dimland radio 4-26-14 show notes

 

Scooby Doo And The Yankee Skeptic

I recently updated a blog I had written in 2010. It was about my realization that, sometime between 1969 and 1999, Hanna-Barbara had dropped the mystery solution discovered by Scooby Doo and the gang never being actually paranormal policy. I was rather disappointed.
 

My Facebook friend Kitty Mervine runs The Yankee Skeptic and she wanted to repost my blog which is why I updated it. Well, it's been getting a few hits and positive feedback. Who knew?

We Need A Skeptical Movement

Speaking of The Yankee Skeptic, Kitty posted another guest writer's blog questioning whether the skeptical movement is necessary. It was an intriguing piece, but his reasoning was flawed. What was really impressive was that host of the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, Steven Novella, thought it important enough to respond. And he wasn't the only one.

 

It is a good thing when someone stirs the pot with a thought provoking article. You can read the original post here, Steve's response here, and AZAtheist's response here.

Is Dimland Radio Just About Bigfoot, UFOs, Ghosts, And Crop Circles?

 

Those blogs got me thinking about Dimland Radio and the topics I have covered over the four plus years that I've been doing the show. I focused on the topics of bigfoot, UFOs, ghosts, and crop circles and how often they came up on my show.

 

The following is an approximation:

 

Bigfoot - 19 times (2.61%)
UFOs - 14 times (1.92%)

Ghosts - 20 times (2.75%)

Crop Circles - 1 time (0.14%)

I may need to talk about crop circles more often.

Pigasus Awards 2014

I got to this topic a little later in the year than I would normally, but I didn't do a show the weekend after April Fool's Day when the awards are announced. Better late than never, eh? Click here for the this year's "winners."

 

It's Time For Some Tragic Irony

 

A statue erected in honor of Pope John Paul II broke, fell, and crushed a young man to death. This happened just days before the popular Pope was to be made a saint. Does this tragedy cancel out one of the miracles needed for the pope to become a saint? Apparently not. Click here for the irony.

 

Fox News Is A Fan Of Science Now?

 

Fox News host Megyn Kelly and her guest Dana Loesch agree that Jenny McCarthy's anti-vax message is ill-informed, dangerous, and not supported by science. I was pleasantly shocked. Now if only Fox News would embrace the science behind evolution, stem cell research, and global warming.

 

Movie Recommendation: The Thin Man (1934)

 

Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer

Prohibition in America ended in 1933, The Thin Man with its celebration of drunken mystery solving was released in 1934. Might Hollywood been overcompensating? Maybe.

The movie stars William Powell and Myrna Loy. It's pretty funny and quite entertaining.

 

Celebs Stop Making Selfies

 

I interrupted the outro to the show to go on a rant about celebrities doing the whole selfie thing and how I wish the Boston Red Sox would go back to being the lovable losers.

 

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Here It Is Tomorrow' by Game Theory & 'Candyman' by Siouxsie & the Banshees
Second ad break bumpers: 'Chrome Injury' by The Church & 'Takin A Ride' by The Replacements
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 3-15-14 show notes

I Was Wrong...Again

I must be slipping. I was wrong about something on last week's show. Actually, it's more like a moment of misspeaking. I mentioned the actor Dennis Farina was left off the Oscar in memoriam segment, only I called him Douglas. Whoops.

If You Had Known What Exactly?

Just what does this mean?

On my way from work the other night, I found myself behind a car sporting the above bumper sticker. I'm not sure what is meant by "this", but considering there is a Confederate flag involved my guess is that it's not very racially sensitive. I guess there are still people out there with their heads up their asses, eh?

First Kiss Among Actors, Models And Musicians

 

Have you seen the viral video for Wren Studio, a women's wear website, showing 20 strangers kissing for the first time? It is very sweet and touching, but then we found out the strangers are performers. They may have been strangers but they are accustomed to being in front of people and performing. So, it lost some of its appeal.

There are a couple videos out there that take up the same strangers theme. One is a hilarious parody called First Handjob and, as you probably guessed, it's NSFW, but it isn't pornographic. It is damn funny.

The other video really does have 20 strangers picked off the street and brought in to kiss in front of a camera. The video states these are real people, no actors or models (really they ain't models!), paid to kiss each other. There's no same sex coupling and there is a kind of creepy New Agey older fellow and they do all have British accents, so you have been warned.

Dimland Radio Science Hero: Craig Ferguson

A new science program is being produced for Science Channel. It's based on the wildly popular Facebook page 'I F'ing Love Science'. (Dang! This post isn't very safe for my son to read.) One of my man crushes, Craig Ferguson will be the executive producer of the show. For that he has been made a Dimland Radio Science hero. And so has Elise Andrew the biology student who created the pro-science Facebook page.

