dimland radio 7-16-16 show notes

Information And Misinformation

 

As I'm sure we all knew would happen, more news has come out about the Philando Castile shooting. Some of my Facebook friends have been way too willing to believe claims that cast Castile and his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, in a negative light. They have posted links on social media to questionable websites. One of them being Conservative Treehouse, a conservative site that seems to have more than a little conspiracy thinking to it.

 

They reported that the Ramsey County Sheriff's office had tweeted that that office did not issue a right to carry permit to Philando Castile. That's true, they did tweet that message, but Conservative Treehouse did not include the tweets from the Ramsey County Sheriff that stated they may not have issued a permit, that doesn't mean Castile did not have one. Later, both the Star Tribune and Fox 9 News reported that Castile did have a permit. It was issued through Hennepin County in June 2015.

 

Conservative Treehouse also claimed a gun can be seen in Castile's lap in the video streamed live on Facebook by Reynolds immediately after Officer Jeronimo Yanez shot Castile. Look at the still from the video, does that look like a gun? It doesn't to me.

 

This is what Conservative Treehouse thinks looks like a gun.

It may be a gun, but it could also be a wallet, the seat belt, or the belt of Castile's pants. It is impossible to say that is a gun. But, according to Conservative Treehouse, not only is it a gun, but it resembles the gun used in a robbery from a few days before the shooting. That's ridiculous.

One thing that conspiracy site appears to have gotten right is that Castile was likely pulled over because he resembled a suspect in the robbery of a convenience store and not for a broken taillight. Well, both Castile and the robbery suspect are African American males, similar in age, and have dreadlocks, so I can understand why the police officer would pull Castile over.

I should say at this put that we don't know what happened prior to Reynolds' video. We have her word as she described events, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, that Castile was complying with the police and he was going for his wallet to get out his ID. She tells us that Castile informed the officer that he had a permit to carry and that he had a weapon on him.

Officer Yanez, through his lawyer, said he shot in reaction to the gun.

I watched the video and noticed that Yanez sounded more panicked that he screwed up than like a badass cop throwing around his authority. And Reynolds was surprisingly calm. That seems weird in such a situation. But both Yanez and Reynolds were under tremendous pressure. They were in a situation that most of us will never be in, so who knows how someone would react?

Internet show host Dennis Michael Lynch presented clips on his internet program showing Reynolds smoking pot and drinking alcohol in the car. There was at least one clip that shows the four year-old daughter in the car while Reynolds smokes pot.

Reynolds may not be in the running for Mother of the Year. She may be a narcissist, as her mother calls her, who cares more about herself than her daughter or her boyfriend. This may all be true, but how is it relevant to the shooting?

 

Lynch will say it goes to her credibility as a witness. Maybe, but she came up with that story awfully quick and under the pressure of her boyfriend just having been shot by a police officer, who was pointing his weapon at her as she told her version of events.

Listening to Lynch, I got the impression that he might have been thinking that Castile deserved to die and that the cop ought to have shot Reynolds as well. Hell, shoot the kid, too. She's just going to grew up to be one of them.

I can't know what Lynch was thinking. It was just the impression I got.

52 Times?!

Something else has come out in the reporting on Castile's shooting. That is, from the age of 19, Castile and been pulled over and cited in traffic stops by police 52 times! Virtually all the stops were for minor infractions. None were anywhere near felonies. Half of the citations were later dismissed and the rest were fines levied against Castile. Fines totaling more than $6500.

 

There has been plenty of talk over the years that African Americans seem to get a lot more attention from the police when it comes to traffic stops. Is it racial profiling?

 

Castile may have been a terrible driver, but I can count on three fingers the number of times I'd been pulled over by police. And I never got a ticket.

Some People Really Resent Snopes

I talked about a friend who was one who posted to Facebook the Conservative Treehouse misinformation. He got quite a few comments on his post, including a rather pointed criticism from one of his daughters. Others had posted links to a Snopes article on some of the misinformation spreading about Castile's shooting.

