for a heart attack.

I'm Still Old, But...

 

I don't look as old as I am. Which is nice. But Abe Vigoda is one of those people that always looked old. I pointed out Abe was 50 as he worked on the classic 'The Godfather' and he was 53 when 'Barney Miller' went on the air. This year, my older brother will be turning 53 and I will be turning 50.

Abe is 93 and he's still alive.

What Kind Of Man Am I?

 

I'm the kind of man who couldn't go to a prostitute. Not because I'm above all that. It's because I could never do the negotiation process. I just wouldn't be able to tell them what I want. I'd be way too uncomfortable.

 

This occurred to me while watching the episode of 'Stephen Fry in America' where Stephen visits the Mustang Ranch in Nevada and learns the process of using such a facility. 

 

It's Not True: Michael Moore's Treatment Of Charlton Heston

Last week, I discussed how Anderson and "Bald" Bryan of The Film Vault got it wrong about Charlton Heston being a racist. Heston was marching for civil rights long before either of them was born.

I decided to talk about the distortions employed by Michael Moore in has "documentary" 'Bowling for Columbine' and what he did to Charlton Heston. Moore clipped up Heston's speech at an NRA gathering in Denver, held shortly after the Columbine tragedy, and added the "cold dead hands" statement from another speech, given a year later, to make it look as though Heston and the NRA were in Denver as an arrogant, defiance of the people whose lives were touched by the tragedy.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. The NRA had scheduled the event, which they were required by law to have, far in advance of the shootings and there wasn't time to change venues. They also cancelled all events save those that they were required by law to have.

Heston's actually speech reads far differently to the highly edited and misleading speech Moore showed us in 'Bowling for Columbine'.

 

Also, after Moore ambushes Heston in an interview, there is a sequence with Moore showing Heston the picture of a six year-old girl who was tragically shot and killed by another six year-old who had brought his father's gun to school. As Moore implores Heston to look at the photo, Heston turns his back and walks away.

The problem with that sequence is the Moore seems to be employing two cameramen. He would have had to to get the shots we see. However, we don't see the cameramen in the shots, as we should if there were, in fact, two cameramen. What happened was that Moore had only one camera and had to do different camera angles and doing some editing to get the sequence we see in the film. That seems dishonest to me.

This link has more of the Columbine distortions, but there are several broken links as this is an old site. And here is the text of Heston speech at the Denver event. Here is how Moore depicted Heston's speech in Denver.

 

Movie Recommendation D Day Edition: Band of Brothers (2001), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Longest Day (1962)

 

HBO

 

DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures

 

Twentieth Century Fox

 

Since Friday was the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, I thought I'd recommend three movies that fit the theme. 'Band of Brothers' is an HBO mini-series that I have recommended before, but it does deal with D Day and it is an excellent series. 'Saving Private Ryan' has one of the most awe-inducing opening battle sequence ever filmed. It's the invasion depicted so realistically that you wonder how anyone got off that beach alive. And 'The Longest Day' is an old style war film that is all about D Day. It's a star-studded affair that is heavy on exposition, but still an entertaining watch.

    

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Down In The Seine' by The Style Council & 'Dodo/Lurker' by Genesis
Second ad break bumpers: 'Did You Steal My Money' by The Who & 'Dirty Mind' by Prince
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 5-31-14 show notes

 It's Live Show! Again! Again!

It is now three weeks in a row of live shows. This time it was due to my taking part in a roundtable discussion as part of the podcast Assault of the Two-Headed Space Mules, which was recorded Friday night when I normally record my show. We'll see what happens next week.

Running To The Bus

 

Friday morning Hayden and I were walking to the bus stop, which is only a block away. A third of the way there, I realized we forgot Hayden's water bottle. I heroically ran back to the house and part of the way back to the bus stop. I was way too winded to run the entire way. I did catch my breath fairly quickly and I didn't die. Felt close, though.

Hayden's Argument For Class

 

Hayden's teacher has assigned her students to argue a topic. They are supposed to write an essay on their argument and present it to class. My son picked atheism for his topic to argue in favor of. Amy and I hope his class can handle it and Hayden doesn't suffer any push back by the religious members of his class.

Fifth grade and he's tackling atheism. 

 

Facebook Meme Talk

 

I discussed Dim's Law. That's my attempt to make sure that memes purporting to quote someone famous are sourced. That meme should include a link to a source that confirms the famous person actually said the quote. I realize this may be naive on my part, but I'll see what I can do. 

Atheists On Television

Another bit of meme talk. This time I spotted a meme featuring six TV characters who are atheists (see above). The meme is complaining that the portrayal of atheists tends to be negative. I gave my opinion and read a list of the top ten atheist characters on TV pulled from AmericanHumanist.org.

Here is also a list of atheists and agnostics in fiction from Wikipedia.

The Film Vault Boys Got This One Wrong

That Heston! What a racist!

The Film Vault is a weekly podcast featuring a Top Five list related to movies. The hosts "Bald" Byran Bishop and Anderson Cowan recently did a show on their picks for the Top Five racist characters in film. Byran chose Charlton Heston from 'Bowling For Columbine' and Anderson agreed.

First, 'Bowling For Columbine' is a documentary, so Heston was not a character. Second, it's a documentary by Michael Moore and Michael was never one to let the facts get in the way of his agenda.

Heston was asked why America was so unique in its gun violence. Canada has high gun ownership, but not high gun violence. Why? Heston said the US has a more mixed ethnicity, but he also said he didn't believe that was the reason. He mentioned having "enough problems with civil rights in the beginning."

I know that sounds damning. Sort of. But what Moore and The Film Vault boys didn't tell their audiences, was that Heston knew about those civil rights "problems" because he was there. Standing up, in the early 60s when most of Hollywood didn't want to get involved, to be counted in the fight for civil rights for all Americans.

Heston was old, probably suffering Alzheimer's disease, and being ambushed by Michael Moore. He may have moved more to the right as he got older and began to fight for Americans' Second Amendment right, but he was never a racist.

Movie Recommendation: Godzilla (2014)

Warner Bros.

This was the topic of the roundtable discussion I was a part of on Assault of the Two-Headed Space Mules. We did talk spoilers about this pretty entertaining monster flick. Not perfect, but very good. So, watch the movie if you plan on listening to that podcast. You wouldn't want it ruined for you, would you?

    

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Certain Things Are Likely' by KTP & 'Cig In Backwards' by The Suburbs
Second ad break bumpers: 'Coming Up' by Paul McCartney & 'Close (To The Edit)' by Art of Noise
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.