dimland radio 12-12-15 show notes

So Much Work Done...

I was pretty tired out after a week of lots of work, but I pulled it together and did the show. I did have the absolute pleasure that, after a week of working every night, when I was finally heading home on Friday night, the classic rock station gave me this treat.

 

Whoops!

Last week, I talked about being on the Stuck in the 80s podcast talking with Steve Spears and Brad Williams about the Rocky movie franchise, but I neglected to link to it in the show notes for the show.

I will fix that here.

 

A Tale Of Passive-Aggressive Futility

 

I talked about my boss and his seemingly compulsive need to empty the trashes in our office and to put my trash can back in the wrong place. I don't know how many times I've told him where the trash can should go, but he just puts it where it's convenient for him.

 

The most recent time he did this, I decided I'd try to give him a visual cue to help him understand why I want my trash can in a particular spot. I left the can where he placed it and put my trash in the spot where I want the can.

 

There was a pile of trash there to be seen when he came into the office. He said nothing.

 

Damn it! Now I'll just make certain the trash is empty before he gets to the office.

 

Bill Nye Thinks Star Trek Is Better Than Star Wars

   

Bill Nye the Science Guy thinks that way because Star Trek has a more optimistic view of the future with science, while Star Wars has magic and religion. He says that Star Trek doesn't have those things. I pointed out that Star Trek has a fair amount of religion in it.

The original series had Captain Kirk happy to know Christianity had made it out to some distant planet. Deep Space 9 had the whole Emissary and the Prophets religion stuff. Sure, the Federation thought the Prophets were just a species living in a worm hole, but Captain Sisko (the Emissary) wasn't too sure. Voyager has Commander Chakotay and his Native American religious beliefs involving animal and/or spirit guides. And Next Generation did have all that Klingon religion silliness.

 

But Next Generation does have this high water mark moment of Captain Picard non-religious wonderfulness.

Also, Bill said the Star Wars had noise in space and indicated that Star Trek didn't. Well... here's just a taste from Deep Space 9.

But, Bill's cool. I'll cut him some slack.

Lying About The Opposition Is Still Wrong

   

There's a Facebook page called StopTheWorldTheTeabaggersWantOff that posts all manner of things anti-Republican and anti-conservative. And they lie when they appear to quote well-known conservatives. The page attempts to hide behind the claims of satire, but The Onion they ain't. The danger of what those liars are doing comes from others believing the lies.

I spoke specifically about three graphics share by those folks lying about something various conservatives have said. I put together a graphic warning others to not share anything from StopTheWorldTheTeabaggersWantOff (see below).

 

 

In the comments thread on my Facebook page I summed it up this way...

"For the record, I put this graphic together. I had been seeing these images by STWTTWO being shared by FB friends who are skeptics and should know better. Shittily done "satire" such as this needs to be called out, because the likelihood of people believing it is too high. If you doubt that, just read the comments whenever you see graphics such as these shared on social media.

I asked in the comment threads for sources and checked out the ones given to me. I looked up the quotes. With the exception of one sentence attributed to Gene Simmons, none of these statements were uttered by the people in the images. And I checked my own logical thinking. Meaning - if these people actually said these things, why is it I'm only seeing them being called out by some FB anti-Tea Party site? 

I'm not some conservative apologist, at least I don't think I am. I am for fair and honest debate and sharing of ideas. If you are liberal and you want to see people in government who share your ideals, lying about the opposition isn't the right way to make that happen. The ends don't justify the means, do they?

And I say this to both sides of the political aisle. It just happens that the majority, but not all, of my FB friends tend to be liberal Democrats, so I see a butt load more of this kind of bullshit coming from that end of the spectrum.

I also made this because, as I mentioned, I see skeptics sharing these items. One in particular (I won't name the person) has such a strong political bias against Republicans their skepticism completely fails and they post away. Skeptics are supposed to help the internet to be a rational place. (A Sisyphean task, I know.) They're not supposed to add to the bullshit. And when some have a strong reputation of being a skeptic, others are more likely to accept their statements and sharing of political graphics as being true.

With great skepticism comes great responsibility.

Believe me, politicians and political pundits talk enough they are bound to say something stupid. And if you think they are on the wrong side of an issue that can be demonstrated by their actual words. So, give 'em what for when you think they are wrong, but be prepared to back it up and don't lie.

No matter how noble you cause, bullshitting people is still wrong."

Movie Recommendation: Her (2013)

Warner Bros.

Well written. Great performances. An intriguing look at the possible interaction between humans and Artificial Intelligence.

And some very, very, very bad pants.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Jesus Chrysler Drives A Dodge' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs & 'God Damn Job' by The Replacements

Second ad break bumpers: 'Dear God' by XTC &  'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' by Fred Astaire

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 9-12-15 show notes

Report To Court

Just before I sat down to record this show, I found something pretty scammy in my email. It was a notice from "State Court" that I appear. The English was a bit awkward and there was no indication as to which court I needed to appear before nor was there any reason given for my appearance.

