dimland radio 1-30-16 show notes

Work On Spec Sucks

I briefly touched on a video on the internets giving examples of how other businesses and professionals scoff at being asked to do work on spec. Working on spec is mainly something asked of creative people working in the graphic arts. They'll be asked to do a design or illustration and, if it is liked, they might get paid. Or they get another project from the client asking for work on spec and that will pay. Maybe.

 

I can't think of any other fields in which working for free to see if you're any good is so prevalent as in graphic arts. Internships not withstanding.

 

Check out this video and you'll get the idea.

The New X-Files And My Complaint About Men's Suits

I also gave a brief mention to my excitement for and enjoyment of Season 10 of The X-Files. It's great to see Scully and Mulder back and going after the truth. But, as a skeptic, the shows can be hard to watch. I keep rolling my eyes and saying, "Come on, Mulder. Really?"

 

Seriously, I am enjoying the show so far.

 

I made this to demonstrate that the suits are too small!

What I'm not enjoying is seeing how uncomfortable Duchovny (Mulder) looks in his suits. I've gone on about this before, but today's "fashion forward" men's suits are TOO SMALL! The jacket strains at the buttons even when the man is just standing. In the series so far, Duchovny has taken to not even buttoning the suit jacket. And his tie looks ridiculous.

Maybe not the best example, but you can see it's unbuttoned.

More Problems With Skepticism/Atheism/Humanism/Feminism

I know I'm not going to have the answer to this schism that exists within skepticism, atheism, humanism, and feminism. It's been rather frustrating watching all the sniping back and forth since "elevatorgate". I find reasoned thoughts on both sides and unreasoned thoughts on both sides.

 

The latest outrage has centered around Richard Dawkins and his dis-invitation as a speaker at NECSS. NECSS is one of the bigger science and skepticism conferences taking place these days and it is in close association with the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe (SGU). One the January 23rd episode the speaker line-up for NECSS was announced on the SGU.

 

First name mentioned was Richard Dawkins (biologist, science popularizer, atheist, and one of the central figures of "elevatorgate"). The members of the podcast all "ooooo'd" with excitement as host Dr. Steven Novella announced Dawkins' name. My reaction was, "Uh, oh."

 

I knew of the rift between Dawkins and Rebecca Watson (former SGU co-host and originator of the story that sparked "elevatorgate") and the subsequent side-taking of those in the skeptical movement, so I was doubtful Dawkins' inclusion would go over well with Watson and her camp.

 

Days after the announcement, Dawkins retweeted an offensive (to many) video of a cartoon featuring a stereotypical Islamic terrorist and a specific feminist (Chanty Binx) singing a song about how similar Islamists and feminists are. The video goes so far as to suggest rape is OK when done by a Muslim. Huh?!

 

The video is supposed to be satire, but it is so very poorly done. It really doesn't make sense, but Dawkins thought it was worthy of sharing. His retweet set off a torrent of internet complaints and counter-complaints and quickly led to Dawkins' dis-invitation to NECSS.

 

What a mess. I've often stated that any group, movement, club, or society that consists of more than one person is going to have internal strife. Skeptics are not immune.

 

I found this examination of Dr. Dawkins and the incident to be the most reasoned. 

Common Core Math

 

I then discussed something a little less complicated and controversial: Common Core Math.

 

I'm not mathematician. I'm a cartoonist, so what do I know?

 

That didn't stop me from discussing this image:

 

 

This image has a lot of people confused. By not doing math the way they were taught, many people are thinking Common Core math doesn't make sense and is ruining our children. Not only did the kid not understand the task being asked of him or her, but most people looking at this didn't get it either. It's not saying the sum should be 13. It's asking the student to demonstrate how to make a 10 as part of the process of getting to 13.

 

My friend Chris Brown brilliantly explained it this way

 

"QUICK! What's 23 + 42?

 

 "You can do this the old paper and pencil way, adding the right side first, then the left OR you can take 2 away from the 42, add 23 + 40 to get a pretty easy 63, the add 2 to it to get 65.

"These CC Math problems that are so often derided as 'ridiculous' are NOT teaching the kids a 'new' way to do math problems. They are teaching the kids a whole bunch of different ways to do them, many of which are sill at this stage, but will be critical later. This is just one of many approaches.

"How about 4276 + 5964?

"You can do this fairly easily in your head if you try. Add 4276 + 5000 to get 9276. Now add 900 to get 10,176. Now add 60 to get 10,236, now add 4 to get 10,240. With a little bit of quick practice, you can add these numbers mentally far quicker than you can do it on paper.

"THAT'S what this lesson is trying to teach. It's impractical for 8 + 5, but it's extremely practical as the numbers get bigger. Teaching concepts at earlier stages sets the kids up for success in more advanced math.

