dimland radio 11-5-16 show notes

The Condescension Of "Sportsball"

 

I noticed the term "sportsball' popping up on the internets. Have you seen it? It's a term used by people who don't know anything about sports and don't care to, but they want to have an air of superiority about their ignorance.

 

I can't say I'm not guilty of ever being proud of being clueless about some aspect of today's pop culture. And since I am also guilty of that attitude, I thought it might be a good idea to use the word "ball" as a suffix added to things we don't care about.

 

"Oh, are you guys talking Walking Deadball? Gee, I don't know anything about that show. I've never watched it."

 

Something like that. Do you think it will catch on? Or aren't you interested in giving things clever namesball?

A Story 108 Years In The Making

What a hell of a World Series! (I know, sportsball.) The Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs know plenty about futility. Between them they have 176 years without a World Series Championship. Cleveland has waited since 1948 and Chicago since 1908. So with this World Series the fans knew history was going to be made, but who would make it. 

 

Turns out it was the Chicago Cubs, America's Sweetheart Team, who would break their long drought.

 

And what a Game 7! That game was a thrill ride. It was a roller coaster and I talked about how it rivaled Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. That was the Jack Morris 10 inning shutout pitching performance that gave the MN Twins their second ever World Series Championship.

 

1991 was a more soundly played baseball game with better defensive play and excellent pitching. That Game 7's drama was based mainly on the steady increase of tension. As a Twins fan, I was going crazy with that whole "let's get this over with" feeling.

This year's Game 7 started out feeling like a Cubs victory, but the pitching faltered (for both teams) and there was some poor defensive play along with a costly wild pitch (on the Cubs' side) allowing the Indians to get back into and then tie the game.

Then came the tenth inning, but before that could be played there was a 17 minute rain delay. ("Auggggh! Get me off this ride!") During that rain delay, the Cubs had some players speechify and rally the team. And I'm sure the Indians were doing the same.

Play resumed and the Cubs scratched out two runs and the lead in the top half of the 10th, but Cleveland homered in the bottom half. They got within one run, but the Cubs were able to get three outs and become World Champions for the first time in more than a century.

Woof! I was spent.

The ratings for this year's Game 7 was the highest since 1991's Game 7. The Cubs/Indians' Game 7 averaged 40 million viewers. Still, Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between the MN Twins and the Atlanta Braves pulled more than 50 million viewers. Both are mighty impressive numbers for baseball.

Photojournalists Don't Just Snap Pictures

No, photojournalists capture moments, good and bad. I talked about how someone with the talent and training and experience can make an art out of documenting history. They don't just show a moment they capture the moment. Their pictures tell us so much about an event. (However, photos can be misleading. I'll talk about that next week.)

 

So, there was a story online about the glaring difference between the front page photos of the triumphant Cubs by the Chicago Tribune  (which still has a staff of photojournalists) and the Chicago Sun-Times (which does not). As one person put it, it was iconic vs forgettable. It's tougher than it looks.

 

My Pillow Settles Lawsuit

I don't mean my pillow, the one I use at home. I mean the special, super-awesome pillow you can buy through the TV called My Pillow. Last March on show 267, I had talked by how I was doubtful about some of the claims being made by Mike Lindell, inventor and CEO of My Pillow, in one of his commercials that seemed to always be running on Antenna TV. I hadn't noticed the ad had disappeared recently.

 

Well, a California District Attorney brought a lawsuit against My Pillow for misleading claims of improved health from numerous ailments in their advertising. That's what had me being doubtful. I didn't doubt the pillows were comfortable, but I did doubt it helped with fibromyalgia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, among other ailments.

 

The way Lindell attempted to get around the need to demonstrate the claims were true, thereby keeping the FTC off their back, was to use the weasel phrase, "I've had people tell me..." But, I guess that didn't work to keep that DA in California from bringing a lawsuit for deceptive claims.

 

My Pillow opted to settle, instead of going to trial. They have to pay $950,000 in civil penalties and $100,000 to be given to a charity.

 

Movie Recommendation: None

I ran out of time this week, so you are on your own. 

 

Music heard on the show...
 

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Columbus' by The Church & 'O Superman (For Massenet)' by Laurie Anderson

Second ad break bumpers: 'Unheard Music' by X & 'Nothing Turns Out Right' by The Mighty Mofos

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 10-29-16 show notes

It's Been A Long Time Coming

 

Well, October is nearly over, but we still have Halloween and World Series baseball. This year is historic in baseball because two teams who haven't won that championship in a long time are in the series. For the Cleveland Indians it's been 68 years. Impressive until you realize the Chicago Cubs haven't won the Fall Classic since 1908. That's 108 years!

 

So, this year one of those teams is going to end their drought. The popular favorite is the Cubs, which, I admit, is the team I'm pulling for, but I won't be disappointed if Cleveland wins. Cleveland gets an NBA Championship this past spring and now, perhaps, a World Series? Next the Browns will... Oh, right. The Browns.

 

I hope for a good series. Seven games would be best. I love seventh games. The Cubs trail in the series 3 - 2, so we shall see.

 

On to Cleveland.

Tales Of Halloween Past

My friend Michael Noble allowed me to have a week off from blogging for Warehouse Find by doing a bit of guest blogging. He told the story of one particular Halloween when he was a boy. He and two of his friends finally braved the neighbor's "haunted house". This was something they hadn't be able to get the nerve to do in past years.

 

The results of their bravery can be read here.

 

Michael's remembrances got me to thinking about how dedicated my brother and I were to canvasing as large an area as possible, hitting some areas twice and staying out for hours, to get plenty of treats. We were on a mission and each year's mission was a resounding success.

