dimland radio 10-19-19 show notes

In The Flow

Athletes call it being in the zone. Creatives (musicians, writers, and artists) will call it being in the flow. And I'm sure there's a similar state for people pursuing other not necessarily creative or athletic endeavors.

 

It's a mental condition in which everything is working. You're hitting those long shots, getting just the right words, or, as in my case, the images are just pouring from your pen.

 

This past Wednesday night as I was getting ahead of schedule in the Inktober daily drawing challenge I was in the flow. Below are the results.

 

Day 17:Ornament

 

 

Day 18:Misfit

 

 

Day 19:Sling

 

 

Day 6: Tread

And for the hell of it, I mentioned the drawing for Day 16's prompt of Wild, so here's that one.

 

 

Christopher Columbus: An Exaggerated Evil

I may be stepping into some controversy here, but I don't think Christopher Columbus is the most evil man in the world. Should he have a national holiday? No. Should he be humanized and have his deeds put in perspective? Yes.

 

I will direct you to this video by Knowing Better. The host corrects some errors and misinformation that has been spread about the explorer who certainly had an impact on the world, for good and bad. I think Knowing Better makes a good case for setting the man in historical context.

A Dimland Radio ARRGH! Isn't Regular Yoga Bullshitty Enough?

 

First there was yoga, a relaxing, meditative, no impact, stretching and strengthening exercise. It has its bullshit baggage, but if you can ignore all that it's a decent way to exercise. But, then came:

 

Mommy and Baby Yoga. Puppy Yoga. Cat Yoga. Goat Yoga. Llama Yoga. If you prefer not to involve a baby or an animal in you stretching, there's Yoga in a Himalayan Pink Salt Room. Hot Yoga. Ariel Yoga.

 

Not quite the marketing nonsense that strikes your fancy?

 

Well, now there's Rage Yoga! Yoga in which you shout, swear, and rock out to some screamin' guitar solos. I wonder what the next yoga marketing scheme will be. Underwater Yoga? Yoga in a Treehouse? Honey Badger Yoga?

 

As my wife said when hearing about Rage Yoga, "Shut up and do your stretches!"

 

Movie Recommendation: Joker (2019)

Amy, Hayden, and I saw Joker last Sunday. We really liked it. It's not your typical comic book movie. It's a character study of a man named Arthur Fleck who is dealing with mental illness and tries to fit in with a society that doesn't take much notice of him. When it does it is to crap on him. He is slipping deeper into his illness. Society is also breaking down, mirroring Arthur's descent.

 

Joaquin Phoenix was the perfect choice for the role. His performance is terrific. We may have another actor receiving the Oscar for playing the Joker.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Walking And Falling' by Laurie Anderson & 'And I Moved' by Pete Townshend

Second ad break bumpers: 'Seconds' by U2 & 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' by Hunters & Collectors

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 1-7-17 show notes

Ram By The Yoleus

The Yoleus is a friend's band. They play rockin' instrumental tunes. My friend is the guitarist and he's pretty damn good.

Well, a while back I thought I had better use a theme song for Dimland Radio for which I had permission. I had been using the song Ahead by UK postpunk band Wire, but I didn't have their permission. I decided to ask Dave if I could use a song by The Yoleus and he said OK.

I chose Ram. At first it felt odd as my opening tune, but then it quickly felt just right. I talked about the song, because I had found a video clip of The Yoleus playing it live at St. Paul's Turf Club bar. You can find a link to that video at the bottom of these show notes along with the links to the songs I play leading in and out of my breaks and a link to the show's closing song.

Correction

I talked a bit more about this whole trophy hunting thing and the ire it raises on social media. But, first, I had to correct something I mentioned on the previous show. I talked about the comeback of the White Rhino. The comeback took place in South Africa over the past 100 years. I had the numbers wrong. I had said the population numbers went from about 500 to 50,000. That's not right. The numbers given in the Adam Ruins Everything video had the White Rhino population go from approximately 100 to 18,000 in the past 100 years.

