dimland radio 12-27-14 show notes

Pedantic Moment Or Two

While listening to a recent podcasting of Doug Loves Movies, I had a pedantic moment that, had I been there, would have sorely tested my patience. Doug and two of his guests (Rev and Steve the producer) from a Seattle morning radio show played a game called "Beat the Producer". The audience was tasked to keep time. Doug and then Steve had 60 seconds to answer ten movie trivia questions. The audience did not follow instructions, but no one noticed. Well, I did.

Also, Rev who provided the questions didn't get an aspect of one question quite right.

Nature Is Attacking!

There has been a group (rafter, thanks to listener Dave) of wild turkeys hanging around where I work lately. They get in the way of traffic and they chase after the mail truck when it approaches. Dumb birds.

I had considered chasing them off, but they are pretty big and I ain't no dumb bird. 

Viral Infection And A Broken Tooth

I was pretty darned sick this past week, but I toughed it out. I had my annual physical and the doctor figured I had a viral infection that would have to run its course. It appears to have run it.

Also, this past Monday, when chewing up some chips, I had a tooth break. It was a filling that gave loose. I have so many fillings that now the teeth are beginning to break apart. Crowns would be the better fix, but my insurance doesn't cover them, so the dentists patch 'em up the best they can.

Artwork Completed

 

'Vlad the Impaler' 2014: Ink, watercolor and dyes by me!

Also this past week saw me complete two art projects. One of which I had been working on for over a year. Well over.

One was a cartoon illustration of Vlad the Impaler (above). I had done this one as a thank you gift for my older brother, who took me to see The Replacement this past September. He was very happy with it.

The one that took all that time was a portrait of my wife. It took so long because I just kept setting it aside and didn't work on it for weeks. But I finally got to it. I don't have it scanned, so I can't post it here. I'll see what I can do to remedy that soon.

Internet Wrongness

A Facebook friend posted a something just a little too good to be true this past week. This is a fellow who I have had contact with through FB on a few occasions, so we have a bit of familiarity with each other.

His post was a letter allegedly written by an 86 year old woman who had the check she wrote to her plumber bounce. She stated that check must have been processed three nanoseconds before her pension was automatically deposited, causing an overdraft with a service fee of $30.

"Nanoseconds?" And 86 year old woman used the term "nanoseconds?" Hmmm.

She also mentioned the overdraft screwed up her mortgage and other loan payments. Mortgage? And loans? How many 86 year olds have those?

It turns out the letter wasn't written to a bank. And it wasn't written by this little old lady. It was a column in the Courier Mail of Brisbane, Australia written by Peter Wear. He wrote it way back in January 1999.

This article has been floating around the internets ever since. With the help of Snopes.com, I pointed that out in the thread. My FB friend said that everyone know the site he pulled it from is just for laughs and he deleted my comments. Well, it's his post, so it's his prerogative to delete any post he likes.

As a skeptic, I take it as part of my job to point out internet wrongness when I find it.

I also promised that I would link to a listing of "news" websites that should be avoided when looking for truthful news. I found two. One list from Doubtful News and another useful list from About.com.

Movie Recommendation: Silent Running (1972)

 

Universal Pictures

Not a great movie, but an interesting look at the ecology movement of the early 70s through science fiction. Bruce Dern plays the gardener of several forests that have been launched into space, because the people of earth had somehow learned to do without them. (Where'd the oxygen come from?) 

The decision had been made that after eight years of funding the project that is was time to end it and bring the boys and the robot drones back home. Dern and his three other spacecraft mates were odered to destroy the forests and prepare to return to earth.

Well, that's not exactly how it went.

 

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'You'll Have To Go Sideways' by The Soft Boys & 'Yea' by Man Sized Action
Second ad break bumpers: 'YOYOY' by Cheap Trick & 'You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch' by Thurl Ravenscroft

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 10-20-12 show notes

The Ewoks Defeat The Empire

Ok, so the Detroit Tigers aren't exactly Ewoks, but they did defeat the Hated Yankees by sweeping them right out of the American League Championship Series.  So, the evil empire will not win yet another World Series.

How to Look Like A Dork

This is Amy's.  I'm pretty proud of this one.

Amy and I went to see comic Doug Benson do some stand-up earlier in the day.  Doug loves movies, which is also the name of one of his podcasts, and he likes to play the Leonard Maltin game.  That's a movie guessing game that audience members can participate in by bringing a name tag.  I made name tags for Amy and me.