 

My son, on the other hand, did like to dress up and get candy, but a half hour or an hour of trick or treating was plenty for him. I would take him out most years and ask are if he was sure he wanted to go back home after so little time. He did.

 

He's 13 now and he's gonna stay home and hand out the goodies. Don't worry. We bought plenty of candy to have leftovers for us.

LA County Medical Examiner Finds Katie May Died From Chiropractic Treatment

Back in February of this year, I talked about Katie May's untimely death. May was a model and the self-named Queen of Snapchat, who, while on a photo shoot, fell and injured her neck. It was painful and she sought out care for her neck from her chiropractor. After a couple treatments, Kate May was dead at age 34.

 

Skeptics critical of chiropractic, myself included, speculated that neck manipulation might have been the cause. There is a risk, it is small, of arterial tearing with such manipulation which can lead to stroke. Stroke can result in permanent injury or, at worst, death. It is fairly rare that that happens, but when you consider there is no benefit from neck manipulation, that risk though small isn't worth it.

 

Skeptics were speculating until, months after her death, the LA County Medical Examiner's report listed "neck manipulation by chiropractor" as the cause of death. Certainly, chiropractors will disagree and site the rarity of such results and say there are no studies confirming a causal link, but there is a strong association. And, as I said, the risk is too great.

 

If you insist on seeing a chiropractor, don't allow him or her to crack your neck.

 

Phoenix Lights Redux And A Dimland Radio Science Zero

Back in 1997, many people in Phoenix, Arizona spotted flares floating down in the night sky. Of course, most people jumped to the conclusion those fuzzy lights were extraterrestrial spacecraft. Yep, that seems like the most reasonable explanation for flares being dropped during a military operation. People didn't know what it was (but it weren't no flares!) so it had to be aliens! (Argument from ignorance.)

 

There were actually two sightings of lights that night over Phoenix. As I stated earlier, flares were most likely responsible for the later incident. For the earlier incident that explanation was a formation of airplanes. The explanation for both sightings can be found here.

 

Well, just recently, the daughter of fellow Z Talker, Kale Kelly, was able to capture video of more fuzzy lights in the night sky over Phoenix. Again, they were probably flares, but she concluded aliens were involved.

 

Of course, the local news station credulously reported the incident. That's how these news stations operate. On these "fluff" stories, it's all about the mystery, never the explanation. They even talked to Dr. Sky. Dr. Sky is Steve Kates and, as far as I can tell, he's an astronomy enthusiast, if not an actual astronomer. He's called an astronomer in the report, but I couldn't find anything that stated he is a trained astronomer. But an amateur astronomer is going to know a hell of a lot more than me when it comes to what we see in the night sky. Still, his statements really aggravated me. At first, I was angry with his mystery-mongering, but, on a second viewing of the report, I noticed some editing. So, despite his quick dismissal of the flares explanation, I'm going to cut him some slack, but not much.

 

However, the reporter Vivian Padilla and the station ABC 15 Arizona, are both Dimland Radio Science Zeros for their mystery-mongering.

 

I even wrote to the reporter. Here is what I said:

I have watched your report on the recent "strange lights" seen over Phoenix. I understand these sorts of reports are treated differently by news organizations. The mystery is more interesting than the solution. I get it. But you are a news reporter, you should be properly informing your viewers.

Is Dr Sky really an astronomer? I've looked on his website and I can't find where he studied astronomy or if he had earned a degree. He appears to be an amateur astronomer who works in media production promoting science. Amateur astronomers are fine, but I would have hoped you would have talked to a professional astronomer. If Dr Sky is a trained astronomer then I am mistaken, but maybe even more disappointed.

UFO means UNIDENTIFIED Flying Object. Not an extraterrestrial spacecraft! Sure, Dr Sky doesn't say that's what it is, but he glosses over what these lights most likely were: flares. It looks to me that they are flares being dropped from a plane or helicopter at a distance, with the flares igniting as they are being dropped. That's why they appear to blink on out of nowhere. And they blink off possibly due to going behind something, say a mountain range, as was the case in the Phoenix Lights flares sighting in 1997.

I should say I'm not an astronomer. I'm sure Dr Sky knows more about the night sky than I do, which is why his conflating the possibility of life on other planets with the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrials actually visiting this planet has me so disappointed. Sure, it's arrogant and naive to think earth is the only planet out of billions and billions in our galaxy alone to support life, as he indicates in the report, but it's not arrogant and naive to doubt extraterrestrials are visiting us or ever have. Any astronomer worth their salt (and not trying to mystery-monger) knows that's not a proper argument to support extraterrestrial intelligent lifeforms visiting earth. Just because it is very possible (perhaps likely) there is life on other worlds, that doesn't mean we are being visited. But, maybe Dr Sky knows this and it's the way you edited the report that makes him appear to be conflating extraterrestrial visitation and extraterrestrial life.

Space is huge! How would an intelligent extraterrestrial lifeform even know we are here, let alone be able to cross the vast expanse of space to get to us? Astronomers know this. They of all people know best how big space is and how unlikely is extraterrestrial visitation. The woman who took the video images can be excused for not understanding that unlikelihood as she misuses the term UFO to mean alien spacecraft.

If Dr Sky is conflating these two related, but separate topics, he ought to know better. If you edited your report to make it appear that way, then shame on you for misleading your viewers for a bit of mystery-mongering. 

 

I have yet to receive a response.

 

Movie Recommendation: None

I ran out of time this week, so you are on your own. 

 

Music heard on the show...
 

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Stigmata Martyr' by Bauhaus & 'Intruder' by Peter Gabriel

Second ad break bumpers: 'In The Flat Field' & 'St. Vitus Dance' by Bauhaus

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.