Whoops. My mistake.

A Response! 

I've been posting on Facebook that Adam Ruins Everything clip on how trophy hunting can help endangered species for a while now. I talked about this on the previous show and I mentioned then that no one has responded with as much as an, "Oh, yeah?!"

Well, what do you know? Someone finally did. Their first comment was to link to an article reporting on the lowering numbers of cheetahs in Africa and Asia. The reasons given are loss of habitat, poaching, and loss of prey. There's also a desire for cheetah cubs as pets. There was no mention of trophy hunting, poorly managed or otherwise.  It also reports the lowering numbers have led to a push to have the cheetah classified as endangered.

The commenter then shared two images of the Trump sons posing proudly with their trophy kill: a leopard. I pointed out that it was a leopard and not a cheetah. The commenter then posted an article on how leopards' numbers are dwindling and that there is a push to list them as endangered, as well.

The reasons given in the article for the loss of leopards was due to poaching and poorly managed trophy hunting. Well, finally a link to trophy hunting, but note it's poorly managed trophy hunting. The Adam piece does acknowledge some trophy hunting programs are not well run, but is that a reason to end the trophy hunting that is well managed and having positive results?

And! When you follow the link in that article, as I did, to the source for the reasons of the loss of leopards, a few more reasons are given than just poaching and poorly managed trophy hunting. Also listed are: Increased human populations, habitat fragmentation, excessive harvesting for ceremonial skins, and loss of prey. Poorly managed trophy was mentioned last.

I find it curious the article the commenter linked only mentions poaching and trophy hunting.  

I assured the commenter that I endorse animal species whose numbers are getting dangerously low be listed as endangered and protected. I also let him know I'm not a fan of the Trumps.

Is It Me?

 
Well, it couldn't be me, could it?

I talked about an exchange I had with a FB "friend" after he posted a message from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The former governor of California has made it his mission to get America off of fossil fuels. He believes we can do it.

I applauded his message, but I commented that Arnold should have included sources for his claims of 7 million deaths a year being attributed to air pollution and 19,000 deaths a day connected directly to fossil fuel pollution. The humorless fellow who had shared the governor's messages provided several links.

He then got into an argument with me because I said it would have been better had Arnold supplied to sources in his note. I was happy to get the sources and I let the fellow know that. I also let him know I didn't dispute the former bodybuilding champ's claims. Just Arnold should cite his sources.

Well, this guy wasn't getting the point and he accused me of moving the goalposts and just wanting to argue.

Is it me?

Celebrity Deaths 2016

 
It sure does seem as those a lot of celebrities died in 2016. Certainly the number of A listers was pretty surprising. From David Bowie to Prince to Gene Wilder to Carrie Fisher, it seemed like a bloodbath. From what I've heard the actual numbers aren't that much higher than average.

But what constitutes a celebrity? Without the internet and a little homemade sex video, I doubt the world would have any idea who the Kardashians are and they wouldn't be nearly as wealthy. So, I discussed that the ways of becoming a celebrity have increased since the early days of the 20th century.

I also leveled with listeners. Our celebrity heroes of our youth are getting old. We ought to expect more and more of them to die.

 2016 Wasn't All Bad

 
Putting aside the celebrity deaths and the disappointment for a little more than half the American electorate in November, 2016 had some positive news as well.

A fellow named Matt Strange compiled a list of some of the good things that happened over the course of last year. It's a long list, but it does have some inaccuracies. The Toronto Star hunted down the veracity of each of Mr Strange's claims. Click here for The Star's verified list of the good stuff from 2016.

I mentioned a few other positive things as well.

