dimland radio 7-27-19 show notes

A Correction

 

Last week I made a little boo-boo. I was talking about the Apollo Moon Landing missions and I got the number of men who had walked on the lunar surface wrong. I said there were six, but it was actually twelve. There were six successful Apollo missions involving a moon landing. There probably would have seven had Apollo 13 not had its problem.

 

Apologies.

The Bomba Squad And I'm Not Psychic

The Minnesota Twins are far ahead of the rest of the league when it comes to hitting home runs. As of this writing, the Twins have 201 homers for the season. They now hold two records related to this surge in hitting prowess. One: The most games in a season with at least five home runs (nine games, previous record was eight games). Two: The quickest to 200 dingers in a season (103 games, previous record 122 games). At this point, the Twins have 25 more home runs than the next highest team in the league.

 

I also talked about how my dire prediction ahead of the recent nine game home stand did not hold. But for the first five games I was looking like I might actually be psychic.

 

Multilevel Marketing, My Mom, & Me

I took some time to talk about multilevel marketing (MLM) schemes. (Don't call these triangular-shaped business models pyramid schemes!) I warned against getting involved in an MLM. You will waste your time, alienate friends and family, and you will lose money. Don' get involved no matter how enticing that "opportunity" may sound.

 

I talked about my mother's brief involvement in Shaklee's MLM. Fortunately, she did not get deeply involved and didn't lose much money.

 

I also talked about being approached to partake in a couple such schemes. The first time I didn't know what MLMs were, but I knew I wasn't a salesperson, so I didn't bite. The other times I was approached I had learned about MLMs and the folks who attempted to get me into their trianglar-shaped (I didn't say pyramid) scheme received a polite, "Not interested."

 

Wanna learn more about MLMs? Check out Brian Dunning's InFact video, this Squaring The Strange podcast episode, this Last Week Tonight with John Oliver exposé, and the excellent podcast series The Dream.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: Penn Jillette's Memory

Don't look so stern, Penn. It's just a memory glitch.

On his podcast, Penn's Sunday School, Penn Jillette recounted the tale of his and Teller's second appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. In his talk, he also briefly mentioned their first appearance.

 

His stories were detailed, funny, compelling, dramatic, and wrong. Well, at least, certain parts of the stories were wrong. I go through his errors in memory (you'll have to listen for those details), which I'm certain were honest mistakes, that he remembers those event just as he told them. However, video exists of those appearances and some of his recollections are not supported. See Cool Things 1 and 2 below to watch the videos.

 

The second appearance involved cockroaches. Penn's memory says there were thousands of them. The video shows more like dozens. Penn said there were cockroaches all over Dave's suit jacket. The video shows there were none. Penn said Dave was very upset and yelled at them when in commercial break. In the video Dave doesn't seem angry at all and we've seen Dave angry on Late Night.

Manhunt: Unabomber And That Famous Sketch

My wife convinced me to watch the Discovery Channel miniseries Manhunt: Unabomber, which is streamable on Netflix. It's an eight part series that dramatizes how the FBI were finally able to identify and capture Ted Kaczynski, who had been sending bombs through the mail for nearly two decades. The series introduces Jim Fitzgerald a very talented profiler who was able to create an accurate profile using the many Unabomber letters that been received by the FBI.

 

It's a good series and Paul Bettany as Kaczynski is especially good.

 

The famous sketch released in 1994.

There was a moment in the series that I found very interesting, when it comes to how memory is not videotape. In the scene in which Fitzgerald is trying to convince David Kaczynski that his suspicions of his brother being the terrorist were correct, he tells the brother that the famous Unabomber sketch of 1994 is not the suspect. Rather it's more likely a sketch of the police sketch artist who had done the first drawing seven years earlier.

 

The original sketch done right after witness saw suspect.

That's right. There were two sketches produced from the descriptions of one witness. The first one was done by Robert Exter immediately after the suspect had been seen leaving a bomb in a parking lot. The second sketch was done by Jeanne Boylan seven years after the bombing. And it seems very likely the second time the witness described the suspect she was describing Robert Exter.

 

When watching the series, I was curious if the claim in the series was accurate or was it dramatic license? I looked it up. Turns out the claim is on the level. Click here to see a report from 1994 that explores the memory glitch.

