dimland radio 11-11-17 show notes

I Was Wrong About Something

During my talk about the World Series last week I made a couple mistakes. Hard to believe, I know.

I was wrong about how home field advantage is determined in the World Series. I was correct last year, but Major League Baseball changed to the team with the best regular season record gets it. It is no longer determined by the winner of the All-Star Game.

 

And I was wrong about which team won the 2017 All-Star Game. 

I Now Know People Who Actually Eat Bone Marrow

The Minnesota Skeptics' monthly meet-up was just held. It was its usual good time. However, some of the devoured one of the most unappetizing appetizer I've ever seen. Bone marrow. I'd heard that there are people who eat it. Now I know a few personally.

I'm not one of them.

Pedantic Moment: The Back Of A Cylinder

A young MN Skeptic mentioned some writing on the back of an over-sized can of water. I remarked on the interesting idea of there being a back of a cylinder.

Yes, I know what he meant.

He's Bad Enough, You Don't Have To Lie About Him

So those still pictures of Pres. Trump feeding koi in Japan? You know, the ones that are making Trump out to be an idiot, because he dumped "too much" at once? Well, guess what the video shows...

Click here.

The UK Has A Problem With Big Cats Roaming The Countryside

The problem is they don't have any big cats roaming the countryside, but they have plenty of people who think they've seen and photographed pumas/cougars/mountain lions/panthers in the British wild. A woman believes she's photographed a puma eating a domestic cat in her neighbor's back garden. It looks more like a tabby cat eating a grey bird.

 

In this segment, I go on a rant about people letting their cats roam outside. It's a familiar rant to regular listeners, but I did add a new reason for my dislike of my neighbors letting their cats out.

Top Three Cool Things Of The Week

Here are the Top Three Cool Things from this week.

3) Admittedly, I was a bit coy on this one. There may be something pretty cool happening in a few months for Dimland Radio. I didn't want to give details. I'll do that when the something is a certainty.

2) This past Thursday was the second Thursday of the month, so that means I attended the MN Skeptics Meet-Up. Always a real cool time.

1) My wife, son, and I saw Penn & Teller perform this past week and we got autographs and pictures. It was a great show.

 

 

Movie Recommendation: Downfall (2004)

 

 

Not a feel-good movie experience in anyway, Downfall is a fascinating telling of the last days of the Third Reich. Bruno Ganz gives a brilliant performance of the crumbling dictator as he faces (and doesn't face) the defeat of his empire. Much of the story is based of the information given by Traudl Junge, who was Hitler's secretary in those last days.

 

The film was criticized for making Hitler seem to human, but he was human. I think showing him as such takes away the mythic aspect of der fuhrer who came very close to realizing his ambition to rule the world.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Vanishing Girl' by The Dukes of Stratosphear & 'Only In America' by Naked Raygun

Second ad break bumpers: 'Lonely Is (As Lonely Does)' by The dB's & 'Voices Carry' by Til Tuesday

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 6-3-17 show notes

In Search Of Licorice Ice Cream

When I was a kid in the mid-70s, I used go to the Bridgeman's restaurant and ice cream parlor to get my favorite ice cream: Licorice chip. Oh, I liked it so much. Eventually, the Bridgeman's closed and licorice ice cream became just a pleasant memory.

 

In recent years, I would scour the internet to see if there was any of my favorite ice cream to be found around town. I didn't have much success until very recently.

 

I found Nelson's Ice Cream with two locations, one in Stillwater and one in St. Paul. The St. Paul parlor isn't far from the comic book store I do some work for each week. So, last weekend I got myself some licorice chip ice cream. It was pretty good.

 

Nelson's in also exceedingly generous with the amount of ice cream they consider to be a child's size, their smallest. There must be more than a pint of ice cream loaded into that cup or cone.

 

Holy smokes!

Pedantic Moment: Vague About In What Vehicle One First When Over 120 MPH

 

A Facebook friend shared the above image, but wasn't very clear that he meant in what kind of a car you first broke 120 MPH. He included the phrase "in a car" when he posted the image, but I thought he meant that as his answer. In the comment thread he was more specific.

 

I answered truthfully, "In an airplane." But that's not what he wanted. He wanted the model of car I was in. I don't know this fellow well enough to go all pedantic on him on Facebook, but for the show...

Is This Slut-Shaming?

Another Facebook friend shared the image above. My apologies for the naughty word.

