All Quiet In The Neighborhood
Going To California
There won't be a new show next week, because I'm going to California to meet up with a couple friends I've only known online. It should be interesting and a lot of fun.
Unless they turn out to be serial killers. Then it would really be interesting.
Weren't The Confederates The Bad Guys?
I recently watched the 1940 Western Virginia City. It stars Errol Flynn, Randolph Scott, Miriam Hopkins, and Humphrey Bogart. There's a decided sympathy shown to the Rebels who were trying to get $5 million in gold from Nevada to the Confederacy, so the the War for States Rights could continue.
Yep, the War for States Rights. States Rights to keep slaves
The film even starts with a dedication to the Rebels. That indicated to me that this movie might have been based on actual events, but I couldn't find anything that confirmed this story was true.
Why would Hollywood show sympathy for the South when it comes to the Civil War? There was The Birth Of A Nation (1915), The General (1926), Gone With The Wind (1939), and other films that all overlooked the fact the war was about whether or not rich Americans could own people. I guess the studios didn't want to alienate Southern movie-goers.
There's also a horse falling stunt that made me recoil. Errol Flynn's character, a Union captain, is being chased on horseback by a group of Confederates, when he comes to quite a steep drop. It's almost a cliff it's so steep. He decides to attempt the decent, but midway down the horse he's riding starts falling head over hooves.
It was an actual horse doing the roll. It's very difficult to watch, but the horse appears to survive the fall as it immediately jumps up on its "feet". Yikes!
During my talk on my shock at the treatment of that horse, I was reminded of The Godfather and the infamous scene with a horse's head (a real horse's head) being left in the bed of a Hollywood studio executive. That's shocking enough as well, but what's even more shocking is that I am now older the actor Abe Vigoda was when he played to role of Salvatore Tessio! How is this possible?!
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| Abe at 50. |
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| Me at 54. |
The Valsalva Maneuver
No, that's not what they call that horse stunt in Virginia City. It's something one can do to equalize the pressure in ones ear as one is flying in a pressurized cabin.
I haven't flown very often, but the two occasions I traveled by air I suffered quite the sharp pain in my ears. The first time it happened I marveled at the prospect that everyone who flys experiences such pain, but they all seem to take it in stride.
Well, that can't be. I learned that some air travelers are susceptible to this discomfort and, obviously, I'm one of them. So, when you fly chew gum, yawn and swallow, or try the Valsalva Maneuver when you feel your ears plugging up, especially as your flight descends.
The New Documentary Always Amazing And The Justification Of Belief In Magic
A brand new documentary that follows the life, career, and friendships of magician/comedian The Amazing Johnathan is available on YouTube. It's an entertaining and truly touching look at this nutty performer's rise in the world of entertainment, an unexpected friendship, and dealing with a terminal diagnosis. It is well worth a watch.
Something is said in an outtake interview clip played during the end credits that sparked a topic for the show. It's the notion that those who want to believe magic is real cling to in their justification of their belief. They point to all that is still unknown to science. It's in there, they believe, that magic could exist.
That might be true, but, so far, of all the things that were unknown and are now known because of science, none can be attributed to magic. To quote Tim Minchin: "Throughout history, every mystery ever solved, has turned out to be not magic."
Here's Tim Minchin's Storm and a bit on magical thinking and the media's obsession with balance by Dara O'Briain. Both were referred to in my talk.
A Dimland Radio Science Zero: WHO
No, not the greatest rock band ever, but the World Health Organization. Normally, the WHO would be consider a Dimland Radio Science Hero for all the good work it does to fight the spread of disease and the keep the world population in good health, but recently the WHO has given promoters of alternative medicine something to point at as legitimizing their use of medicine by magic.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is being included in the WHO's medical diagnostic guidelines. TCM is not science-based. It medicine by magic. And it's inclusion in the guidelines is, according to Dr. Steven Novella, " a full-throated endorsement of pseudoscience in medicine."
For that, the WHO is a Dimland Radio Science Zero.
Learn more here.
One Creepy But Cool Thing: The Dancing Pig (1907)
It's pretty creepy, but it's also pretty cool. The image of the pig smiling has been grabbed as a image from popular internet memes, so it might be familiar to you.
Music heard on the show...
Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: 'Highwayman' by The Highwaymen & 'Talking Doll' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs
First ad break bumpers: 'Highwayman' by The Highwaymen & 'Talking Doll' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs
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
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