 

Snopes is an excellent source for determining the validity of claims and tall tales on the internet. They research thoroughly and cite their sources. They frequently update their articles as new information becomes available.

 

But, some folks out there, such as my friend, just don't like Snopes. Snopes exposes the truth about the some of his beliefs and he just doesn't want them doing that. He wants to hold onto his beliefs, so he'll look for ways to discredit Snopes.

 

He thinks he's found their Achilles' Heel: Snopes is liberal! So, of course, they are biased. And since he is conservative that perceived bias makes them unreliable. He pays no attention to Conservative Tresshouse's conservative leanings, because they agree with him.

But, he did something that many people on the internets do: He posted a link to a blog article that he judged by its headline - "Snopes, 'Liberal Bias', and Trusting the Internet". He didn't read the article. If he had he would have realized that the article was remarking on how balanced Snopes is, not about how liberally biased the site is.

Dallas Speeches And A Little Dance

Both Pres. George W Bush and Pres. Barack Obama attended the memorial for the five fallen police officers killed in an ambush attack during a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas. Both made speeches. I thought both speeches were very good. Pres. Bush spoke for about six and a half minutes, while Pres. Obama spoke more than 38 minutes.

 

Pres. Obama struck a good balance, I thought, in talking about racial tensions and police actions. He talked about how America has advanced in race relations, but we still have work to do. He praised the Dallas police department for its strides in improving police procedures and its relationship with the communities it serves.

 

I thought he delivered a fine speech. But, those who don't care for Obama were upset that he would take that event to make such a speech. I ask those folks to consider if Bush had delivered Obama's speech would they feel the same way?

And then there was the little march/dance Pres. Bush did during the singing of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Some were appalled. I was amused. Some thought he was drunk or on some medication. I think he was feeling the Jesus in him.

I have seen it suggested elsewhere that the born again Christian types (of which Bush is one) do that little march/dance thing whenever that hymn is played. Do you know if that is true?

Movie Recommendation: None

Ran out of time. You are on your own this week.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)' by The Jam & 'Saved By Zero' by The Fixx

Second ad break bumpers: 'Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)' by Talking Heads & 'Slow Train To Dawn' by The The

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 6/13/15 show notes

Better Late Than Never

This was the show that was supposed to play last week. I'm not entirely certain why it didn't play as scheduled, but I think I might have screwed something up. But, I guess better late than never, because I think this was one of my better shows.

Doubtful News Dropped My Name!

 

So, in late May a video of an odd looking object floating through the skies of New Zealand was captured on video through the window of a jet airliner. What was this UFO (remember the U stands for unidentified)? Some have suggested it was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

 

Someone had posted an image of His Holy Noodleness on the Facebook group page Group of Fort. The person was curious as to what it was and what the other members of the group thought of it.

As it so happened, just a day or two prior to that posting a FB friend of mine had posted a link to the YouTube video of the hoaxer showing how he created the image. With that bit of good info available, I linked to it in the comment thread.

Sharon Hill, the curator of the Doubtful News website, posted on Doubtful News the hoax reveal and yours truly got himself a nice thank you.

Pretty cool beans!

Bitch About The First Pitch

I wondered why there was a change in how baseball conducted the ceremonial first pitch. In the old days, the first pitch was thrown from the stands, not the mound. Maybe that was just for presidents. Anyway, I did some research and it looks like Ronald Reagan was the first sitting president to take to the mound for that first pitch.

 

Thanks, Obama!

Speaking Of Politics

 

I took a moment to suggest that politics can get otherwise fine skeptics to fall victim to their own political bias. One such skeptic who is very left in his politics tried to shrug off a recent poll that shows that George W Bush now has a better approval rating than President Obama. He suggested the sample size was small and skewed by being done mostly by landline phone calls.

 

I suggested that had the poll showed Obama ahead of W, that particular skeptic probably wouldn't have had an issue with sample size or landlines. He would likely just accept it as a given. "Of course, Obama is more popular than Bush. Duh!"

 

Thanks, Obama! 

 

A Selfie Brings The Hurt To ISIS

 

Looks Photoshopped, he isn't looking at the camera, and image is not the selfie in question.

