dimland radio 1-5-13 show notes

Happy New Year!  Here's More About The Flu

I talked about resolutions, dying from having a 16 ton weight dropped on me, and another (hopefully) humorous bit about having the flu.

Mea Culpa

Did I drop a spoiler last week when I talked about Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo'?  According to my younger brother, I did.  He thought my revealing the name of the character played by Ben Kingsley and who he was spoiled the moment of discovery in the film.  I don't like thinking I've done a spoiler, so I'm sorry.

But!  Then I remembered that I knew who the character was before seeing the film.  That got me thinking, "How did I know that?"  I looked into it by checking the reviews.  First up was Roger Ebert's review.  And right there in the fourth paragraph, "Yes, this grumpy old man, played by Ben Kingsley, is none other than the immortal French film pioneer, who was also the original inventor of the automaton." 

See?  If Roger can do it, so can I.

Pedantic Moment

I also checked ten other critics' reviews of 'Hugo' and eight of them made mention of Kingsley's character.  That got me remembering my sixth grade teacher, Mr. Malmstead.  He taught us that when talking statistics 8 out of 10 is 4 out of 5.   80,000 out of 100,000 is 4 out of 5.

My pedantry centered around the tendency of the last few years to call those sorts of rates using the base 10.  So I'll hear, 4 in 10, 6 in 10, etc.  Mr. Malmstead demanded that we call those as they really are.  2 in 5, 3 in 5, etc.

Math!

Ten Minute Topic With Chris Brown

The long-awaited return of TMT finally stopped being awaited for.  Chris Brown of Meet The Skeptics! returned to talk to me about a trip to India, math, his son Ethan, Ethan's math blog, and soccer.  Soccer?  Yep.

We didn't talk much skepticism, but it was good to hear from Chris again.

Changing One's Mind With Science

I hadn't heard of Mark Lynas before yesterday, but I spotted a Slate.com article on my Facebook page.  Apparently, Lynas was a prominent environmentalist who, for nearly two decades, had decried the dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods.  Turns out he studied the science of GM and found that he had been wrong.  And at the Oxford Farming Conference on January 3, 2013, he apologized for the damage he had done to the environmental movement by vilifying those greatly beneficial and safe crops.

It's not always easy admitting you're wrong.  And so publicly.  That is one of the great things about science and people who take science seriously - admitting an error and correcting it.

Here is Mark Lynas' entire speech at the Oxford Farming Conference. 

Movie Recommendation: Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy

 

  Warner Brothers

Christopher Nolan understands the Batman.  And shows us that in his nearly perfect trilogy of 'Batman Begins,' 'The Dark Knight,' and 'The Dark Knight Rises.'  I had just seen the final installment and was very impressed.  "Wow!" I think, was my first reaction.

Each film gets it right.  The villains are excellent, especially Heath Ledger's Joker.  Thomas Hardy is almost as good as Bane.  The gadgets are believable, along with the situations we find the Batman getting into.  Extreme?  Yes, but believable.  And Anne Hathaway's Catwoman?  MEOW!

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: 'Dodo/Lurker' by Genesis & 'O Superman (For Massenet)' by Laurie Anderson
Second ad break bumpers: 'Where There's Smoke, There's Fire' by Urban Guerrillas & 'Infected' by TheThe
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.

dimland radio 9-1-12 show notes

Pedantic Moment!

 

 

I pointed out that the above meme's sentiment is flawed.  It boils down to this: Isn't what you have overcome something you have done?  So, aren't you saying, "I am not what I have done, I am what I have done?"

 

 

Cool,Cool, And Sad

Such a cool cloud formation!  Ain't it?

 

I then ran through a few news items I spotted online.  Two were cool and one was pretty sad.  First was an interesting cloud formation called undulatus asperatus and they look so cool!  Next was the news item about eBay longer allowing some forms of "magical" products or services to be dealt through them.  See that story here.

Last was a sad item about a fellow who decided it would be fun to dress in a Ghillie suit (a kind of military camouflage) and hang out on a highway after dark in order to fool people that they were seeing bigfoot.  Well, as you can imagine, the plan backfired.  He was hit by two cars and killed.  I think this falls under the What's The Harm umbrella that skeptic Tim Farley put up here.

Ten Minutes Topic: Scams

Chris Brown of the Meet The Skeptics! podcast joined me in a discussion of scams that businesses can get caught up in.  Chris did get a word or two in, but I did kind of monopolized the chat.

That Baltic Sea UFO?  Well...

I discussed some of the more recent information regarding a "UFO" found underwater using a sonar imaging device.  It looks interesting, but is it a crashed spacecraft?  Or is it an artifact of Atlantis?  Atlantis?  Sure, why not?  Oh, wait!  Atlantis was made up!  Made up by Plato.  So, the object as seen in the sonar image is probably not a UFO or Atlantis, but Ocean Team X is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Movie Recommendation: The Great Escape (1963)

 

United Artists

 

 

Produced in those final days of the Hollywood studio system, this prisoner of war movie is based on actual events from World War Two.  It stars Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough and it's pretty damn good!  Watch it!

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: 'Living Through Another Cuba' by XTC & 'Wardance' by Killing Joke
Second ad break bumpers: 'Soul Kitchen' by X & 'Many A Time' 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.

dimland radio 5-21-11 show notes

I thought this was going to be my last show, that the Rapture would put an end to the world and my internet radio career, but the Rapture didn't happen. The show goes on...

