dimland radio 4-8-17 show notes

Meh Beer Days Continue And Almost Get Worse

The boss attempted to give me another 12-pack of Rolling Rock. This time I couldn't be adult about it and just accept the generous offer. I mean, had I accepted it without cluing him in on how meh I think that beer is, I might be getting Rolling Rock every time he feels generous.

 

So, I leveled with him and he exchanged it for the beer he used to get me: Summit Extra Pale Ale.

 

Phew.

 

Sad News

I broke from the lightness of the beer topic to mention that my extended family got a little smaller Friday morning. My brother-in-law's brother-in-law (not me, obviously) or my wife's brother's wife's sister's husband, Ed, died after a 14 year battle with cancer. I hope I don't sound too glib with my description of his relationship to me, but Ed had a pretty good sense of humor and I think he would have appreciated it.

 

He was a good guy. I liked him right away. He was a sports fan (he liked the Detroit, his hometown, teams) and he liked Star Trek and Star Wars, so what's not to like about the guy?

 

He was 44. Much too young.

A Little Evolution Talk

 

"If [humans are] from apes, why are the apes still here?" ~ misunderstander of the Theory of Evolution, Stephen Baldwin

 

It's a very common question asked by people who don't have an understanding of the basics of evolution. In short, humans are apes. We and the other Great Apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) are all cousins. We all came from a common ancestor.

 

Actually, along the twisting branches of evolution, there are several common ancestors as we make our way back to the main common ancestor to all of the Great Apes. Chimps and bonobos are the most closely related, so their common ancestor existed relatively recently. As we keep going back through the evolutionary lineage, the common ancestor for humans turns up, further back in time there's one for gorillas, and even further back is the one for orangutans.

 

Here, watch this clip. You'll hear Baldwin make the common error and then Dr. Richard Dawkins will explain why there are still apes.

 

 

Einstein, God, NdGT, And How Inquiry Stops

 

The above graphic popped up on Facebook the other day. I know Einstein has made some ambiguous statements about God, but he's never stated he believed in a god that listens to prayers, rewards with Heaven, punishes with Hell, works miracles, and fixes football games. As I understand it, Einstein's god was more like the awesomeness of nature and physics.

 

But even if he believed in an all-knowing, all-powerful, invisible man in the sky, so what? It wouldn't have lessened his contributions to science and the world. History is filled with many great scientists who also believed in some kind of god.

 

It seems the Christian types are saying, "Einstein believed in God, why don't you?"

 

Well, Einstein was brilliant, but he could still be wrong.

 

That led me to talk about a talk given by Neil deGrasse Tyson about how great scientists of the past, including Isaac Newton, carried the football of science forward until they reached the limit of their knowledge or abilities. At that point, they would appeal to God. Sort of like saying, "I can't figure this out. God did it."

 

NdGT's point was when those scientists would turn to God their work was done. The football was left on the field until another scientist with more knowledge, better equipment, mathematics, or other tools to apply science came along. That scientist picked up the football and moved it forward until their limit was reached. And so on, until NdGT got to Pierre-Simon Laplace.

 

I'll let Dr. Tyson tell the story (by the way, NdGT doesn't use the football analogy, that was my contribution):

 

 

Getting back to that Einstein quote. I couldn't determine whether or not Einstein actually said it. What I could find was a 1997 article in the Wall Street Journal written by Jim Holt. As far as I can tell, Holt is the source of the quote, even though he says the quote comes from Einstein. Hey! Cite your source, pal!

 

This link will get you to the article. Scroll down to Stefan Mertens' comment. He includes the whole text of Holt's article.

Movie Recommendation: None

  

Sorry, 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: 'I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me' by Rosanne Cash & 'No Self Control' by Peter Gabriel

Second ad break bumpers: 'Seen And Not Seen' by Talking Heads & 'Y.O.Y.O.Y.' by Cheap Trick

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 2-6-16 show notes

A Tale Of Snow

I began the show with a lengthy (and maybe boring) recap of all the shoveling I did in the aftermath of Minnesota's latest snowstorm. We didn't get dumped on by the amounts that the East Coast suffered a couple weeks ago, so it was an admittedly easier task. Still, it was a fair bit of snow clearing that needed to be done.