 

There was an attachment which I was instructed to open. I didn't. I read the notice on the show and then deleted the obvious scam email.

Remembering 9/11

It's an annual occurrence. The swallows return to Capistrano each fall. The cherry blossoms bloom in Washington DC each spring. And, every year for the past 14 years, the "truthers" take to the social media to convince the "sheeple" that 9/11 was an inside job.

 

This is the latest example of 9/11 conspiracy logic that I spotted on Facebook.

They site the usual anomalies or what they think are inconsistencies in the reporting of the events of that day. Jet fuel doesn't burn hot enough to melt steel. There's no way 19 hijackers armed with box cutters could pull this off. The Jews all stayed home that day. What's his name said, "Pull it." The Pentagon couldn't have been hit by a plane. Building 7! Blah. Blah. Blah.

 

And on it goes. There's little hope of getting them to face reality.

 

Here is what the evidence tells us about what happened on September 11, 2001 and how the conspiracy theorists are so wrong. And here is what a former "truther" has to say about Building 7. He is a former "truther", so it may be possible for others to see the light. And this from Popular Mechanics.

 

I also talked about what I remember of that day and the fearful strangeness of the days that followed.

 

Politics

I'm no expert in politics. Frankly, I'm just plain tired of the whole us versus them scenario that any political system made up of humans can't help but create. I see a lot of Left against Republican stuff on my Facebook. Which obviously means that most of my FB friends tend to be politically liberal.

 

I commented on a posting on the liberal site PoliticusUSA by Sarah Jones, was detailing a speech given by Sen. Al Franken before the Senate explaining his support of the Iran nuclear deal. What he said seemed reasonable to me.

 

Something Ms Jones said gave me pause: "Maybe it's not possible for Republicans to learn from their Iraq decision, because they don't view it as a mistake to invade a sovereign nation on a lie." (Emphasis added by me.)

 

There it was again. This Bush lied bullshit. Ms Jones appears to forget that nearly every Democrat was on board with using military force against Iraq, including VP Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Here is an admittedly conservative source listing Democrats "lying" about Iraq.

 

I usually ask: If Bush lied and he knew there were no stockpiles of WMD, why didn't he and the evil genius Dick Cheney make certain that the weapons inspectors found some? Why didn't they assigned some special black ops unit to bring in some biological and chemical weapons containers and plant them so as to be found later?

 

But, on a closer read, Ms Jones does seem to be indicating the Democrats have learned "from their Iraq decision" when it comes to the handling of Iran.

 

As always, however, when it comes to politics I have to admit it's possible that I am wrong.

Gone Jetta Gone

 

Our Jetta at a healthier, happier time.

After more than a year and a half of sitting in the garage, we finally got our VW Jetta out and parked on the street to be towed away as a donation to a local school. It was quite a chore and my wife and I owe big thanks to my younger brother, Steve. He made it possible to get the dead vehicle out of our lives.

 

10 points, Steve!

 

Star Trek: DS9's Lowest Moment

Regular listeners to my show know I really like baseball. I can't play it, but I love to watch it.

 

Regular listeners to my show will also know I like Star Trek. The Next Generation series is my favorite. No other captain can top Picard.

 

I just recently finished watching the Deep Space 9 series for the first time. I'm not sure why I wasn't interested in it when it originally aired, but I saw it was streaming (not for free) on Netflix. I figured I'd watch it and it would be like a new Star Trek series to me.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the series. It had a few awkward moments, but when the war with the Dominion heated up, the show got pretty darn good.

 

BUT, they produced quite a clinker in their final season. In an episode meant to lighten the tension of a season long war, the producers decided to have the characters take part in a baseball game.

 

Not since I saw what was claimed to be a baseball game in that sparkly vampires movie, had I seen such a ludicrous depiction of the Great American Past-time. It was awful.

 

First of all, according to Star Trek, there is no baseball in the 24th Century. What?! Why live in the future? But Captain Sisko and his son still like the game and play it in the holo-suites (don't ask me to explain). An old rival stops by DS9 and Sisko finds out the rival and his crew (all Vulcans) have been playing baseball regularly (don't ask me to explain). Sisko issues a challenge to a game pitting DS9's best players against the Vulcan's best. The DS9 crew then have TWO WEEKS to learn all the rules and how to play the game.

 

What ensues is absolutely ridiculous. Almost impossible to watch, but I forced myself. Our heroes do lose to the Vulcans by a score of 10 - 1. But, realistically the Vulcan's score should have been much, much higher.

 

This clip with a U2 song, not sure why, will give you some idea of what I went through watching the show. This clip without U2 might do even better.

 

It was horrible.

Movie Recommendations: None

I went on too long about that Star Trek assault on the greatest game ever. I didn't get to a recommendation, so you are on your own. 

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Bonneville' by The dB's & 'Jordan, MN' by Big Black

Second ad break bumpers: 'Los Angeles' by X &  'Cooks County' 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
 
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.