dimland radio 11-10-18 show notes

Becoming Aware Of My Denial

I have in the past usually dreaded the coming of winter, but I always knew it would happen. For some odd reason this year I was thinking we wouldn't have a winter this time around. Tuesday night reminded me that winter is coming, as they say on The Walking Of The Dead or is it House Of The Thrones.

 

Something like that.

 

The Blue-ish Wave

Not being all that versed in the world of politics didn't stop me from attempting to talk somewhat intelligently about the results of Tuesdays mid-term elections. The Democrats did fairly well. Hey, considering all the gerrymandering done be Republicans over the last several years, I'd say they did rather well.

It looks like my family's health insurance is safe for a couple more years.

Why does it feel like this president is out to get me? I didn't feel that way when W was president.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: It's Complicated

 

I have a couple Facebook friends that were suggesting it's unfair that California, with 40 million people, has only two senators, while other states with far fewer people also get two. It's also unfair that Washington DC, with a higher population than Wyoming, doesn't have any senators.

 

One was saying California has two senators while 23 other states with a combined population equal to California's has 46 senators. Well, yes. I guess, but that's the deal. Each state gets two senators.

 

Of course, the House of Representatives' numbers reflect each states population, more or less. Wyoming has one representative, while California has 53. See how that works? But then the number of people represented by each does vary...

 

Oh, it's complicated.

 

However, I noticed something. It seemed my two friends were suggesting DC should have senators and California should have more senators. There has been a proposal to split California into three states. Suppose we do that and give DC senators. Which party do you think would be most likely to benefit? Which party do you think my two friends are more closely aligned with? Hmmmm.

Sometimes Being A Skeptic Is A Drag

There's always some credulity creeping up wherever I go. Belief in debunked notions: Astrology, psychics, jinxes, curses, the universe caring about us. The list goes on and on and skeptics have to be selective in what they speak out against, to whom and when.

Otherwise, we'd would probably just want to avoid people and stay home and watch TV all day. But that's no escape, because TV is filled with bullshit. The internet then? Of course not.

The other day a news story popped up about an iceberg that looks to be an almost perfect rectangle. The story was on the morning news. It was shared on the internet. And I must not have been in a receptive mood.

"How do we know it's rectangular? We're only seeing that one image. And don't suggest nature can't create right angles. It can! And don't suggest aliens did it. They didn't!"

When a FB friend and UFO enthusiast posted the story, she didn't suggest aliens, but the image below shows how it went...

Sometimes being a skeptic is a drag.

More Talk About Homeopathy

I said that TV isn't an escape from bullshit. Far from it.

 

The other night I saw an ad for a pain remedy for your dog and/or cat. It's called Pet Pain Away. As I watched the ad start with it show pet-owners being considered about their pets' pain, I nailed what the "medicine" was going to be.

I said, "This is going to be homeopathic, ain't it?"

I was right.

 

That's when I reviewed the three silly notions (there are probably more) behind homeopathy. Silly notion number 1) Diluting the "active ingredient" makes it stronger. Silly notion number 2) The water remembers the "active ingredient" had been in it. Silly notion number 3) The Law of Similars, or like cures like. This means that the "active ingredient" needs to, at full strength, cause the problem the homeopathic concoction is meant to relieve.

 

For example, a homeopathic sleeping pill's "active ingredient" would need to be a stimulant. That would be diluted to the point where not even a molecule of the stimulant remains, so now it will cause the opposite response and make you very, very sleepy.

See? Silly, ain't it?

 

People buy it and someone has figured out how to get those people to buy the snake oil for their pets. The poor pets. They're just getting water.

 

Three Cool Things

 

1) The second Thursday of the month was just this past week and that means I met up with the Minnesota Skeptics. Despite dealing with the traffic, made even worse by winter weather, to get to the meeting place, arriving and commiserating with skeptics is always cool.

 

2) With the release of the Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, I went on a bit of a Queen kick which included checking out their showstopping performance at Live Aid in 1985. I guess you could say Queen was pretty cool.

 

3) A friend clued me in on an usual placement of a statue of a famous rumpled, humble, persistent, unassuming TV detective. There's a statue of Lt. Columbo and his dog Dog in the Hungarian city of Budapest. How cool is that?

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'English Roundabout' by XTC & 'Mad Jack' by The Chameleons UK

Second ad break bumpers: 'I Am An Animal' by Pete Townshend & 'No More Lonely Nights' by Paul McCartney

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 12-16-17 show notes

Slowly I Turn

I started the show by talking about vaudeville, the old time variety shows held in theaters across America. Vaudeville was the precursor to shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, The Donny & Marie Show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, etc. There would be singing acts, jugglers, acrobats, one act plays, and comedy routines.

 

One such comedy routine involves the phrase, "Slowly I turn..." It's a sketch about a jilted lover who gets violent whenever he hears a certain word or phrase and he beats up an innocent stranger.

 

The Three Stooges do a version called Niagara Falls.

 

Well, I've picked up the phrase "slowly I turn" and I use it whenever I think I'm done doing tasks for the day, but one more thing has to get done.

