dimland radio 6-1-19 show notes

The Big Scrub Job

Each year for the last several years, the janitorial service for which I work does a a big scrub and wax job of a small supermarket in Osseso, MN. I talked about some of the particulars of the job, but I also detailed a mugging and a close encounter with a deer.

More Sports Talk

As of this writing the Minnesota Twins baseball club still has the best record in the Majors. Although I still think the air is going to quickly exit this balloon, it's heartening to see this team do so well.

 

I brought them up again because they had suffered a humiliating loss at the bats of the Tampa Bay Rays, a team from the American League East division, which is a tough division that includes the Boston Red Sox and the Hated Yankees. And Tampa is a tough team to beat.

 

The Rays mopped up the diamond with my favorite team by a score of 14-3 last Thursday. Yikes! A friend texted me that that was it. The balloon was deflating. The season is over.

 

One sports' cliche remarks on the character of a team in how they respond to such a loss. If they fold, their previous success was probably a fluke. If the lose the next game, but give a good battle, don't give up hope. If they win, you just might have a great team on your hands.

 

The Twins won the next game, which was game two of a four game series with the Rays in Tampa. Hey. Maybe we do have a great team.

 

And then they won game 3. They still have the best record in the Majors.

 

This is interesting.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: Oh, Yes, There's Crying In Baseball

Another example of how Hollywood got something wrong again. The film A League Of Their Own gave pop culture the phrase: "There's no crying in baseball." Well, that's wrong. In the past I have given other examples and on this show I give the most recent example.

 

Albert Almora Jr. of the Chicago Cubs was at the plate facing the Houston Astros, when he fouled off a pitch which was a line drive directly into the stands. Almora watched in horror as his line drive hit a four year-old girl. She was immediately taken from the ballpark to the hospital.

 

However, in the direct aftermath of that fouled off pitch, Almora was devastated that he had hurt that young fan. He went down to a knee, head in hands, completely shook up. When he went over to the area of the stands where the girl had already been removed he ended up crying on the shoulder of a security guards. Almora is a father himself and this moment was breaking his heart.

 

So, you can see, Hollywood, there is crying in baseball.

 

The good news is the girl is expected to fully recover.

 

Years ago ballparks throughout the Majors had extended the protective netting to the ends of the dugouts to help prevent these kinds of incidents. I'm guessing some teams, maybe all, will choice to extend the netting even farther.

It's It Ironic, Don't You Think?

 

During last week's exclusive download only show, I talked about how I thought the owners of Ark Encounter in Kentucky, the tribute to human gullibility in believing in fairy tales, suing their insurance company over rain damage to an access road to the folly wasn't really ironic.

 

My opinion was that it would have been ironic if the ark itself had been damage by rain, but not an access road. At least, not very ironic. Well, Facebook friends more smarter than me respectfully pointed out the error of my thinking. I realized they were right and I was wrong.

 

Hey. It can happen.

 

In Defense Of Snopes

 

Nobody likes to be wrong, including me, especially about strongly held beliefs. So when a website like Snopes.com comes along to find the facts and the truth about all sorts of urban legends, memes, and political claims, there will be folks who will dismiss those efforts. Often times the dismissal is to claim a specific political and social bias on the part of the debunking entity.

 

If Snopes debunks a myth about Pres. Obama, they are a bunch of bleeding hearted lefties. If that same website puts to waste a lie about Pres. Trump, well, obviously, the site is a right wing nut mouthpiece. I've heard Snopes disparaged in both of these ways, however lately the claim they are lefties is more prominent.

 

I went through an article that I think shows a more balanced approach. It confirms that Prs. Obama has been named "Most Admired Man in the World" 11 years in a row, according to Gallup. Of course, that's just one article. They could still be a bunch of pinko, dirty, red Dummycrats. Or hate-mongering, money-grubbing, corporate lap dog Republithugs.

 

It depends on the political and social leanings of the readers.

 

Three Cool Things

 

1) It's a little slow and you know how it ends, but this real-time computer-animated re-enactment of the sinking of the Titanic is awfully cool.

 

2) Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend were guests on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and they did a segment with the host and The Roots covering The Who classic Won't Get Fooled Again. The whole bunch is crammed into a small space as they play the song using interesting, kid-style instruments. It's fun and Fallon didn't annoy me as he usually does. And that's cool. (Well, he's still a little annoying.)

 

Based on an illustration by the great Frank Frazetta.

3) It's June, which means I did another drawing for the DIY calendar I'm doing for 2019. This month I drew a tardigrade, a way cool microscopic critter. A Facebook friend suggested it and I came up with a fun way to present it. I hope you think it's cool.

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'O, Superman' by Laurie Anderson & 'Villiers Terrace' by Echo & The Bunnymen

Second ad break bumpers: 'Eye In The Sky' by The Alan Parsons Project & 'Institutionalized' by Suicidal Tendencies

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

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Images used under Fair Use.