Showing posts with label climate change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climate change. Show all posts

4.27.2019

dimland radio 4-27-19 show notes


A Friend Of Z Talk And Dimland Radio Has Been Lost



He was known as Homey in the chat room at Z Talk Radio. He was a semi-regular visitor going way back. Homey was dropping by less frequently in recent years, but when he did pop into chat he was always a welcome sight.

His name was Jimmy Holmes and he died sometime in the last couple weeks. I'm not exactly sure when or what it was that took his life. I was stunned when I learned of his dying.

Z Talk Radio and Dimland Radio have lost a friend. Homey will be missed. 

Is Exxon/Mobil Admitting To Being Part Of The Problem? 

Global climate change is real. It's happening and it is likely to have dire consequences. It's also mainly due to human activity. All that pumping of CO2 in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution is taking its toll and humans need to get behind efforts to reverse the trends and fix the damage.

But there's been a lot of foot dragging in part due to people not understand the importance and the urgency. Too many think it's not that big of a problem. They think there is a debate among scientists. They think the science isn't settled.

A big part of the reason for the foot dragging is the misinformation campaign fostered by the oil industry. They have been muddying the waters and giving the public and politicians a way the justify not taking my aggressive action.

But then I saw this ad:
CO2 is the main greenhouse gas that is causing the problem. Most of the CO2 in the atmosphere is the result of burning fossil fuels. Capture it would be helpful. Exxon/Mobil seems to be admitting fossil fuel (you know, the thing they produce) is the problem. They do so without mentioning climate change, but they seem to be admitting they are part of the problem.

Don't they?

It's Not True: Urine Is Sterile

I believed this one. Lots of people do, even doctors.

But there is bacteria in urine. It seems to be a recent realization, but it has been learned that you don't have to have a bladder infection to have non-sterile urine. The human body is filled with bacteria, good and bad. And there is bacteria in urine.

Learn more here and here.
Measles Is Making A Comeback In America! 

UCLA and Cal Sate LA have both put a number of staff and students in quarantine due to their possible exposure to measles via students with the should-be-gone-by-now disease.

Dimland Radio wishes to extend a hardy (and sarcastic) Well Done! to all the anti-vaxxers out there. You have done your job well.

"This Is Jordan, We Do What We Like..."

Those are the opening words of '80s post-punk band Big Black's song Jordan, Minnesota. It's a disturbing song about the rash of child sexual abuse accusations that beset that small rural Minnesota town beginning in 1983.

Similar accusations were being made all over America in those days. Daycare providers, parents, teachers, even members of law enforcement were being accused of taking part in child sex rings, meting out all kinds of sexual abuse to children as young as 2 months old.

Children were taken from their parents, parents and others were charged, put on trial, and some were imprisoned.

Authorities believed even the most outrageous tales of physical and sexual abuse, and even ritualistic murder. Fear was fomented, towns were put on edge, lives were ruined. And songs like Big Black's were recorded. However, it turned out there were no child sex rings. 

Jordan became national news. People Magazine published an early account of the horrifying claims. It gives an excellent insight into the fear that gripped the nation. The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune both wrote about the allegations: here and here. 

MPR interviewed the author Richard Beck whose book 'We Believe The Children: A Moral Panic in the 1980s' explains the events of Jordan and other similar incidents all over America in the '80s. He found that there was no there there.

One Cool Thing

We had a medical doctor in the family. He was my great grandfather Dr. Walter Fitzsimmons. He used to teach at the University of Minnesota. Below is photograph of him (on the far right) and a few of his students. And a cadaver.


It's pretty cool!
 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Independence Day' by Urban Guerrillas & 'Dirty Mind' by Prince
Second ad break bumpers: 'Once In A Lifetime' by Talking Heads & 'New World Man' by Rush
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.

8.06.2017

dimland radio 8-5-17 show notes

A Pedantic Moment: Winking Face Emoji

On Facebook when you type a semicolon and the right half of a parenthesis - ;) - the site automatically posts a little winking face. My pedantry is that the wrong eye is winking. When typed it should be the face's right eye that winks, not the left.

Wrong eye.
Explosion At Minnehaha Academy
 
Wednesday morning there was an explosion at Minnehaha Academy, a private school in South Minneapolis, caused by a natural gas leak during some construction on the school. Two people were killed. I talked about how you just don't when your time might come and about how fast emergency vehicles are allowed to go to get to an emergency. I also talked a little bit about the Go Fund Me pages that have been posted in relation to helping out in the aftermath of this tragedy.
 
I also talked about there being a suggestion this accident might have been part of Islamic terrorism. I was asked how long it would take before someone suggested it. From what I can tell, about an hour and twenty minutes. A local psychic tweeted about her suspicions.
 
 
 
She's psychic. Can't she divine the answer?
 
There was a vigil at the school later that day at which people involved gather to give each other support. Of course there was some mention of how God would help people through this. And, of course, the atheist that I am has me wondering why God didn't help by preventing the explosion. I know, I know. Mysterious ways.
 
The news of this vigil led to...

Another Pedantic Moment
 
On the 10 o'clock news that night, a young reporter noted that the people at the vigil (held earlier that night) are taking it "one day at a time." He said that twice in the report.
 
Um. It's only been one day. There was no other way to take it at the time.

"Do Your Own Research"
 
The above image is being shared on social media was created by Stop The World The Teabaggers Want Off. That is a bullshit site that generates fake quotes by conservatives. I said as much when a Facebook friend shared the image. I also stated the Melania Trump speaks five languages, so she's not exactly stupid.
 