Dimland Radio Science Zero: Fox Affiliate KOKH-TV

As the yang to the yin, or vice versa, there is a science zero this week. Although they claimed it was operator error, Fox affiliate KOKH-TV in Oklahoma managed to cover up 15 seconds worth of the highly anticipated reboot of the science program 'Cosmos'. In the last few minutes of the show, just as host Neil deGrasse Tyson had the gall to suggest that humans evolved, the station inserted a promo for their news program set to follow the show, sparing their audience from being confused. "What? I thought God done it!"

If it was an error, its timing was pretty good. If it wasn't, what will they do when 'Cosmos' take a more direct look at evolution? 

The Yankee Skeptic 

I've done a couple guest blogging spots for the Yankee Skeptic blog. Last week I had written about how I got fooled by an internet April Fool's joke involving TV signals bouncing back from space and lost Doctor Who episodes. You can read about my gullibility here.

Speaking Of Cosmos...

IT IS AWESOME! WATCH IT!

A Drama Brought To You By The Internet

You know that the internet is a place where the trolls get a chance to be...well...trolls. It gets to be a jungle out on the information super something, I forget. Anyway, it can get so bad that sometimes innocent non-trolls can get jumped on for merely asking a question. I profiled one such incident. It involves feminism, rape threats and the patriarchy and an innocently asked question. It got out of hand rather quickly.

This link will show you what I mean. 

Movie Recommendation: None This Week Again

You are on your own. Again. I know, I'm sorry. I'll have one next week I promise.

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'YYZ' by Rush & 'Crosseyed and Painless' by Talking Heads
Second ad break bumpers: 'Good Thing' by The Woodentops & 'Face Dances Part 2' by Pete Townshend
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 3-1-14 show notes

An Update

My wife was finally able to get her dad to the doctor. Yay!

McDonalds Ads, Auto-tune, Pop Music, & Retirement

I kind of went off on tangents when discussing a couple recent TV ads for McDonalds. One shows pop auto-tuned singer Austin Mahone (I'd never heard of him before either) auto-tuned singing his way through some song when he's distracted by his hangers-on having McDonalds' breakfasts. I pointed out that his speaking voice should also be auto-tuned. For accuracy.

The other ad has a retired woman telling a busily working fellow to sit back and enjoy his McDonalds' coffee. Well, that's easy for her to say. She's retired.

Something You Probably Didn't Know About The Star Spangled Banner

 

I had appreciated our National Anthem for its lack of referring to a god. That way it stays secular and more able to represent all Americans no matter their faith or lack thereof. But, guess again, the poem The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key does, in fact, invoke God. God damn it! Now I'll never be able to listen to the anthem in the same way.

Here is where I learned about this and you can learn a bunch of other stuff there as well. It's the College of Curiosity and it is really cool.

Duck, Duck, Binder!

 

Apparently, we in the Upper Midwest have our own way of saying things. I gave two examples. One is that we call the classic tag game Duck, Duck, Grey Duck, while the rest of America says Duck, Duck, Goose. That's just wrong. Goose? As if!

The second thing I mentioned is that we call rubber bands binders. That one seems less unusual than goose. Goose? Really?

Celebrity Deaths Always Come In 14s

 

I had talked about this before, but with a spate of celebrities kicking it lately I thought I'd go over the celebrity deaths in threes fallacy. They really don't die in threes. They just die. We tend to notice in threes if we happen to be predisposed to do so. I listed off 14 celebrities who had died in February only.

There are a couple factors go into this whole thing. What constitutes a celebrity? How much time has to pass between deaths? It really just comes down to how we tend to notice the deaths.

 

More Guest Bloggery

 

Madame Kitty Mervine of the Yankee Skeptic blog asked me to write about my favorite topic: Me. Well, me and Dimland Radio. I wrote about how it started and about an early dust up with a "psychic" who shall remain unnamed. It posted Thursday and Kitty tells me it has been getting a few hits. Who would have thought people would be interested?

Kitty has asked me to write more. It's nice to be asked for more. 

 

Movie Recommendation (a two fer): The Man Who Laughs (1928)

 

Universal Pictures

 

Sort of a companion piece to the movies I recommended last week (The Bat & The Bat Whispers - Both considered influences on the creation of Batman), this week I recommend the movie that inspired the look of The Joker. The Man Who Laughs is a silent film that was released in the transition period between silents and talkies. And, as such, it does feature a score and some sound effects. It is also surprisingly bawdy. There are a few saucy moments with one of the female supporting actors.

Not exactly a horror film, it is pretty creepy and Conrad Veidt's lead character looks awfully scary, especially when in white face make-up. You can find the movie on YouTube. It's in ten minute segments, but you'll want to watch those as they have the original soundtrack.

 

Tell me this doesn't look like the Joker.

 

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg)' by The Ramones & 'Shut Out The Light' by Steve Diggle
Second ad break bumpers: 'Take It Away' by Paul McCartney & 'Epic' by Faith No More
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.