We didn't get picked, but after the show we went to say hello to Doug and like a dork I showed him our name tags.  I don't know why I did that.  What a dork!

Here's mine.  Jim Bandits!  Clever, eh?

 

Broun V Darwin

Last week I talked about Rep. Paul Broun and his aversion to science, despite his being a medical doctor and on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.  I know, right?!  Well, in this follow up I told how there is a move to get voters to write in Charles Darwin as opposition to the head-up-his-backside incumbent.  That's an awesome response to this man's desire to have us all return to the Dark Age.

Neurosurgeon Dreamed He Went To Heaven

Dr. Eben Alexander believes that while he was in a coma he went to heaven.  Well, he might believe it, but it's more likely that it was his brain providing vivid imagery as the doctor slipped in and out of his meningitis induced coma.  It's puzzling that Dr. Alexander doesn't recognize this possibility seeing as how he is a neurosurgeon.

Well, neurologist, skeptic, blogger, and half a million other things Dr. Steven Novella gives his take on this claim here and Sam Harris also chimes in here.

Science Scores Another Win

Ok, science isn't flawless, it doesn't have all the answers (unlike religion), but it does chalk up wins at a far greater rate than prayer and wishful thinking.  And it's recently scored another victory.  A fellow literally blew off most of his face in a shotgun accident and, through medical science, he now has his face back.  That's awesome!  Let's see Zeus do that!

Movie Recommendations: The Exorcist (1973)

Warner Bros.

This is a good scary, creepy movie.  It's based on a "true" story, which is probably a load of BS, but the film is very intense.  A commercial for the second release (Hollywood would do a re-release of a popular movie back in those days) scared the crap out of me when I was about 10.  That was just a commercial!  What would the entire film do?  Well, it entertained.

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Never Follow' by Naked Raygun & 'A Pagan Place' by The Waterboys
Second ad break bumpers: 'Certain Things Are Likely' by KTP & 'Watching The Clothes' by The Pretenders
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 11-12-11 show notes

Excuses, Excuses

I started out talking about why I didn't do the show last week. In doing so, I talked about how Amy and I met and then about one of the two yearly freelance cartooning projects I do each year for Cold Side Silkscreening.

Comic and movie-lover: Doug Benson

Then I talked about Amy and I going watch comic Doug Benson record his podcast, Doug Loves Movies. The episode we attended can purchased on iTunes for $1.99, just look for the Doug Loves Movies from Minneapolis, 11-5-11. If you do buy it listen closely at the beginning, you just might hear Doug mention a Dr. Dim. Hmmm, who could that have been?

Our name tags for Doug Loves Movies.

Great minds thinking alike.

Doug mentioned me because he has his audience bring name tags so they might be picked to be played for by one of his guests in a movie trivia contest Doug calls the Leonard Maltin game. (Don't ask. I won't explain it here.) Amy brought a babydoll to be part of her name tag and after the show another audience member found Amy, because she to had used a babydoll for her name tag.

It's Just A Flesh Wound

Sorry, no picture of my head wound, but here's a picture of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

We dog-sat for friends of ours and while walking Ginger the little Cavalier King Charles back to the house, I smacked the top of my head into a tree branch. At first, I was just a little stunned (I didn't see stars though) then, once back in the house, I realized I was bleeding like a stuck pig.

Whee! What fun.

Those Lying Numbers

I then ventured into the realm of politics (sort of). A couple graphs caught my eye on the Facebook. Both were giving percentages based on how evil Republicans and Ronald Reagan in particular are. I talked about how the numbers were deceptive.

I had written two blogs based on each graph, here and here.

Movie Recommendation: Winnnebago Man (2009)

I dovetailed my political talk into this week's movie recommendation. 'Winnebago Man' is a documentary about a cantankerous fellow who became famous for his profanity laden outtakes from an industry video presentation tape that he was working on during the 1980s. The outtakes went viral and he became something of a legend. The filmmaker decided to track the man down and 'Winnebago Man' is the result of that search.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: 'Jason & The Argonauts' by XTC & 'Ashes To Ashes' by David Bowie
Second ad break bumpers: 'What Difference Does It Make' by The Smiths & 'Tears' by The Chameleons UK
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