 

I questioned whether or not this was slut-shaming. I pointed out there is certainly a bit of making fun of immigrants and a suggestion that Melania Trump is dumb. I contend anyone who can speak more than one language is not dumb. Melania can speak five!

 

I talked about the tendency to think the worst of people who are not in our group. That's what I see happening with the person who created the image and those who share it. Immigrants are to be welcomed and respected and cherished. Unless they are married to a Republican, of course.

Kathy Griffin, Free Speech, A Fake Severed Head, And President Trump

 

I'm a bit conflicted on this one. The part of me that wants people to act decently toward each other found the image of Kathy Griffin holding a severed head that looked like Pres. Trump's to be cruel, mean, shameful, and counter-productive. However, the free speech advocate in me appreciates the need for artists and comedians to push the limits of speech. They need to do this to protect free speech for all.

 

Griffin apologize, but should she have? 

 

It's a tangled web.

 

I also talked about this sort of image of the American President isn't exactly new.

 

And there was "covfefe." The typo heard and ridiculed around the world.

 

I also mentioned the cartoon (?) showing the political spectrum and the state of political discourse these days. See below.

 

Movie Recommendation: Live And Let Die (1973) & The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

Roger Moore was my generation's James Bond. Dad had Sean Connery, but Moore was the first Bond I saw in the theaters. So, in memory of the recently deceased Roger Moore, I recommended my two favorite of his 007 films:

 

Live And Let Die

 

 

 

The Man With The Golden Gun

 

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Summer Fun' by The Barracudas & 'Love Like Blood' by Killing Joke

Second ad break bumpers: 'Uniforms (Corp D'Esprit)' by Pete Townshend & 'Too Much Love' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs

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 1-21-17 show notes

Who Named Led Zeppelin?

It is difficult to say. There are a few differing versions of the story. I went over the version I was familiar with and the variations of it. It seems clear that this history is difficult to know for certain and that, as far as naming the band, Keith Moon and John Entwistle of The Who were at least involved. 

Behind The Name has this version. And starting at the 15 minute mark of a Led Zeppelin documentary we get another version. I also mentioned Beck's Bolero with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, featuring Keith Moon on drums. Moon blasts and screams his way on at about 1:38. I believe I said John Entwistle also plays on this song. He does not. John Paul Jones is on bass.

Planetary Retrograde Just Looks That Way From Earth

Astrology is still popular. Hard to believe, but it is. And I have friends who still buy into that silliness. In the early days of my hanging out in the Z Talk chat room, I kept hearing show hosts and guests attributing various odd occurrences to some planet in our solar system being in retrograde. I didn't quite understood what they were talking about, but I have since learned that a planet in retrograde means that its orbit appears to have gone weird.

Before smart people of the past figured out (and accepted the fact) that the earth isn't the center of the universe, and that our sun is the center of the system of planets and other bodies, including earth; people believed the planets changed direction in their orbits around our planet. In reality, all those bodies, including earth, orbit the sun. When that was figured out the apparent retrograde movement of the planets made sense. 

Retrograde is just the way the planets appear to move when viewed from earth. Besides, the planets have no effect on us anyway. Astrology is just silly.

A Complaint About The Inauguration

Being a staunch supporter of science and scientific skepticism, I was not a supporter of Donald Trump. I was not happy when he was elected. Still, because it is a moment in history and I support the American tradition of the (mostly) peaceful transfer of power, I watched the Inauguration Day coverage.

I didn't complain about the coverage. I didn't complain about our new President's speech. Nope. I complained about the fact that Pres. Trump doesn't button his suit coat when standing.

Last winter, I became a suit owner for the first time in my life. In preparation, I studied suit etiquette or whatever you call it. I learned that when standing while wearing a suit, it is to be buttoned. Below are the rules of how men are to button their suits.

Now, I don't know who makes the rules, but there they are. And Pres. Trump doesn't seem to be aware of the rules. Perhaps he's trying to set a new trend. To my eye, though, a suit looks better buttoned.

Now why the second or third button is even included on a two or three button suit coat is a mystery to me. According to the rules, it is to never be buttoned. I speculated as to why the button is even there.

That led me to an old rant about how men's suit have become too small. At least, the hip, young fellows are wearing them that way. I don't like the look of the coat appearing to strain at the button and I don't care for the skinny pants and low waist lines.