 

Now I wasn't saying that a selfie taken by a member of ISIS didn't help the US military in selecting a target. I was suggesting that the image in the article on the ISIS selfie probably was constructed for the article.

 

I thought the image looked Photoshopped, that the terrorist wasn't looking at the camera, and my biggest problem was that the selfie image was a third person (or should that be second person?) point of view and not the selfie itself.

Sleep Paralysis And Fringe Thinking

 

I'm not a psychologist. I may be completely wrong, but that didn't stop me from talking about how folks who tend to believe fringe or conspiratorial ideas will accept opposing ideas as long as those ideas also conflict with the "official" story. I also pointed out that even though the majority of experts in some field can be in complete opposition to the idea of one crank, fringe thinkers and conspiracists will hold the crank's idea up as the real story.

 

And I talked about a recent guest on the internet show Paradigm Shift and his alien abduction experience. I never heard of him or his claims, but in the break before he told his story I had pretty much nailed every aspect of his claim.

However, I did this with just myself as a witness. So, you'll just have to take my word for it and I understand if you remain skeptical.

 

But the reason I could be so accurate was because the fellow was describing all the classic symptoms of sleep paralysis. I also told about the experience I had with my own bout of sleep paralysis.

 

Movie Recommendations: None

 

I didn't have 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: 'You've Got Everything Now' by The Smiths & 'You Know Better Than I Know' by Pete Shelley
Second ad break bumpers: 'You Took' By The Church & 'You'll Have To Go Sideways' by The Soft Boys

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 8-23-14 show notes

Ice And Buckets And Challenges

 

I would have to guess it is safe to say the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is one of the most successful viral campaigns since the swine flu. It seems as though everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

 

The campaign has been wildly successful in raising awareness and, especially, money. Lots and lots more money than the ALS Association normally takes in through charity.

 

I talked about Lou Gehrig being the one person to first make the public at large aware of this awful disease. After all, that's why it's called Lou Gehrig's disease. I should note I got the number of consecutive starts Gehrig made during his legendary streak. I was off by one game. It was 2130, not 2131.

 

I sneaked in a little political talk by mentioning that Pres. George W bush, who has taken the challenge, got more hateful venom thrown it him by comparing his taking the challenge to waterboarding. My, but some people on the Left really love having someone to hate so much, aren't they?

 

It's Not True: Teen Dies In Ice Bucket Stunt

 

An article from Huzlers.com was that shared on Facebook alleges that a teenage boy was killed instantly when an ice bucket challenge went wrong. The video in the article is real, but the story is fake. The kid didn't die.

 

Huzlers.com is a internet tabloid site preying on the gullibility of internet surfers. I dissected the piece to demonstrate how to determine the validity of such articles.

 

This fake news item was number three in the Washington Posts' weekly roundup of fake news on the internet.

 

Haters Gonna Be Talked To As If They Are Five Year-olds

 

I took a slight detour from the ice bucket talk to bring your attention just how much I hate the phrases: "Haters gonna hate" or "My bad."

What are we back in kindergarten?!

 

And when did disagreeing with someone come to mean that you hate that someone? It is quite possible to hold a different opinion from another person and not have it mean that you hate that person.

 

I also talked about how orgasmic Pres. Obama makes so many of my Facebook friends. But, if I say more, I'll be accused of being a hater.

Everyone Seems To Be Dumping Ice Water Over Their Heads..

 

Including...Me! Yep, Glen Ferguson, fellow ZTalker and host of a show called Canadian X Talk Radio, which is on the same station my show Dimland Radio, called me out to take the challenge. I did, but I did it my way.

 

This Whole Israel/Gaza/Hamas Thing Is Messed Up

 

Then, I talked about something I have so mush experience in dealing with (actually I'm lying here): Foreign Policy!

I waded out into the Israel/Gaza/Hamas quagmire. I tend to side with Israel, or, at least, I somewhat understand the position Hamas has put them in: Israel defends itself and kills innocent civilians that Hamas uses as human shields and the world condemns Israel?