That language comment was disputed with evidence, while I provided two sources. The person disputing me did not provide sources. They eventually resulted to ad hominem.
 
Oh, well.
 
Dimland Radio Science Hero: John Oliver
 
John Oliver has been declared a Dimland Radio Science Hero once before. He and Senator McCaskill were named Heroes for their exposure of Dr Oz's peddling of snake oil.
 
John Oliver, on his HBO program Last Week Tonight, has also exposed the bullshit of the media's false equivalency on climate change, the bullshit of the anti-vax movement, and the batshit, crazy, bullshit of conspiracy theorist king Alex Jones.
 
For all of that, I once again declared John Oliver a Dimland Radio Science Hero.

Top Three Cool Things Of The Week

Here are the Top Three Cool Things from this week.
 
3) I got a pair of eclipse glasses to observe the celestial event later this month. I joked a bit about how to tell your glasses are safe, but here is a better way to do that. I looked at the sun and it was way cool!
 
2) It's Not True: This video, although very cool, does not show lightning making water explode. It's part of a mining operation clearing a channel and the lightning seen in the video is a wired charge setting off the explosion.
 
1) My son turned 14 years old this past week. Happy Birthday, Hayden! Astrologers, put your charts away!

Movie Recommendation: N

I ran out of time, so 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: 'Epic' by Faith No More & 'Refugee' by U2
Second ad break bumpers: 'Certain Things Are Likely' by KTP & 'Here Is The News' by ELO
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.

9.08.2015

dimland radio 9-5-15 show notes

Hot, Sweaty Week

I hate sweating. Oh, I don't mind it if I sweat while I'm working, but if I'm sitting and reading or whatever, sweating is just plain wrong. And I've been sweating a lot this past week, because it's been so humid and the AC at the office doesn't work for shit.

Earning My Pay

So, it's hot and crappy sweaty all week and, on Friday, I got to cap by telling two employees they were losing their jobs, because we lost the account at which they were working.

My job is working for a janitorial service and we occasional lose accounts. Hopefully not because we were doing a poor job. On rare occasions that may be the case. But most of the time it's because of new management, they decide to clean themselves, someone came in much cheaper, or they go out of business.

We think this latest lose is because they want to clean it themselves. Still, it doesn't make it easier to tell someone they've lost their job, even it is just part time work.
 
Climate Versus Weather

This isn't the graphic I talked about, but it will do as a stand in.
I mentioned a graphic I spotted on the Facebook. Unfortunately, I can't find it, so the image above will have to do and you'll just have to take my word about that graphic. It was being shared by folks who want to get others to understand the serious threat of global warming.

Now, I am on board with the whole climate change thing being largely human caused and that we need to curtail our release of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, but I'm not on board with using weather to argue climate.

Yes, as the graphic tells us, Seattle has no record of ever having a summer with ten or more days with high temperatures of 90 or higher, until this year. But that is just one year. That's weather. If the graphic had shown how there has been a steady increase in those hots days each summer in Seattle over the last ten, twenty years, that would be climate.

Minneapolis normally averages ten 90 degree days per summer. Of the past two summers, there have been only two days of 90 or higher in 2014 and 2015 hasn't had many more than that. Would I be accurate if I used those two data points to argue the globe is cooling? 

It's Not True (Probably)...

I talked about how most of the evidence refutes the idea that when women work or live together their menstrual cycle synchronize. There is some published work out there that indicates that pheromones may affect cycles, but it has been called into question.

Therefor, I called this an It's Not True...Probably.
 
Most Memorable Moment In High School Health Class

Not exactly my health teacher, but close.
Ms Gredvig was a tough Phy-Ed teacher. She could be harsh and unfair.

I didn't have her for phy-ed. I had her for health class. One day she decided to show the class, the entire class, an educational film about breast cancer and how to do a self examination. The film included a young high school age looking woman (probably at least 18 years old) performing a self exam.

No blurring. No black bars. We saw naked breasts in our health class. We never did find out why Ms Balbricker..er... I mean Ms Gredvig didn't excuse the boys from the class.

Kim Davis And Tracking Social Media Outrage
 
I weighed in on the Kim Davis situation, by saying she should quit her job if she doesn't like what the job requires her, by law, to do. Part of her job is to issue marriage licenses, but her religious faith has her refusing to issue those licenses to same sex couples.

She has be found in contempt of court for the refusal and is headed to jail.

I'm OK with that.

I'm not OK with attacking her because of how she looks. That is irrelevant. I find it funny that some on the Left feel personal attacks are fine when used against people they disagree with, but not so when they agree with the person being attacked. It's a bit of that whole Us versus Them thinking. And we all need to do our best to avoid partaking in it.

Here's a take that also doesn't like the attack on her looks approach.

I also mentioned I'm considering keeping track of the social outrages of next year. There are sure to be a few rolling around the social media. I'm interested in how long outrages last, who they are against, and which next outrage draws the public's attention next.

I'm considering it. We have to see if I do it. 

Movie Recommendations: The Legend Of Boggy Creek (1972)

Howco International Pictures
I recently blogged about this docudrama about a bigfoot-like creature living in the swampland near Fouke, Arkansas. When this movie was released it was a sensation and it thrilled me as an eight year old. But, when I saw it as an adult, it had lost its senational appeal.

It's still an intriguing viewing. I wonder how people back then didn't just scoff at this rather amateurish film. It's worth look and you can see the entire movie on YouTube. 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Big Brother Muscle' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs & 'Smalltown Boy' by Bronski Beat
Second ad break bumpers: 'Small Blue Thing' by Suzanne Vega &  'Big Mouth Strikes Again' By The Smiths
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.