dimland radio 5-25-19 show notes

Exclusive Download Only Show

There was new playback and chat room on Z Talk Radio for this show. Saturday was the night of the annual big scrub job for my janitor job. I still recorded a show as per usual and these are the notes for that show.

Enjoy.

Isn't It Ironic? Well, Maybe Slightly

Just earlier in the day when I recorded this show several of my Facebook friends were sharing links to articles with headlines suggesting how ironic it was that Kentucky's Ark Encounter Park (an actual attraction that assumes the Noah's Ark story in the Bible is true) had flood damage due to rain.

I read one of the articles. The headlines were misleading. (Here's one example.) The article stated that an access road to the replica of Noah's Ark was damaged, not the ark itself. I was disappointed and thought this story wasn't an example of irony. I stated as much of Facebook, as well.

Weeeelll, some Facebook friends did give good arguments on why it was still ironic. More on that on next week's show.

The 2019 Minnesota Twins Have The Best Record In Baseball

I can't shake the feeling this roll of home runs and wins the Twins are on will come to an end, I am a fan of Minnesota sports team after all. Still, it is astounding how well this team is doing. As of this writing, they have the best win/loss record and the most home runs (104) in the majors, seven more than the Seattle Mariners who have played three more games than the Twins so far this season.

It's a nice feeling, but they'll return to earth soon, right?

A Facebook Discussion With Two High School Classmates Of Mine

 

People tend to accept dubious stories as true if those stories coincide with their worldview and personal biases. And because I am a people as well, I try to be aware of this and vet the stories I share on social media. I also occasionally point out when friends have let their biases lead them to sharing dubious and discredited stories.

 

The other day a high school classmate of mine shared a blog item from 1998 about actor Robert deNiro being linked to a French prostitution ring which was also connected to child sex trafficking. deNiro was questioned be French authorities because his name was mentioned in connection to the prostitution ring (not the child sex trafficking). He was questioned and released uncharged.

 

That was more than 20 years ago, but that doesn't stop the internet from bringing it up.

 

I shared a Snopes article that discredited the pedophilia angle that was being pushed around the webs. The discussion went from there. Here was mine final response:

 

 

 

"It is true that Robert De Niro was linked to a child prostitution ring in 1998 in France, because ONE person involved mentioned his name. The French authorities questioned the actor for nine hours and then released him uncharged.

This linkage is from more than 20 years ago and I'm unaware of and I can find no other more recent links to child prostitution or pedophilia concerning De Niro. The resurfacing of this story appears to be an attempt to discredit De Niro, possibly in response to his recent anti-Trump statements.

I'm a skeptic. When a story seems hinky or is from a source that I've never heard of, my skeptical antenna goes up and I take the time to see how reliable the source is and if the story is credible.

Part of my personal skeptical activism is to encourage my friends to vet stories before sharing them on social media. Read the article. Don't just go by the headline. Look for other sources.

I even confirm celebrity death notices before commenting or sharing.

Remember the nation wide scare about ritual sex abuse at day care centers all over America that ran rampant in the '80s? The McMartin case in California? Jordan, Minnesota?

Well, it turned out it was an unfounded panic sparked by well-meaning parents, social workers, teachers, politicians, and prosecutors. But there was no vast ritual child sex abuse going on in this country.

I bring it up, because as those cases finally began to fall apart, investigators were beginning to doubt the claims. The claims became more and more outlandish. The supporting evidence was just not there. And one claim that helped the unraveling was that ONE child mentioned Chuck Norris as one of the abusers.

So, we can rightly say that Chuck Norris was linked to the ritual child sexual abuse at day cares throughout America in the 1980s. The statement would be true. But would it be fair to Mr. Norris?

I'm asking you to be skeptical."

 

Apparently, Ghost Hunting Is Still Happening. And Still No Ghosts

 

No ghost, but plenty of anomalies, which may not be what people are hunting for, but that's what they keep finding. And on a recent Jason Show, a Twin Cities morning talk show, host brought in a sincere, honest, intelligent, and well-meaning ghost hunter to talk about her recent hunt in a "haunted" apartment in New Orleans, the "most haunted city in America."

 

I'll just say the evidence she presented was underwhelming. Check for yourself here.

 

I'm Not Sure About This

There is this thing called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) that is a pledge that 14 states and the District of Columbia have signed up for that voices those states agreement to give their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. This pledge would go into affect provided that enough states sign on to bring their total of electoral votes to at least 270, the number needed to win the office. New Mexico is the latest to take the pledge.

 

This is to prevent another 2016, but would it be constitutional? And couldn't this, in effect, disenfranchise the states whose voters voted for the lower vote-getting candidate?

 

This whole national thing is pretty complicated.

 

Not A Movie Recommendation: It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

 

I often say art is subjection and comedy is hard. One person's hilarious movie is another's "This is stupid" experience. 

 

I finally watched the madcap comedy classic It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. So much yelling, so many impossible to survive situations, so much stupidity, and way too much human air raid siren Ethel Merman. I thought it was horrible without a single moment that worked for me.

 

Well, there was one. That is until Dick Shawn showed up to ruin the moment.

 

Three Cool Things

 

 

1) This photo (above) of actor Max Schreck in costume taking a break while filming Nosferatu in 1921. I hope the photo description is accurate. Nevertheless, it's damn cool.

 

2) This audio clip of Grace Slick's isolated vocals on the psychedelic rock classic White Rabbit. Some echo, but no other obvious studio trickery. And no auto-tune. It's so very cool.

 

 

3) Hey! Every home should have a globe. I found this one in the basement of Nostalgia Zone, a store filled with comics and collectables, and I had to have it. We figure it is a video store display case for the short-lived Canadian TV series War Of The Worlds (1988-90). It's out of this world cool!