Go ahead, call me a curmudgeon.

A Family Of Blobsqatches At Yellowstone

Oh, yeah. A family of bigfoots. Can't get any clearly than that.

So, yet another fuzzy video of a bigfoot has surfaced. A whole family of them, in fact. One of the cameras placed in Yellowstone National Park has captured half a dozen or so dark blobs milling about in the snow. I just can't see how anyone would get excited about this one. It's pretty clear to me upon watching the video that it's just a group of people, human beings, hanging out in Yellowstone. Simple as that.

But, I do have a shame on me to point out related to this story. The preview image on Facebook included in the link to the story (see photo above) looked as though the dark blobs might be American bison. They are known to hang out in Yellowstone. I suggested just that in the comment thread. However, I made that suggestion before watching the video. The video clearly negates my bison hypothesis.

"When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras." ~ Dr. Theodore Woodward

"When you see dark blobs in a video that look like people moving about, think people not bigfoots." ~ Jim 'Dr Dim' Fitzsimons  

Movie Recommendation: None

I ran out of 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: 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' by Hunters & Collectors & 'Under Cover Of The Night' by The Rolling Stones

Second ad break bumpers: 'Never Follow' by Naked Raygun & 'Entre Nous' 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.

dimland radio 12-10-16 show notes

301st Show!

Which is significant because this is the first full length installment of Dimland Radio available on iTunes. The first thing you will find when you subscribe to the show on iTunes, and you will subscribe, is a 14 minutes primer. It's a quick background on the show and on me. It's something for new show listeners to check out to get an idea of what Dimland Radio is all about.

This show will be the first full length Dimland Radio posted to iTunes.

Damn Server!

For those of you who tuned in on Saturday night, I must apologize for the server. For some unknown reason, Z Talk's server decided to cut the show short. It stopped playback with about 15 minutes left and then started playing an older episode of Dimland Radio. I don't know what happened, but I can assure you I didn't touch anything.

You can get the entire show from the Z Talk Radio show archives page or you can subscribe on iTunes.

A Tale Of The Origin Of The Nickname Dr Dim
 

I have told this story before on the show, but for the benefit of new subscribers on iTunes I figured they'd be curious about the nickname: Dr Dim. It was a name I acquired in art school that just stuck around all these years.

I also told the story about an unusual sculpture I did in art school and how hanging it where I intended didn't quite work out as planned. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Time's Person Of The Year
 

A few people took it rather badly when Time magazine named President-Elect Donald Trump as its Person of the Year for 2016. I and many others attempted to explain to those taking to Facebook to call for a boycott of Time (I wonder how many of them were subscribers in the first place) that Person of the Year is not necessarily an honorific. And that the magazine names men or women or groups or ideas or items Person of the Year due to their impact on the world in a given year - for better or for worse.

I was disappointed by a few of the people complaining. I think they are generally intelligent, thoughtful, and well-reasoned. I may not always agree with their opinions, but I believed they come to their opinions rationally. But this knee-jerk everything about Trump is bad and Time is stupid reaction seems more emotional than reasoned. And I wonder if they even read the article.

I guess they are as human as anyone else.

 

Can you name someone who had more of an impact in 2016?

 

Pedantic Moment: Marlee Matlin Doesn't Know How To Mop

 
I've worked as a janitor for far too many years, and over that time I've learned how to do a few things cleaning wise.

 

The other night I was flipping through the channels when I spotted Children of a Lesser God was playing. I had enjoyed that movie when it was released in 1986 and I hadn't seen it since then. So, I stopped my clicking and watched for a bit.

 

William Hurt plays a new teacher at a school for the deaf and he meets a feisty young woman played by Marlee Matlin. She plays a former student of the school who now works there as a janitor. She's a fiery and stubborn woman and, of course, she and Hurt begin a torrid love affair.

 

But their first meeting was a little rocky.

 

Hurt is in his office, grading papers or whatever teachers do after school, when he hears water splashing in the hall. It's Matlin and she's cleaning the floor.

 

Here's where I get pedantic. That is not how you mop a floor! The way she's doing it expends far too much energy. She'll wear herself out. And she using way too much water.

 

Couldn't the producers have hired a janitor to consult?

 

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: 'That's Entertainment' by The Jam & 'OK Wait' by Naked Raygun

Second ad break bumpers: 'Good Thing' by The Woodentops & 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' by The Police

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! 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.