B.o.B. Thinks The Earth Is Flat. NdGT To The Rescue...

I hadn't heard of rapper B.o.B. before I spotted he had outed himself as a Flat Earther. Which is something he has in common with internet personality Tila Tequila. So, B.o.B. took to Twitter to show his ignorance and Neil deGrasse Tyson took to Twitter to attempt to help the rapper come into the light.

 

It became kind of a deal on the internet and wound up as an amusing segment on Comedy Central's The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

I took the opportunity to mention that our ancient ancestors figured out that our planet is a sphere. They didn't need to go into space to figure it out, they just made simple observations. Aristotle could see that some stars were not visible in the night sky as observers went farther to the North. He surmised that the Earth must be round. Eratosthenes made measurements of shadows cast by the sun at high noon on the Summer Solstice and discovered the farther North one went the longer the shadows grew. He, too, surmised the Earth must be round and he even did some math to figure out its circumference. He was pretty damn close. And he did it all without the help of Google.

 

HIV Positive Charlie Sheen Consults A Quack, Dimland Radio Science Zero Bill Maher Promotes That Quack

By now, most everyone who knows who Charlie Sheen is knows that he went public with being HIV positive. It wasn't the most shocking of news given what we've heard about Sheen's lifestyle. He went on the standard science-based medications and his viral load dropped to undetectable levels. Undetectable, but not gone.

Enter the quack. Samir Chachoua has some pretty quacky ideas about how to treat HIV/AIDS. Don't use what science has given us, use milk from arthritic goats. Yeah, that's the ticket. So, Sheen eschews actual medicine for this unproven snake oil and surprise! his viral load goes back up.

 

Enter Dr. Oz. Of all people, Dr. Oz comes on the scene to get Charlie back on the rails. Sheen was a guest on Oz's show on which he admitted being a "human guinea pig" for Chachoua's treatment. To Dr. Oz's credit, he along with Sheen's actual doctor had a kind of intervention to convince the Hollywood bad boy to get back on his meds. Sheen agreed and later began tweeting negatively about Chachoua.

 

Enter Dimland Radio Science Zero Bill Maher. Maher had Chachoua as a guest on his HBO show Real Time. Maher has a problem accepting science when it comes to medicine and pharmaceuticals. He believes "Western medicine" hasn't done shit in 50 years about cancer, for instance. Which just isn't true. Detection methods have improved. Treatments have gotten more effective. Survival rates have increased.

 

What great advancements have there been in homeopathy, naturopathy, iridology, reflexology, chiropractic, magnet therapy, acupuncture, aromatherapy in the last 50 years, eh, Bill?

 

Science blogger Orac wrote a lengthy, comprehensive piece on this whole affair. You came read it here.

 

Movie Recommendation: None

 

I ran out of time. 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: 'Pride' by Echo & The Bunnymen & 'Spinning Round' by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

Second ad break bumpers: 'YYZ' by Rush &  'The Wait' by Killing Joke

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 3-15-14 show notes

I Was Wrong...Again

I must be slipping. I was wrong about something on last week's show. Actually, it's more like a moment of misspeaking. I mentioned the actor Dennis Farina was left off the Oscar in memoriam segment, only I called him Douglas. Whoops.

If You Had Known What Exactly?

Just what does this mean?

On my way from work the other night, I found myself behind a car sporting the above bumper sticker. I'm not sure what is meant by "this", but considering there is a Confederate flag involved my guess is that it's not very racially sensitive. I guess there are still people out there with their heads up their asses, eh?

First Kiss Among Actors, Models And Musicians

 

Have you seen the viral video for Wren Studio, a women's wear website, showing 20 strangers kissing for the first time? It is very sweet and touching, but then we found out the strangers are performers. They may have been strangers but they are accustomed to being in front of people and performing. So, it lost some of its appeal.

There are a couple videos out there that take up the same strangers theme. One is a hilarious parody called First Handjob and, as you probably guessed, it's NSFW, but it isn't pornographic. It is damn funny.

The other video really does have 20 strangers picked off the street and brought in to kiss in front of a camera. The video states these are real people, no actors or models (really they ain't models!), paid to kiss each other. There's no same sex coupling and there is a kind of creepy New Agey older fellow and they do all have British accents, so you have been warned.

