dimland radio 7-19-11 show notes

Sexy Voice? Me? Really?

Shouldn't it be Haunted 999?

I frequent a paranormal program that originates in the UK. It's called Haunted 911 and I'm their resident skeptic. I cut a show ID audio clip for them and they played it last week. A person in the chat room thought my voice was sexy. I humbly protested, but he insisted. Yes, HE insisted.

I'm cool with that.

Another Doomsday Prediction...Really?

A friend sent me a link to a YouTuber who thinks the government is keeping us in the dark about some impending doom...blah, blah, blah.

The video is here.

The Larry Sanders Curse...Really?

There's no curse and no flipping.

I've been streaming The Larry Sanders Show lately. On one episode there were these three guests featured: John Ritter, Gene Siskel and Warren Zevon. Other than them all appearing on the same episode, they have something else in common. All three died before their time!

Ahhhhhh! Run! It's the curse of the Larry Sanders Show! Ahhhhhhh!!

You can check this link and go to the episode called Off Camera to see the guest list.

We Could Use A Man Like Johnny Carson Again... Really!

Johnny Carson: King of Late Night & Skeptic

I sung the praises of Johnny Carson for a bit. Not just because of his humor and class, but because Johnny was a skeptic. I talked about how Johnny worked a lot with James Randi. Johnny thought "psychic" Uri Geller was doing tricks and booked him on the show. Randi got involved behind the scenes to help set up some controls and, lo and behold, Mr. Geller couldn't perform his tricks.

Uri Geller: Bending spoons with his mind (and hands)

You can watch the Tonight Show clip of Johnny and Uri here.

Sadly, when Jay took over the show he brought Uri back, placed no controls on the demostrations and, lo and behold, Mr. Geller could perform his tricks. Jay would just say, "Well, you be the judge."

Michael Shermer wrote about the Leno/Geller trickeration here.

A Johnny Carson monologue joke that got no laughs (but Johnny did) can be seen here.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: 'I Lie' by The dBs & 'River Euphrates' by Pixies
Second ad break bumpers: 'Hope' by Bauhaus & 'The Unguarded Moment' by The Church
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

dimland radio 10-23-10 show notes

Cold Open: Two late discoveries about our house

I told two stories about things my wife and I learned about our house after having living in it for eight years! (1)The programmable thermostat requires batteries and (2)that mysterious light switch on the wall just outside the kitchen works the outside light on the garage. Duh!

Haunted 911 appearance
I was the first member of the chat room to identify the "impression" Ray Jorden, co-host of Haunted 911, was doing on the October 13th edition of Haunted 911, so I won the chance to take part in their popular 20 questions segment. It was good fun. I enjoy being their resident skeptic and I really enjoyed their 20 questions grilling.

I recommend Ray and Wayne Punter's show, despite the fact that 90% of the show is pure paranormal nonsense. They are otherwise very entertaining and funny.

Find out more here.

It's Not True: Lunar effect

I had planned to talk about the Moon Illusion, in which the moon looks larger on the horizon than when higher in the night sky. However, even though it's not true that the reason the moon looks larger on the horizon is due to the objects on the horizon in relation to the moon, the actual reason for the illusion is not clear. At least, not clear to me. I'll have to look into this more.

So, I went with the idea that the full moon causes all sorts of extra activity. More suicides, crimes, visits to emergency rooms, werewolves, etc. have been attributed to the moon being full. Well, studies indicate that there is no connection. People just tend to notice the full moon and make the errant correlation.

Science Museum of Minnesota

I then took some time to talk about a recent visit to the Science Museum of Minnesota. It's an excellent museum. Science is cool. Science is real. Go to your local science museum. If you don't have a science museum nearby... move!

Here's a link to the museum.

Movie Recommendation: The Wolf Man (1941)

Another Universal classic horror film is on tap for this week's recommendation. Although far from a perfect film, it is visually striking and Jack Pierce's wolf man makeup is terrific. It's a fun film, check it out.

Put it in your Netflix queue now!

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Double Dare' by Bauhaus & 'Highwayman' by The Highwaymen
Second ad break bumpers: 'My Wife & My Dead Wife' by Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians & 'Terms of Psychic Warfare' by Husker Du
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

dimland radio 6-12-10 show notes

This (my 14th) show had a pleasant surprise for me...

The The?

When I arrived in the chat room twenty minutes before my show, as I usually do, I noticed someone new to Z Talk in the chat room going by the name The The. The The is a band that I really like, so my curiosity was piqued. I private chatted with the fellow and it turned out that he was an old high school friend of mine. He purposefully used the name The The to catch my attention. It worked. We had lost touch after hanging out with each other for a while after high school, but he found me on Facebook and found out about my show and came by to check it out. We chatted for quite a while after the show to do some catching up.

The tale of Dr. Dim

Dr Dim in art school circa 1985 (on the left)

I then regaled (or is that bored) my audience with the story of how I came to be known as Dr. Dim. It all began late in the year 1983, when I entered art school... Ok, I won't bore anyone again.

Bigfoot

I dipped my toe into Lake Bigfoot on this show. (Yep, there were a couple puns just then.) I discussed the lack of any good evidence of bigfoot's existence, how the name sasquatch was invited by a white man named J. W. Burns, and the best piece of not very good evidence for bigfoot's existence... the Patterson film of 1967.

