dimland radio 11-23-19 show notes

A Thought Experiment
 

Suppose it is eight years ago. Everything is the same as it was then, except the Ukraine/quid pro quo impeachment situation is happening to Pres. Obama. Same allegations, same evidence, same whistle blower, same everything but it involves Obama and not Trump. Pres. Obama is exactly the same as he was, but for the alleged offenses of enlisting a foreign nation to dig up dirt on his most likely opponent in his bid for re-election in return for financial aid for the military needs of Ukraine.

 

OK? Have you got it?

 

I ask you Pro-Trumpers: Are you going to claim this is all a waste of time and some kind of a witch hunt after Obama?

 

I ask you Anti-Trumpers: Are you going to been calling for the ouster of Pres. Obama?

 

It's just a thought experiment.

A Dimland Radio ARGH! The Dead Bodies Podcast And Constant Interruptions

I recently stopped listening to the Dead Bodies Podcast, a true crime podcast originating in Australian, hosted by journalists Dee Dee Dunleavy and Sharnelle Vella. I just got fed up. Now, I don't want to discourage people from listening to this otherwise interesting and entertaining podcast, but the near constant interruptions the two hosts engaged in had me exasperatingly yelling expletives at my iPhone. I kept shouting, "Shut the...

 

Well, I go into more detail on the show.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: America's Finest?

A Facebook friend and old schoolmate of mine shared this image of a quite fetching female soldier. He included a comment suggesting she is a excellent example of America's finest. Except, is she American? If you can look past the big gun and the nice buns, you will find a clue as to which army this young woman belongs, assuming she isn't just a model and is actually a soldier, that is.

In The News

 

I went over several news items (all linked below). An obvious theme emerges.

 

UK's Music Walk of Fame attraction honors its first musical act.

 

A world famous musician goes under the knife.

 

A new documentary examining an infamous concert tragedy and it's aftermath 40 years on will air in December.

 

Another world famous musician promotes his new novel by being interviewed and answering most Googled questions.

 

A 1975 film by Ken Russell based on a certain groundbreaking rock opera to be re-released in the UK and a recent review of the film.

 

Another new song from a new album by a certain legendary rock group to be released in December dropped Friday.

 

What did your favorite rock band do this week?!

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment Bonus: First Darth Vader Cosplay

I did refrain from pointing out he typo.

This moment takes place after the show close, so keep listening or go back and listen if you missed it.

 

I realized I ended the show a couple minutes early so I crammed in another Pedantic Moment. In this moment, I refute the claim in the above image that the cosplayer only had his memories of the original Star Wars film in 1977 to go by when making his costume.

 

Well, I list a few other sources he could have gone to in those dark days before the internet.

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Know Your Rights' by The Clash & 'Everyone A Puzzle Lover' by 10,000 Maniacs

Second ad break bumpers: 'Mea Culpa' by Brian Eno & David Byrne & 'Yacht Dance' 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

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 8-10-19 show notes

We Gonna Be Famous!

Travis was first up in the individual interviews.

Last Thursday was the second Thursday of the month which means it was time for the monthly Minnesota Skeptics Meet-Up. I always look forward to that gathering of mostly like-minded skeptics. However, this past meet-up was particularly interesting.

For that gathering we were joined by a camera crew from the local public television station TPT. They are doing series focusing of various Twin Cities social groups that have regular meet-ups. Travis, one of the organizers of our gatherings, was contacted to see if we would be interested in being on the TV. Well, duh!

It made for an interesting if awkward meeting. We don't normally have cameras and a boom mic hoovering around us. It took some time to get warmed up, but we eventually did. And after we found our footing, the producer had some of us partake in individual interviews. I did my bit, but we all think Tim stole the show.

Tim wins!

 We were told the segment on us should air in December or January. I'll keep you posted.

Yep, This Is Our President

There was some brief talk about the Minnesota Twins' lead in the AL Central slipping away, but then there was the unpleasantness of having to talk about our President. I shard the editorial cartoon you see above and a Trump-supporting Facebook friend of mine tried to shame me for sharing the cartoon in the aftermath of the mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH.

Thankfully, most of the heavy lifting in response to the MAGA member was handled by other FB friends of mine, but I did respond:

"I honestly did not share this as a response to the most recent mass shootings. I don't know if the cartoon was done as a response to those shootings.

"I shared it for two reasons.

"1) I happen to agree, at least in part, that Pres. Trump is presiding over a climate that is encouraging, intentionally or not, the worst of us to act out. He may not be creating those who are acting so hatefully and heinously, but he is winding them up. As is shown in the cartoon.

"2) I think it is a damn good editorial cartoon, both in its artistic skill and ability to make its point.