 

I even consulted memory expert Elzabeth Loftus on this and she confirmed that "All other things equal, the earlier sketch should be the more accurate."

 

Ah, memory. Such a tricky, tricky thing. 

Three Cool Things

 

1) Penn & Teller's hand-stabbingly great first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. Note there is no fake blood on Dave's face or anywhere else on him. Still, it's cool.

 

2) Penn & Teller's creepy, crawly second appearance on on Late Night. Note the total lack of cockroaches on Dave's suit. This video's first half has Penn telling the story of the first two appearances and his memories don't quite match up to the video. But, still, pretty cool.

 

3) And to round out great early Penn & Teller TV appearances, here's the link to their legendary upside down gag on Saturday Night Live. Super cool!

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: '(The) Village' by New Order & 'Eliminator Jr.' by Sonic Youth

Second ad break bumpers: 'Never Talking To You Again' by Husker Du & 'Der Kommissar' by After The Fire

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 12-15-18 show notes

Amway? No way!

 

I have a co-worker who often asks my advice or to get clarification on a topic about which he has some confusion. Recently, he told me of a friend of his who has gotten into a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme. I wasn't surprised to hear that this friend was attempting to get my co-worker to sign up as well. That's one of the main tasks of being part of an MLM scheme: Recruit others into the scheme. .

 

I asked if the money was rolling in for this guy. It's not. I'm shocked!

 

Actually, I'm not shocked. MLMs rely on people's gullibility in thinking it will be easy to convince other people to join in and their hopes for big money. The big money never materializes, but their own money does disappear. The members need to maintain a monthly minimum of product. The friend of my co-worker is shelling out $300 a month, but the big money is just around the corner. Or is it? Well, when it comes to Amway 99.99% of its members lose money.

 

I advised my co-worker against getting involved. I hope he listens.

 

Brian Dunning produced a video from which I got much of my information as part of his InFact YouTube video series. Check it out here.

 

HBO's John Olivier gives a longer, more detailed look at MLMs. Click here.

Cool Thing #1:

 

I decided to try an experiment this week and not run through the Three Cool Things at the end of the show. Instead I would intersperse the cool items throughout the show, giving more time to each one.

The first is the fact that because of the power of science the human species now has two interstellar spacecraft cruising through space. Voyager 2, launched 41 years ago, has finally joined Voyager 1 in interstellar space, which means both spacecraft are now outside the influence of our sun.

The image above has a few of the astounding facts. And this link is to information on the documentary The Farthest: Voyager In Space, which tells the story of NASA's Voyager mission.

Science! YEAH!

This Really Isn't Much Of A Problem Anymore But...

In the not so old days, when widescreen movies went on television the scourge that is "pan and scan" was invited. Until recently, television screens were more square, while movie screens are much wider, so in order to fit the movie picture onto a TV screen someone had to reformat the image.

 

Sure, they could have opted to put the black bars at the top and bottom to approximate the shape of a movie screen to accommodate the full picture, but then people would complain about the black bars. Such rubes!

 

I gave a couple examples. One was Mackenna's Gold (1969), which is generally a mess of a movie and pan and scan didn't help; and Star Wars (1977), which lopped off a Tusken Raider (calling them "sand people" seems racist to me) from a shot and that led my younger self to some confusion. Luke says he can see one of them now. I can't.

 

MacKenna's Gold - Pan and scan.

What we should see. Oh, look! Telly Salaves!

Star Wars - Pan and scan. Where's that Tusken Raider?

Widescreen - Ah! There he is!

Turner Classic Movies produced a short film featuring filmmakers discussing why pan and scan is bad and that audiences should be bothered by what they are missing in the picture and not by the black bars across the top and bottom of the screen.

 

Of course, nowadays televisions are formatted more like movie screens so pan and scan isn't the problem it once was. Except now the old TV shows have black bars on the sides.

 

Cool Thing #2: 

In the world today, our lives are very well documented visually. From photographs to video, most of us in the developed world, anyway, has plenty of pictorial evidence of our existence. That hasn't always been the case. One hundred years this sort of documentation was much more rare, so how cool is it that a website has posted a video featuring film footage of four artistic masters? Well, it's very cool.

