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 11-10-12 show notes

A Freelance Project

It's filled with debauchery, lewdness, strange behavior, and inside jokes.  It's one of the few freelance projects I do each year.  A local fraternity has an annual pub crawl and each year they have t-shirts made for the occasion.  I've been doing their design since the late 90s and each year it gets more complicated.  But I do enjoy the challenge and the fellas are so appreciative.  And they pay.

 

A Fellow ZTalker Gets On The News

Every year as Halloween approaches local TV news organizations run "fluff" stories about haunted houses, ghosts, and ghost hunters or some such related nonsense.  Well, in Arizona one such story ran and it featured fellow ZTalker Kale Kelly.  It also featured an Arizona skeptic and gave that skeptic equal time AND the last word.  I was impressed.

You can see that report here.

Snow Driving

Inspired by a loyal listener in chat, I told a couple harrowing tales of driving through snow storms.  One story happened to me, so you know that's true.  The other was a story told to me by my father about a fellow with whom he worked.  That story might not be true, but I don't think my dad made it up.  Still.

Election 2012 Round-up

You may have heard that Pres. Obama won re-election.  I mentioned that, but I also talked about anti-science Rep. Paul Broun and his re-election.  There was a write-in campaign for Charles Darwin in that otherwise uncontested race.  Darwin did get almost 4000 votes.  A far cry from being able to win, but maybe a message was sent.

I also talked about Minnesota's own national embarrassment, Michele Bachmann.  She, too, was re-elected, but by the narrowest of margins.  This despite her having out spent her Democrat opponent by 12 to 1 and that her district had been recently redrawn to be even more Republican.  Maybe a message was sent there, too.

The Evil Empire Buys Star Wars

No, not the Hated Yankees, in this case by "evil empire" I mean Disney.  Disney has purchased the Star Wars franchise for a mere four billion dollars.  There is some trepidation and some excitement at this news.  Will Disney damage the Star Wars brand even worse than George Lucas has?  Well, I'm optimistic.  So, is the writer of this list of reasons why the new trilogy won't suck.  I guess time will tell.

Movie Recommendation: Field Of Dreams (1989)

Universal Studios

The Facebook page The Movie Hobo posted the question asking followers to name a movie or scene that makes them cry.  Well, as much as I hate to admit that I'm capable of such a thing, one movie immediately popped to mind.  'Field Of Dreams' is a love letter to baseball, a ghost story, a tale of obsession, redemption and second chances.  It has a hippie undercurrent vibe to it and a somewhat unnecessary anti-censorship element, but overall it is touching and heartwarming.

And, in the end, Costner delivers a line that brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it.  I don't want to spoil it, so all I'll say is it has to do with playing catch.  I'm tearing up now.  I better go. 

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: 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush & 'Your Phone's Off The Hook (But You're Not)' by X
Second ad break bumpers: 'Straight Lines' by Suzanne Vega & 'Bitter Fruit' by The Alley Cats
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 11-3-12 show notes

More Memes Outrage & Election Fatigue

Again someone has posted on the Facebook an image that is misleading.  It's another "Romney is evil" thing that shows how his campaign caps are made in China.  Well, as I have stated on the show before, both campaigns have pledged that all official merchandise is American made.  It seems more likely that someone has bootlegged Romney campaign booty.

Snopes.com has weighed in on this here.

In the interest of balance, I talked about a meme alleging the Obama White House situation room was hopping with activity during Hurricane Sandy, but an empty room when the American embassy in Benghazi was attacked by terrorists.  The meme might be accurate, but we only have its say so to go by.  There was no source citation.

 

A Little Free Speech Talk

A Facebook friend from Pakistan asked if the maker of 'Innocence of Muslims' was going to be arrested.  As lousy as the trailer for the alleged film is, and at this point we don't know if anything but the trailer actually exists, we have freedom of speech here in America.  I explained to him that protecting speech we don't like is as important as protecting speech we do like.

Get In Line Or Don't

When there is a finite number of items to be purchased and when arriving early insures a better seat at a concert or movie, then getting lined up makes more sense.  But when Apple releases an new iPhone or Springsteen releases a new album or a new Harry Potter book comes out, why line up for hours or days to get one?  Won't they make more?  Will those items disappear from the stores never to be restocked?

I don't understand needing to be one of the first to have some product when you could easily go to the store a week after the product is released and get it.  No need to miss several days of work or, at least, several hours of sleep.

Seeing 'Return Of The Jedi' First

Ok, all that said about lining up, I told the story of how my friend Greg and I skipped the first part of the school day to watch 'Return Of The Jedi' the day it opened in the theaters.  We were seniors in high school and the year was winding down, so our moms said it was ok.  My mom even let us use her car.

Interestingly enough, there was no line of people having waited for days.  Greg and I just walked up, got our tickets, and enjoyed the show.

Movie Recommendation (TV edition): The Wire (2002 - 2008)

HBO

This HBO series is awesome!  Great characters, great writing, fantastic performances.  It's a gritty, realistic, and unflinching look at the world of police, politicians, gangsters, lawyers, and drug dealers.  So good!  Watch it! 

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: 'Come To Milton Keynes' by The Style Council & 'Mega City 1' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs
Second ad break bumpers: 'You Know Better Than I Know' by Pete Shelley & 'Sign O The Times' by Prince
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.

9/11/10

Nine years. No attacks on American soil.

Thank you!

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.