"Is Trump to blame for the climate we find our country in of late? Is it the media? Is it the Left? Is it the Right? I don't know. It's probably a combination of all those factors." 

Clueless. Simply clueless.

I also mentioned the tasteless, crude, completely incompetent photo op the Trumps had with victims of those horrible shootings. Talk about tone deaf. And this was before I knew about the photo of that clueless couple with a newly orphaned infant. I think I might have to talk about that image next week.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: Letterman's Great Moments In Presidential Speeches

Look at that. The second PM involving Letterman in as many shows. Huh.

Well, the pedantry had to do with Letterman teasing Pres. George W. Bush having verbal gaffs in public. But, I always thought it was unfair to set up the bit by showing previous presidents making actual speeches and comparing them to moments when W was speaking off script.

But it was nice talking about a man who knew better than to treat meeting with victims of some horrible tragedies as though they were kissing babies campaign stops. Even people who couldn't stand W at the time agree with that notion.

Three men being presidential, one man being clueless.

One More Observation On Pres. Trump

Many people had criticized both Pres. Obama and Pres. W. Bush as being teleprompter politicians. They would sound great when reading a prepared speech, but they wouldn't be nearly as good off the cuff. (Funny Letterman didn't continue those Great Moments In Presidential Speeches while Obama was in office.) But, Pres. Trump turns that notion on its ear. He made not be great off script, but he often sounds even worse when reading a prepared speech.

He sounds even more disingenuous. 

Three Cool Things

1) The Minnesota Twins turned their second triple play this season in their loss to the Atlanta Braves. Yes, they lost, but a triple play is always cool.

2) The Replacements may never have caught on with the general public, but their musical influence is far-reaching. This video shows the band doing a soundcheck for a show at Maxwell's in New Jersey way back in 1986. These guys were cool.

3) A member of the Minnesota Skeptics said something about my podcast that cracked me up. It helped to keep me humble. And that's cool. I guess.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'One Day In Your Life' by 54-40 & 'Nobody Told Me' by John Lennon

Second ad break bumpers: 'That's Really Super, Supergirl' by XTC & 'Candyman' by Siouxsie & The Banshees

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 6-1-19 show notes

The Big Scrub Job

Each year for the last several years, the janitorial service for which I work does a a big scrub and wax job of a small supermarket in Osseso, MN. I talked about some of the particulars of the job, but I also detailed a mugging and a close encounter with a deer.

More Sports Talk

As of this writing the Minnesota Twins baseball club still has the best record in the Majors. Although I still think the air is going to quickly exit this balloon, it's heartening to see this team do so well.

 

I brought them up again because they had suffered a humiliating loss at the bats of the Tampa Bay Rays, a team from the American League East division, which is a tough division that includes the Boston Red Sox and the Hated Yankees. And Tampa is a tough team to beat.

 

The Rays mopped up the diamond with my favorite team by a score of 14-3 last Thursday. Yikes! A friend texted me that that was it. The balloon was deflating. The season is over.

 

One sports' cliche remarks on the character of a team in how they respond to such a loss. If they fold, their previous success was probably a fluke. If the lose the next game, but give a good battle, don't give up hope. If they win, you just might have a great team on your hands.

 

The Twins won the next game, which was game two of a four game series with the Rays in Tampa. Hey. Maybe we do have a great team.

 

And then they won game 3. They still have the best record in the Majors.

 

This is interesting.

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: Oh, Yes, There's Crying In Baseball

Another example of how Hollywood got something wrong again. The film A League Of Their Own gave pop culture the phrase: "There's no crying in baseball." Well, that's wrong. In the past I have given other examples and on this show I give the most recent example.

 

Albert Almora Jr. of the Chicago Cubs was at the plate facing the Houston Astros, when he fouled off a pitch which was a line drive directly into the stands. Almora watched in horror as his line drive hit a four year-old girl. She was immediately taken from the ballpark to the hospital.

 

However, in the direct aftermath of that fouled off pitch, Almora was devastated that he had hurt that young fan. He went down to a knee, head in hands, completely shook up. When he went over to the area of the stands where the girl had already been removed he ended up crying on the shoulder of a security guards. Almora is a father himself and this moment was breaking his heart.

 

So, you can see, Hollywood, there is crying in baseball.

 

The good news is the girl is expected to fully recover.

 

Years ago ballparks throughout the Majors had extended the protective netting to the ends of the dugouts to help prevent these kinds of incidents. I'm guessing some teams, maybe all, will choice to extend the netting even farther.

It's It Ironic, Don't You Think?

 

During last week's exclusive download only show, I talked about how I thought the owners of Ark Encounter in Kentucky, the tribute to human gullibility in believing in fairy tales, suing their insurance company over rain damage to an access road to the folly wasn't really ironic.