Dimland Radio Science Hero: Craig Ferguson

A new science program is being produced for Science Channel. It's based on the wildly popular Facebook page 'I F'ing Love Science'. (Dang! This post isn't very safe for my son to read.) One of my man crushes, Craig Ferguson will be the executive producer of the show. For that he has been made a Dimland Radio Science hero. And so has Elise Andrew the biology student who created the pro-science Facebook page.

Dimland Radio Science Zero: Fox Affiliate KOKH-TV

As the yang to the yin, or vice versa, there is a science zero this week. Although they claimed it was operator error, Fox affiliate KOKH-TV in Oklahoma managed to cover up 15 seconds worth of the highly anticipated reboot of the science program 'Cosmos'. In the last few minutes of the show, just as host Neil deGrasse Tyson had the gall to suggest that humans evolved, the station inserted a promo for their news program set to follow the show, sparing their audience from being confused. "What? I thought God done it!"

If it was an error, its timing was pretty good. If it wasn't, what will they do when 'Cosmos' take a more direct look at evolution? 

The Yankee Skeptic 

I've done a couple guest blogging spots for the Yankee Skeptic blog. Last week I had written about how I got fooled by an internet April Fool's joke involving TV signals bouncing back from space and lost Doctor Who episodes. You can read about my gullibility here.

Speaking Of Cosmos...

IT IS AWESOME! WATCH IT!

A Drama Brought To You By The Internet

You know that the internet is a place where the trolls get a chance to be...well...trolls. It gets to be a jungle out on the information super something, I forget. Anyway, it can get so bad that sometimes innocent non-trolls can get jumped on for merely asking a question. I profiled one such incident. It involves feminism, rape threats and the patriarchy and an innocently asked question. It got out of hand rather quickly.

This link will show you what I mean. 

Movie Recommendation: None This Week Again

You are on your own. Again. I know, I'm sorry. I'll have one next week I promise.

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'YYZ' by Rush & 'Crosseyed and Painless' by Talking Heads
Second ad break bumpers: 'Good Thing' by The Woodentops & 'Face Dances Part 2' by Pete Townshend
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 2-26-11 show notes

Week From Metaphorical Hell

Snow storm. 15" of snow. One employee has no car because of DWI. Complaints at one of my work's bigger accounts. Another employee gives two week notice when questioned on how much time he works each night. That employee pulls a no show and his run doesn't get cleaned. Head supervisor has Monday and Tuesday off. Special project request from account that had complaints. Task needs to be done Wednesday night. I help task get done and complaints dealt with Wednesday night...

There's more but you get the idea.

Ten Minute Topic With Chris Brown

Fellow skeptic, Chris Brown.

I hadn't done a Ten Minute Topic in a while, but I has this one in the can for a long time. Chris and I talk about personal experience and the trickiness of memory. We don't know everything, but we got into it anyway.

Learn more about memory here and about how false memories can be created here.

And here is an excellent clip of Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about the argument from ignorance and about eye witness testimony. I referred to it during my talk with Chris.

It's Not True: Magnetic Knee Therapy

Pure quackery. Don't waste your money.

An ad from the Sunday paper for a product claiming, that for only $9.97 plus $1.00 in handling, you can get a therapeutic knee wrap with 32 magnets that will ease pain and add flexibility. Don't you believe it. The magnets have no effect, except possibly the placebo effect.

Learn more about this particular bit of quackery here.

XTC Skylarking Vinyl Reissue

Yes, it's what you think it is. You should see the back cover.

My wife got me the vinyl reissue XTC's 1986 masterpiece, 'Skylarking'. It's my favorite of XTC's albums and it's wonderful. I consider it a grand error that the music consuming public never caught on to the band the way they deserved. It's a shame.

Not only does the reissue exclusively available on vinyl, there are two other special features: it sounds the way it was intended, but never did, and the cover art is what was originally intended. The sound wasn't right because the bass sound was set incorrectly, and the original artwork was considered to naughty for 1986.

Learn more about the sound issues here and the original cover art here.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ahead' by Wire
First ad break bumpers: 'That's Really Super, Supergirl' & 'Grass' by XTC
Second ad break bumpers: 'Ballet For A Rainy Day' & 'Season's Cycle' by XTC
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