After more than 40 years, we still do not have any evidence any better than this famous film. Is it a real primate? Is it a man in a costume? The truth is that the film is too poor quality, it lacks any good detail, and, therefore, it is, at best, inconclusive. I would think that with most everyone having a video camera these days, we'd have some better video images of the creature, but we don't. But! Absence of evidence does not necessarily mean evidence of absence.

I also talked about a book called 'The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story" by Greg Long. I must be honest, I have not read the book, so I went from a review of it by Daniel Loxton of Skeptic magazine. The book covers Roger Patterson in depth. Painting the picture of a con man. Numerous people who had dealings with Patterson all seem to agree that Patterson would con anyone. He didn't even pay for the camera and the film he used to capture the striking footage. In fact, he was arrested for that crime.

So, does the possible fact (Long's witnesses could have been lying) that Patterson was a con man, the fact he was a bigfoot enthusiast prior to making the film, the claims of one fellow of making the costume (Phillip Morris) and another fellow of wearing it (Bob Heironimus) mean that the footage is fake? Nope. It could still been the genuine article, but it is such poor evidence that it really doesn't tell us anything definite.

There is a Discovery Channel piece on the bigfoot legend and it looks at the Patterson film. It tests the idea that no human could walk the way the "creature" walks in the film. The testers found that it is indeed possible to walk that way. You can watch the clip here.

I also talked about the famous bigfoot hoaxer Ray Wallace. Yes, we do know that. His family came clean about him after he died. They even presented to the world the hand-carved footprint makers that he used to pull his pranks.

My main sources for this came mostly from a two part Junior Skeptic feature all about our friend, Sasquatch. Junior Skeptic parts 20 & 21 found in Skeptic volume 11, numbers 2 & 3, 2005.

The world renown skeptic - Dr. Dim?

I talked about how I'm the resident skeptic of another show I mostly disagree with, 'Haunted 911', which is based in the UK. That show used to be on Z Talk, but it moved to Blog Talk Radio and I followed it there, because I like the hosts Ray Jordan and Wayne Punter. I do my skeptic thing in their chat room and they like to acknowledge me as their resident skeptic. They also like to tease me. That's ok, I can take it.

They have a weekly contributor to the show. His name is Tim Brown and he has his own paranormal investigation group over there in the UK. Well, in Tim's bit for last week's show he mentioned me. I was part of his bit!

So, can I start called myself a world renown skeptic? It may be a bit premature.

Movie recommendation

I gushed yet again about the greatness of Netflix. I can't recommend it more highly.

I also recommended the film 'The Hammer'. It stars and was co-written by Adam Carolla (you might know him from Comedy Central's 'The Man Show'). It's very good. It's a consistently funny comedy about a 40 something loser who decides to get back into amateur boxing. The film is rated R, but I defy you to tell why. At most, it's PG.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Bull Rider' by Johnny Cash & 'I Believe In You' by Don Williams
Second ad break bumpers: 'Seven Year Ache' by Rosanne Cash & 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' by George Jones
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 On Demand page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

dimland radio 4-4-10 show notes

Just when I thought I was getting to hang of this radio thing, I forgot to have my iTunes activated properly with my broadcast software. I spotted the error in the first few minutes and corrected it. But we I listened to the show afterward, I noticed that my opening did not broadcast. Whoops. Well, I'm working on it.

Condolences to Tanya Douglas and her family

Z Talk's own, Tanya Douglas and her family recently suffered the loss of her father-in-law. I took the first few minutes of the show to express my deepest sympathies.

Scooby Doo, How Could You?!

I talked about being disappointed by the animated feature 'Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost'. My main objection was that there was an actual ghost in it. You read more in the previous blog entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo_and_the_Witch's_Ghost

Movie talk

I talked about an AARP movie quiz, continuity errors and lens flare. My favorite film continuity error comes from 'A Christmas Carol' from 1951 - a face in the mirror! It was likely a crew member and not a ghost.

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/powerof50/articles/top_50_movie_zingers.html

I talked about 'Wall-E' with the lens flare usage. There is no camera used in the creation of Pixar films such as 'Wall-E'.

There was no camera used in 'Wall-E' yet we still accept the lens flare.

Penn & Teller: Bulls Hit

I transitioned from 'Wall-E' into talking about Penn & Teller's skeptical program that airs on Showtime. I used 'Wall-E's first 20 minute depiction of a trash ridden world to talk about Penn & Teller's take on recycling. The world will not be buried in trash.

Warning! Penn & Teller: Bulls Hit contains bad language and nudity. They also use sarcasm and insults toward those with whom they disagree. View at your own discretion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvz-z7CvsYA

Ouija Boards and Haunted 911

While sticking with Penn & Teller: Bulls Hit, I'm mentioned trying to describe a Ouija board test they had done to the hosts (Ray & Wayne) of Haunted 911. I difficulty getting the point across through the Z Talk chat room, so I decided to talk about it on my show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG4wTZuT3wM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA5uYhXpa-E&feature=related

Minnesota Twins baseball!

I closed out the show with a little Twins talk. They have a new ballpark, just for them. There will be no more sharing a stadium with our football team, the Minnesota Vikings.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'Your Silent Face' by New Order & 'Beat Surrender' by The Jam
Second ad break bumpers: 'Abacab' by Genesis & 'Whatever' by Husker Du
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next week for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com You can also download my show from the Z Talk On Demand page.