 

There are others who have a take on this. Pat Condell, who is very outspoken and not sympathetic to the Islamic world, has several videos on Hamas and Israel (here, here, and here). Sam Harris, noted atheist, has written a piece more critical of Hamas (here). And President Bill Clinton believes Hamas is employing a "crass strategy" to sully Israel's image to the rest of the world (here).

 

Movie Recommendation: None

 

You're on your own this week.

  

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Like It Or Not' by Genesis & 'Lilydale' by 10,000 Maniacs
Second ad break bumpers: 'Lyin' Ass Bitch' by Fishbone & 'Ladybird' by XTC

 
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 11-9-13 show notes

End Of An Era

Blockbuster announced it will be closing 300 of their remaining stores and shutting down the DVD through the mail service.  Yes, I know, it's cool to hate Blockbuster and I never did much business with them, but the company that forced out the "Mom & Pop" video rental stores is now on its way out.

I talked about how folks my age saw the home VHS video format/rental start, flourish, and die.  I also reminisced about the early days of video technology and rentals.  So long ago.

Facebook Round-up

Let's see... I talked about political blind spots of certain A list skeptics and their hatred of Pres. George W Bush.  Bush has taken up painting since he left office and he's not very good.  The A lister noted that Hitler was also a painter.  So, then I talked a bit about Godwin's Law and the need to understand that politics is complex and even skeptics can forget about nuance.

That led me to mentioning a couple of online surveys I took.  One to determine how much I agree with various political parties, the results surprised even me.  The other survey was to determine which philosopher I most agree with and the results seemed not very scientific.  There's no way I could agree 100% with anyone, or 0% for that matter.

 

Take the political survey here and the philosophy survey here.

"Y'all Need To Post Some Positive Shit"

That was the request of a Facebook friend.  So, I picked up the gauntlet and posted a few positive news items in her comment thread.  I first posted a link to the viral story of a middle-aged Jewish man allowing an exhausted African American man to sleep on his shoulder, then I posted a couple stories from the website PositiveNews.org.uk, and I finished up with the 2008 video by Where The Hell Is Matt?  I talked about Matt Harding's video before on the show, but I thought it was worth mentioning again.

I also talked about Matt Harding admitting the video was an elaborate hoax.  One that used green screen and lots of expensive animatronics.  In case it's not obvious to you, Matt was being satirical.

Movie Recommendation: Amelie (2001)

Miramax Films

 

Sweet, quirky, funny, and romantic.  You'll feel good.  Watch it.

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Crystal Days' by Echo & the Bunnymen & 'Never Talking To You Again' by Husker Du
Second ad break bumpers: 'Kissfolk' by 54-40 & 'This Is The Day' by 10,000 Maniacs
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.

9/11/09

Eight years. No attacks on American soil.

Thank you!

a promise to president-elect obama

I can't say that I'm pleased with the outcome of the presidential election. I am pleased and proud that our country, once again, shows the world that we can peacefully transfer power.

President-elect Obama has a tough road ahead. He's going to be facing a lot of daunting challenges. I'm pretty certain that I won't be thrilled with his solutions, but I will promise one thing:

He is our next president and I won't hate him.

I think the hatred and vitriol hurled at President Bush everyday for nearly eight years (he was given a little break after 9/11) is appalling. It's childish, shameful and mean-spirited.

I have not always agreed with the actions and policies of George W. Bush, but I know this to be certain: he loves this country. Everything he has done he has done because he believed it was best for our country, whether we all agreed with him or not.

If you can't give President Bush credit for anything, I ask you to take off the blinders and give him this...

By my count, it's been seven years, one month and 25 days since America has been attacked on her soil. NO ONE thought on 9/12/01 that we wouldn't have been attacked in the next year let alone seven plus!

The lion's share of credit is due to the American servicemen and women and their leaders, number one of whom is President Bush.

I know President-elect Obama loves this country, too. And that he will act in a way he thinks is best for America. I probably won't like much of it (he's a little too socialist for my tastes), but I won't hate him.

I promise.