New Opening Theme Song: Ram by The Yoleus

The Yoleus

Not wanting to have issues from using a song I didn't have permission or licensing to use, I asked a friend if I could use a song by his band for my show theme. He said it was ok with him, so this show was the first show using his band's song, 'Ram.'

Learn more about The Yoleus here.

A Tale Of A Comic Book Collector Part 2

My copies ain't worth enough to retire on.

I followed up on last week's talk about the big money sale of an issue of The Incredible Hulk #181 by letting my listeners know I won't be retiring anytime soon on the sale of the three copies I own. The combined potential value of my three copies is $575 to $625, it bit short of the $150,000 that that one copy sold for. Oh, well.

MN Twins Great Harmon Killebrew Dies

Harmon Killebrew: Swinging for the fences

I turned to the world of baseball's loss of the great Harmon Killebrew. He was a great slugger and a terrific guy. A fan favorite not only for his ability to hit home runs, but also for his soft-spoken graciousness, his love of the game, and his generous treatment of the fans. He will be missed.

You can read Killebrew's obituary here.

Is the hitter shown in the official MLB logo Harmon Killebrew? Maybe.

Is that Harmon?

I looked into the rumor of Harmon being the model for the MLB logo. Harmon says it is, the designer of the logo says it's not. However, the designer, Jerry Dior, can't remember which players' photographs he used in designing the logo.

So, is it Harmon? Maybe, maybe not.

Read more here and here.

It's The End Of World As We... No, It's Not

Money not well spent.

How could I not talk about The Rapture? Crazy person, Harold Camping, said The Rapture was supposed to begin on May 21. That all who have died would be piled up all over and all those who were saved would be taken up to Heaven.

"Dude! You can totally see up that girl's skirt! Thank you, God!"

Well, it didn't happen. Surprise, surprise.

I also talked about a dumbass who spent $140,000 to post signs to warn of our impending doom. What a maroon!

Meet The Skeptics!

My friend and fellow skeptic, Chris Brown, finally interviews a skeptic I can really relate to... ME!

Check it out here.

Movie Recommendation: The Natural (1984)

The Natural is my favorite baseball movie. It's a fairytale of baseball, the kind of idealized version of the game fans dream of. It suffers slightly from having the then in his late 40s Robert Redford play his character at age 18 or so. It's very hard to buy Redford being that young. Still the movie is very enjoyable.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: 'Disenchanted' by The Church & 'This World Over' by XTC
Second ad break bumpers: 'North Country Girl' by Pete Townshend & 'Insect Mother' by Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians
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

dimland radio 10-2-10 show notes

It is the kick off of Halloween Awareness Month at Dimland Radio...

Cold open: sock talk

I opened the show with the scintillating tale of my struggle with purchasing some new socks.

October 2, 1982

The world's greatest rock band: The Who

This show happened on the same date as my first time seeing The Who in concert. 28 years later, of course. I talked about my memories of that day and of the concert and band that changed my life.

You can read my blog giving more details here (scroll down).

Ken Burns' Baseball the 10th Inning

I gave some of my impressions on the recently aired documentary about the greatest game ever devised by man. Ken Burns knows how to make himself a good documentary. If you missed it, I'm sure PBS will run it again soon. Probably next pledge time, which should be happening any day now.

Learn more here.

It's Not True

On the left! In the back! Behind the curtain! A g-g-g-ghost!

No, not a ghost. It's a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson.

The untrue item this time? I'll tell you what's not true! It's the "ghost" of a little boy that can be seen in one scene in the movie '3 Men and a Baby'. It's not a ghost. It's a cardboard cutout image of Ted Danson wearing a tux and a top hat.

You can read more about it at Snopes.com and watch Captain Disillusion explain it here.

Chris Brown's Meet the Skeptics podcast

I mentioned it last week, but I wanted to get into it a little more this week, so I did. My skeptical friend, Chris Brown, has a podcast that he just started in which he interviews skeptics. It's called 'Meet the Skeptics'. His first interview was with James Randi! (Chris! You stinker!) And, even more importantly, in my mind anyway, soon he will be interviewing ME for his podcast! I'll keep you posted as to when I'll be on, because, if you are anything like I am, you can't get enough of me.

You can find Chris' blog here and 'Meet the Skeptics' can be found on iTunes or here.

Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula ('Dracula' 1931)

Boris Karloff as the Monster ('Frankenstein' 1931)

I really like those old Universal horror movies. I talked a bit about 'Dracula' (1931) and 'Frankenstein' (1931) and about the stars of those movies, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. I compared the two actors and how their careers went. I also told the story of how Lugosi got the part of Dracula in the horror parody 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein', a part you would think was a shoe-in for him but Universal didn't want him.

You couldn't go wrong by putting 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein' in your DVD collection.

Movie recommendation

This has been a long time favorite of mine. It's the haunted house film from 1973 called 'Legend of Hell House'. Hell House is the Mount Everest of haunted houses according to Dr. Barrett, the somewhat skeptical scientist sent to investigate the house and determine if there is life after death.

This movie is an excellent example of the less is more principle. The special effects are spare, but the atmosphere heavy with fear and more than a bit of eroticism. It's perfect for the season!

Put in your Netflix queue now.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'It's Hard' & 'Did You Steal My Money' by The Who
Second ad break bumpers: 'Athena' & 'The Quiet One' by The Who
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