 

My opinion was that it would have been ironic if the ark itself had been damage by rain, but not an access road. At least, not very ironic. Well, Facebook friends more smarter than me respectfully pointed out the error of my thinking. I realized they were right and I was wrong.

 

Hey. It can happen.

 

In Defense Of Snopes

 

Nobody likes to be wrong, including me, especially about strongly held beliefs. So when a website like Snopes.com comes along to find the facts and the truth about all sorts of urban legends, memes, and political claims, there will be folks who will dismiss those efforts. Often times the dismissal is to claim a specific political and social bias on the part of the debunking entity.

 

If Snopes debunks a myth about Pres. Obama, they are a bunch of bleeding hearted lefties. If that same website puts to waste a lie about Pres. Trump, well, obviously, the site is a right wing nut mouthpiece. I've heard Snopes disparaged in both of these ways, however lately the claim they are lefties is more prominent.

 

I went through an article that I think shows a more balanced approach. It confirms that Prs. Obama has been named "Most Admired Man in the World" 11 years in a row, according to Gallup. Of course, that's just one article. They could still be a bunch of pinko, dirty, red Dummycrats. Or hate-mongering, money-grubbing, corporate lap dog Republithugs.

 

It depends on the political and social leanings of the readers.

 

Three Cool Things

 

1) It's a little slow and you know how it ends, but this real-time computer-animated re-enactment of the sinking of the Titanic is awfully cool.

 

2) Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend were guests on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and they did a segment with the host and The Roots covering The Who classic Won't Get Fooled Again. The whole bunch is crammed into a small space as they play the song using interesting, kid-style instruments. It's fun and Fallon didn't annoy me as he usually does. And that's cool. (Well, he's still a little annoying.)

 

Based on an illustration by the great Frank Frazetta.

3) It's June, which means I did another drawing for the DIY calendar I'm doing for 2019. This month I drew a tardigrade, a way cool microscopic critter. A Facebook friend suggested it and I came up with a fun way to present it. I hope you think it's cool.

 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'O, Superman' by Laurie Anderson & 'Villiers Terrace' by Echo & The Bunnymen

Second ad break bumpers: 'Eye In The Sky' by The Alan Parsons Project & 'Institutionalized' by Suicidal Tendencies

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 6-2-18 show notes

"I'll Get That For You."

At the gas station the other night, the actions of one young woman left me awfully disappointed...

A Deep Dive

I've decided to try to do a really deep take on a certain political summit. I think it's important to dig in and take a good look at a topic of great interest and importance. How well did I do? Have a listen.

Roseanne Cancelled

This might have gotta a little on the rambling side, as I tried to figure out if actor/comedian Rosanne is a racist. Well, I don't know what's in her head, but her actions were certainly racial insensitive. This is complicated. I knew the relaunch of her hit show might be a bit rocky, because the actor Roseanne and the character Roseanne are both Trump supporters. The relaunched show was a ratings success, but a late night and very ill though out tweet led to the show's cancellation.

 

I thought the new show would have been a good opportunity to show why blue collar Americans might support Trump. It might have been a good way to show blue collar Trump supporters they might be wrong. It could have been another All In The Family.

Looks like it's a missed opportunity.

 

Political Correctness

 

I mentioned a take some comedian had about some people who are so upset about political correctness. That person thought those folks were upset because they couldn't use the N word. That might be true for some.

 

I did give an example of a use of political correctness that I thought was unnecessary and changed the meaning of a very famous phrase.

 

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: Tattoos Are The New Normal

After I mistakenly replayed an audio bit from last week's show, I got to talking how the meme above (I could find the image, but not the meme) sort of represents the new normal, but it's telling us to "Fuck Normal, Be Yourself."

 

The Volcano In Hawaii: Perception Vs Reality

Someone created the image above to demonstrate how people tend to overestimate the size of big stories. It's a perception thing. Watching the news tends to get us thinking the world is going to heck, because the news focuses on the bad stuff. There's a lot more good stuff going on, but much of the good stuff doesn't warrant news coverage.

 

Wanna worry less? Watch less news.

 

Three Cool Things

 

3) The Dimland Radio Facebook page received three likes this week! That makes 194. Have you liked it yet?

 

2) A brilliant person created the image above. You have to know about the drama surround the film All The Money In The World to be able to understand the joke. Well, I know the story and I think this joke is great!

 

1) Coronal rain is so damn cool!!!

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Eighties' by Killing Joke & 'Gardening At Night' by REM

Second ad break bumpers: 'One Day' by The Church & 'Nothing Turns Out Right' by The Mighty Mofos

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.