 

A Refresher On Homeopathy

 

 

The comic strip above demonstrates that homeopathic medicine has nothing in it. The kid could eat a hundred bottles off those pills and still be fine.

 

I shared the image on Facebook and a friend took umbrage with it. I think they may have been equating homeopathy with herbal medicine. I explained the if a remedy has been prepared using the methods of homeopathy, diluting the solution to the extreme, the chances of there being a molecule of the active ingredient is zero. Homeopaths believe the water used in making the solution "remembers' the active ingredient and forgets everything else that had been in it.

 

It's magic, not medicine.

 

There are a couple videos demonstrating the homeopathic method using vodka and bleach.

 

Some On The Left Are Slut-Shaming

 
I take those few people on the Left of the political spectrum who seem to think it's OK to slut shame Melania Trump and Leeann Tweeden to task. A small segment of folks on the Left have been sharing images from those two women's modelling past. The images are sexy, nude or semi-nude, and, somehow, that means Melania only married our child president for his money and the Tweeden is somehow ineligible to make accusations of sexual harassment or assault.

 

Really? Aren't we supposed to believe the victims?

 

Pedantic Moment: Mad Men And Go Fish

 
In a scene from season four of Mad Men, a child psychiatrist and a child are playing Go Fish. I noticed that neither of them was playing the game properly.

Top Three Cool Things Of The Week

Here are the Top Three Cool Things from this week.

 

3) My wonderful wife got the in-laws' old couch off the porch, so now we have room to...

 

2) ...put up the Christmas tree. This is the second year of me putting the tree on the porch. I thought I wouldn't be able to this year, but my Honey Bunny came through. And...

 

1) She has also been going through her parents stuff. She found a copy of Sports Illustrated dated November 4, 1991. Why is that cool? Just take a gander at the cover.

 

 

Movie Recommendation: The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)

Universal Pictures

This was recommended by one of the Minnesota Skeptics. It's interesting and amusing political comedy, but there's a very racially insensitive scene involving Native Americans in the first ten minutes. Very cringe inducing.

 

William Powell, best known for his role as Nick Charles in The Thin Man film series, plays a not-too-bright Senator who just might be President soon. He keeps a diary with some very damning information that could ruin several political careers, including his own, if the contents were ever made public. As the title notes, the Senator is not very discreet with the diary and it goes missing.

 

There is a notable cameo that fans of The Thin Man films will appreciate.

 

You can watch the entire film here.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Achin' To Be' by The Replacements & 'Mea Culpa' by Brian Eno & David Byrne

Second ad break bumpers: 'Mescal Dance' by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry & 'I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me' by Rosanne Cash

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 11-24-12 show notes

Snow Driving Again

I started the show with recounting my Thanksgiving Day driving fun on the way home from the family festivities.  It wasn't the worst driving conditions, but I was glad to be home, I can tell you.
   

Pants

This had been a topic I had been trying to get to for a couple of weeks, but so other topic kept getting in the way.  Well, finally, the topic of pants would get its due.

 

I started going on about short pants and my disdain for them.  Wearing them, I mean, they're fine for other people, but I just hate them.  My dad isn't that fond of them either.

And then there's this whole sagging pants thing.  Which I turned into...

It's Not True: Sagging Pants

 

Brilliant, ain't it? Wish I thought of it.

Perhaps you've heard that sagging pants originated in prison as a signal to other inmates as to the availability for sexual encounters.  Well, although the "pants on the ground" look did originate in prison, it doesn't mean the "wearer" is ready for some action.

Snopes.com comes to the rescue again.

Never Meet Your Heroes

Or watch them on Letterman.

I knew Pete Townshend was into spiritualism and such.  I didn't know he dabbled in pseudoscience.  He and Dave talked about suffering from tinnitus, nerve damage in the ears that cause a constant ringing sound.  In fact, I have nerve damage in my left ear.

But I digress.

Pete said he's been treating his tinnitus with "a lot of New Age stuff" and working with a homeopathic doctor.  Oh?  Well, he says it's working and maybe it is, but since his claims are subjective it's difficult to know for certain that the "alternative medicine" is working.

Maybe it is, but I have my doubts.  Especially about homeopathy, which if it's being done right has NOTHING in it.

Alternative medicine that works is called medicine.

 

The Bloop Mystery Solved

If it walks like an icequake and quacks like an icequake, it's an icequake.  That's what the "Bloop" turns out to be.  The mysterious sound from the ocean depths is consistent with the known sounds of icequakes.

It's all right here.

Movie Recommendation: The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

 

United Artists

An excellent villain played by Christopher Lee.  A creepy sidekick play by Herve Villechaize.  Britt Eckland in a bikini.  And a good one on one confrontation between Bond and the villain in a cool setting.  And the energy crisis.  What else could you want?  Sean Connery as Bond?  Well, you can't have everything and Moore was a pretty good Bond until the series got too campy and silly (Octopussy, anyone?).

 

Music heard on the show (Whenever Possible, I Will Link To The Song)...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Escape From Planet Earth' by The Alley Cats & 'Crummy Stuff' by Ramones
Second ad break bumpers: 'The Unheard Music' by X & 'Homosapien' by Pete Shelley
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.