 

At this link there is a nine minute video of film taken of Monet, Renior, Rodin, and Degas. The artists are old man at the time they were filmed. You can see the ravages of time evident in each, especially Renoir.

 

They were just as alive then as we are today. These films give us a look back in time and it is so awesome!

 

Movie Recommendation: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

 

 

It is said this movie suffered from Star Wars fatigue or possibly from audiences having trouble accepting anyone other than Harrison Ford playing Han Solo, and those factors led to this film not performing as well at the box office. It might also be due to the switching of directors while the film was in production. Ron Howard took over after directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (directing as a duo) were fired.

 

Well, I recently watched the movie and I really liked it. It's fun! Star Wars movies should be fun, right? Yeah, some can get a bit dark. Empire Strikes Back and Rogue One were pretty dark, but they were still fun.

Solo is more light-hearted and filled with Easter Eggs for the fans. And I think Alden Ehrenich and Donald Glover both do a fine job playing Solo and Lando Calrissian. They don't do impressions of Ford and Billy Dee Williams, but they do capture their essence and attitude, with an gesture or voice inflection here and there that get pretty close to the original actors.

 

As I said, it's fun. The special effects are terrific. Watch it.

 

Cool Thing #3:

 

I found the above photograph in the trash of an office I cleaned years ago. The fellow on the left is a stranger to me, but the man on the right is former MN Twins pitching ace Frankie "Sweet Music" Viola. I fished this picture out of the trash and have kept it ever since. I think it's cool.

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'O, Superman (For Massenet)' by Laurie Anderson & 'Dark Entries' by Bauhaus

Second ad break bumpers: 'All Shook Down' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs & 'You'll Have To Go Sideways' by The Soft Boys

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 9-29-12 show notes

A Fan Page

I've finally gone and done it.  I put up a Facebook fan page for Dimland Radio.  Please go and like it for me, won't you?  Search for Dimland Radio and give it a like, please.  Please, I'm begging you.

IncomeAtHome.com And Multilevel Marketing

Big time radio hosts and podcasters are advertising an outfit claiming you can makes loads of money at home.  Really!  All you need is an internet connection and some good old-fashioned gumption.  Well, as the saying goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Turns out the company behind this amazing opportunity is Herbalife.  Herbalife is a multilevel marketing company.  And multilevel marketing does not work for more than 99% of those folks who fall for the pitch.

 

Go here and here to learn more.

Law & Order

I talked a bit about the long running police and prosecutors drama.  I mentioned a unintentionally funny line from one early episode.

I Might Be Rising In The Skeptical Movement

Ok, maybe not rising really, but I did have something happen to me through the Facebook that happens to the big-time skeptics all the time.  I was called names for being a skeptic!  Yay!

Made it, Ma!  Top of the world!

Movie Recommendations: 4 Days In October (2010) AND Catching Hell (2011)

 

I have two recommendations this week.  They are part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series.  30 sports related documentaries by 30 different directors.

4 Days In October focuses on the come from behind win in the 2004 ALCS by the Boston Red Sox over the Hated Yankees.  It would end up being the season in which the Red Sox finally won a World Series, a feat they hadn't accomplished since 1918.  But, first they had to defeat the Hated Yankees after falling behind the Evil Empire by three games to none.  This film documents the four games the Red Sox won to take the series, an accomplishment no other team had ever done in the history of baseball!

Catching Hell documents how Steve Bartman became the scapegoat blamed for the Chicago Cubs meltdown in the 2003 NCLS.  The Cubs hadn't been in a World Series since 1908 and, as the eighth inning of game six started, it seemed a lock that the Cubbies would finally make it.  However, a foul but catchable ball went out to left field.  Moises Alou had a bead on it when a fan, Steve Bartman, got in the way.  The documentary looks into the fan reaction and the effect it had on Mr. Bartman's life.  It also takes a look at the scapegoat in baseball by examining the Bill Buckner boot in the 1986 World Series. 

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: 'Clear View' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs & 'My City Was Gone' by The Pretenders
Second ad break bumpers: 'Black Haired Girl' by The Alley Cats & 'What Do You Know?' by The Buzzcocks
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.