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush & 'One Day' by The Church

Second ad break bumpers: 'Pretty Girls Make Graves' by The Smiths & 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood

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

Please subscribe on iTunes! Just search for Dimland Radio in the podcast section. And if you could leave a good rating and a positive review it would be awesome.

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.

Images used under Fair Use.

dimland radio 7-9-16 show notes

What's Going On?

Police officers killed two African American males with both incidents looking as though the police grossly overreacted to the situations. I've learned there was a white man shot by police in Fresno, CA as, it is alleged, he was laying on the ground. In Dallas, a city that has been trying to address the serious issues of excessive force by law enforcement, especially when involving African Americans, there was a deadly attack by a sniper during a peaceful Black Lives Matters protest. Five police officers were killed and several more were injured, including at least one civilian. The sniper was killed by police. All of these events happened last week.

What's going on?

I discussed mainly the killing of Philando Castile, because that horrifying act happened practically in my own backyard. I talked about how Castile's reputation was one of a decent man who was well-respected by his co-workers and bosses and the students of the school at which he worked. He seemed like the kind of fellow you'd want as a neighbor.

The details are not all known at this time, let alone at the time of my recording this show. What I knew when going on the air was that Castile was pulled over for a broken taillight, he had a permit to carry a handgun, he informed the officer of having a gun and permit to carry, he was going for his wallet to get his ID, and he was shot dead by the police officer.

I had not watched the uncensored video streamed live on Facebook moments after he had been shot. And we, so far, only have the word of Castile's girlfriend as to what happened prior to her making the video.

We don't know for sure what happened before the video was taken, but from what I know at the time of this writing it sure seems as though the cop acted hastily and unprofessionally.

Was race involved? I have to think it was. I've been learning over the past few years that I really don't know what it's like to be black in America.

Trevor Noah of Comedy Central's The Daily Show sums up this cops/race/Black Lives Matter/excessive force very well here.

More details and conspiratorial misinformation have emerged since I recorded the show. I will address that next week.

Dimland Radio Argh!: Newt Gingrich Can't Catch A Break With Some People

Newt Gingrich, historically one of the most hated conservatives in America, made remarks about the state of race and policing in America in the wake of the police shootings last week. He said that he had been learning over the years by talking to people about the black experience in America just how different and dangerous life is for African Americans.

This is a good thing. A powerful, right-wing, white fellow is having his eyes opened and he's talking about it publicly. This may help other white folks in this country open their eyes.

But is that something folks on the Left are praising? Perhaps some are, but one on Facebook and many of her commenters aren't. Gingrich said, ""If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America." She and others found that statement objectionable and racist. Why? Because he used the word "normal".

She took that to mean normal Americans are white and that Americans who are not white are not normal. See how racist Newt is?

Some people will never be pleased. They can't see how important an ally in race relations Gingrich can be in getting other conservatives to realize there is a problem in law enforcement in America. Nope. Can't have that racist saying white people are normal. Context is lost on some people. Gingrich might have done better to say "average white Americans", but, somehow, I don't think that would have made a difference to that particular Facebooker.

It Wasn't All Bad News Last Week, Mostly But Not All

In a yin yang sort of situation, last week started way to the good side of the magic to science spectrum. The good end is the science end, by the way. NASA successfully put a satellite in orbit of our solar system's largest planet: Jupiter. It was a five year trip that covered more than a billion miles. Yay! Science!

 

However, before even getting to the end of the week, the magic end of the spectrum reared its ugly, irrational, silly head. Ken Ham opened his massive roadside attraction: Noah's Ark Encounter. Yep. It's true. Complete with dinosaurs.

I have to think that if the world had only advanced to the level of science understanding and expertise obtained by the writers of Ham's favorite book (the Bible, of course), we wouldn't have a satellite orbiting Jupiter. Or vaccines. Or computers. Or airplanes. Or light bulbs. Or the heavy equipment used to build Ham's ark encounter...

This Illustration Looks Familiar

Found in the Noah's Ark roadside attraction. Photo/patheos.com

As I was perusing the images of what could be encountered in the Ark roadside attraction (posted here), I came across a cartoon illustration of Noah's Ark. It stopped me in my tracks. It really looked familiar. Did I draw this?

I had done a couple Ark illustrations about 20 years ago for a Christian bookseller. Was this one of those? I rushed home from work to check, but it was not one of those drawings. It occurred to me that it might have been an existing design the company had and they had me use it as a reference to what they were looking for.

But it looks like something I might have drawn. A little cruder than what I can do now, but... Did I draw this?!

You'd think I'd remember, but memory is not videotape. I can see flashes of me working on it, but they don't seem right. I could be confabulating my memories of those other drawings I know I did do with this one.

I don't think I'll ever know for certain, but I will default to thinking I did not draw it. Which is a bummer as it would be cool knowing a piece of art I did is on display at the Ark Park.

Free TV Key By Clear TV

"Are you tired of paying those expensive cable or satellite bills? You can spend an average of $80 a month on cable or satellite programming, but with the Free TV Key by Clear TV for just $19.95 plus shipping and handling you can get all your favorite broadcast channels for free! Blow up those expensive cable and satellite bills and get your Free TV Key and attach it to the back of you TV. You'll get all those top rated network shows, local news and weather, sporting events and more! All for free! With Free TV Key there's no contracts, no monthly fees, no unexpected rate increases, and no cable or satellite programs!

"Uh, wait a second. Forget I said that last part. The part about no cable or satellite programs."

Folks, Free TV Key by Clear TV is just an antenna.

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: 'Love Is The Law' by The Suburbs & 'Love Is A Stranger' by Eurythmics

Second ad break bumpers: 'Love Vigilantes' by New Order & 'Love Is Stronger Than Pride' by Sade

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.