Movie Recommendation: None

I ran out of time, so you are on your own.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Rapture' by Blondie & 'Ahead' by Wire

Second ad break bumpers: 'De Do Do Do De Da Da Da' by The Police & 'It All Depends' by Figures

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.

dimland radio 12-31-16 show notes

Correction

 

I did make this correction in last week's show notes, still I started off the show letting my listeners know that the late New York Gov. Mario Cuomo did not mention 9/11 in Ken Burns' Baseball. That documentary first aired on PBS in 1994, seven years before the terrorist attacks in September, 2001.

 

Whoops. My mistake.

Dimland Radio ARGH!

My mistake correction led to me talking about how much I dislike it when grown adults say, "My bad." The phrase is "my mistake." Adults use that phrase. Toddlers just learning English might say "my bad," but you're an adult. Quit it!

A Ridiculous Moment In Janitorial

Janitorial work is often thankless. Most customers only call us when they want to complain about something. If we are doing our job properly, we usually don't hear anything from the customer.

 

Recently, we received an unusual request from one customer. When emptying their trash cans, they asked us to "...set things on our desk if [the cleaners] think [the customers] really don't want it 'thrown away'..."

 

Seriously?! They expect our cleaners to determine if trash is really trash?

The Rewards For An Artist Are So Rare

 
A fellow member of the Minnesota Skeptics, when learning I'm a cartoonist, asked if I could do an illustration of a Siamese cat having just killed two podcast hosts. The podcast is My Favorite Murder hosted by Karen Kilagariff and Georgia Hardstark and the murdering cat is Elvis.

 

Yep. I did this.

I did the illustration and had it ready for the next month's MN Skeptics meet-up. He was very impressive and I received much-gratifying praise for my ability. He said many of the same things I hear from other people. Such as, "I can't even draw a straight line." "How do you draw so well?" "Please allow me to pay you handsomely."

 

Well, that last statement is something that's pretty much never uttered. But my friend and I came to an agreeable arrangement for him to pay for my beers for the next several meet-ups.

 

Then something interesting happened. This fellow skeptic is a rather skilled wood-worker and carpenter and he had a small world moment which he shared on Facebook. I was then able to pleasantly turn the tables, so to speak, on him.

 

Listen to the show for the details.

 

Adam Ruins Everything

 
Adam Conover hosts a TruTV show called Adam Ruins Everything, on which he examines popular beliefs and then explains why those beliefs are wrong. Such as drinking 19 gallons of water a day to stay properly hydrated. If you're thirsty, drink some water. It's pretty basic.

 

His show has come under some fire by electric car advocates recently, but, as far as I can tell, he seems to get his facts right. And the show cites sources.

 

You can also watch segments of the show on YouTube, which is where I found his bit on trophy hunting. Oh, no, he's not ruining trophy hunting the way many of my Facebook friends would like. Nope, he's demonstrating how trophy hunting is actually helping save those endangered species. It may seem counter-intuitive, but it's true.

 

Watch this clip:

 

 

 

So, I've been posting this clip in the comment threads of FB friends who share images of rich folks happily poses with dead lions, leopards, giraffes, etc. These friends are so disgusted by these rich folks. But none have ever said as much as, "Oh, yeah!" whenever I've shared the information de-vilifying trophy hunting.

I may not be into hunting, but I don't find legal trophy hunting disgusting. I'm not disgusted by photos of rich folks posing with their legal and very expensive trophy kill. No, I save my disgust for photos of the damage done by poachers. They (poachers) and loss of habitat are the true dangers to endangered animals.

This disgusts me. Ivory from poaching.

This disgusts me. A poacher-slaughtered rhino with horn removed.

 

Melissa Bachman, famous trophy hunter, does not disgust me. I may not understand the appeal of hunting of any kind, but she does this legally and pays plenty. And that money goes to help protect endangered species.

 

Movie Recommendation: None

I ran out of time, so you are on your own.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Little America' by REM & 'Always The Sun' by The Stranglers

Second ad break bumpers: 'Nobody Told Me' by John Lennon & 'Driving The Dynamite Truck' by Breaking Circus

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.