"The U. S. is the wealthiest nation in the world, but has ranked around 30th in math scores for decades now. The math WE were taught as kids doesn't work well, plain and simple. New teaching methods are going to seem strange to us. Instead of deriding it and lamenting the fact that our kids aren't being taught the same way we were, why not make a bit of an effort to understand what's going on?"

I then took this image:

 

And used it to verbally demonstrate how the Box method is quicker and easier explain.

 

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: 'How Soon Is Now?' by The Smiths & 'Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?' by The Ramones

Second ad break bumpers: 'Did You Steal My Money?' by The Who &  'Who Dunnit?' by Genesis

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 6-28-14 show notes

Start The Show Angry

 

Each week I listen to a movie review podcast called Comedy Film Nerds. It's very enjoyable and the hosts, Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini, are funny and really know their movies. Graham, however, seems to have fallen for the organic/natural fallacy and he is also a gluten-free fellow. He's never said if he has Celiac Disease or if he has been diagnosed (by a legitimate medical doctor) as being one of the exceedingly rare people with gluten sensitivity. I get the impression he is one of the many misinformed people who have the notion the gluten is bad. It's not.

Well, late in their show from last week, Graham made a joke about Monsanto not caring about killing kids with their "shitty food." I hit the roof. Monsanto is this decade's Halliburton: a giant evil corporation that only wants money and to cause misery.

I don't think many corporations would be very successful following that business model, but, perhaps, I'm naive.

 

I think Graham believes the fallacy of "Frankenfoods", the fear of genetically modified (GM) crops. He doesn't realize that virtually all the food we eat has been modified in some way. Corn, bananas, apples, oranges are not naturally occurring in the forms we know today. They have all been designed or modified by humans.

But, Graham and others like him through their fear and being misinformed would lead to children starving and going blind in parts of the world where GM crops can do the most good. It's always easy to be wrong on a full stomach.

Here is a more balanced take on GM crops and Monsanto by skeptic Dr. Steven Novella.

I'm Pretty Sure I Didn't Screw Up

 

The Boy and me with the tickets!

 

We received the tickets to the upcoming Paul McCartney concert. A few weeks ago, I related the story of how I got the tickets and of my panic when I thought I screwed it up. At the time, customer service confirmed I bought the tickets. Later, the credit card statement noted the tickets had been charged. Now, with the tickets arriving in the mail, I'm pretty sure I didn't screw up.

I'll know for sure when we are in our seats and the legendary musician takes the stage.

Nice Parking, Mr. Special

 

I encountered one of those asshole types who think they can park any which way they want. This dude took up three spaces directly in front of the store that I and others were trying to go to. I had to park on the other side of the lot and figured I would try to identify the prick when I got into the store.

Well, he was leaving as I approached and fit what I thought would be the profile of such a jerk.

 

Dimland Radio Science Heroes: Sen. Claire McCaskill and John Oliver

Recently, pseudoscience peddler, Dr. Oz was brought before a Senate hearing committee to answer questions about his promotion of snake oil on his highly rated TV show. (Thanks a lot, Oprah.) Sen. McCaskill wanted to know how Dr. Oz could justify calling the unsupported by scientific evidence diet supplements "miracles in a bottle."
 

TV's John Oliver did an excellent segment on this hearing and also dug into the history of the snake oil products and how they are protected by certain members of congress.

It's a joy seeing Oliver take this scam to task. Plus, you get a tap-dancing Steve Buscemi. What could be better?

 

Examples Of Police Brutality?

I talked about a couple examples of what is being claimed as police brutality that I have seen on my Facebook newsfeed.

One sort of showed a 19 year-old woman at a Gay Pride event in Pittsburgh being roughed up by a cop. She had been getting in the face of a anti-gay rights "Christian" fellow when the cop acted. The officer claimed she struck and grabbed at him and that he wanted to get her away from the crowd. Because of the crappy amateur camera work we didn't see the young woman hit the cop, but we did see her get knocked around.

 

The other video showed a man lying on his back, surround by cops telling him to get on his stomach. The man was drunk and had been starting fights when the police were called in. He refused to turn over and kept kicking at the officer, so they had to use force to get him to comply. I thought those cops showed incredible restraint, but the crowd and the person who posted the video on FB apparently disagree. There is more video, released by the police, that show more hitting by the officers before they backed off. I have not seen that video. I just read about in the link above.

 

Landscape! Dammit!

I then went into the problems with amateur videos on the internets. Too many people keep their camera in the portrait (vertical) position instead of landscape (horizontal) when making videos. It really annoys me, but I can't really blame the amateurs. The companies ought to set their cameras to default to landscape when taking videos, but there is an app for that.

 

The other thing about amateurs taking video is they don't understand the rule of always keeping the camera on the action. Pros know to do this, but amateurs will too often drop the camera to look with their eyes. When they do that the viewer can't see what is going on. That was the main problem with the first police brutality video I discussed. The person taking the video kept looking with her eyes and not the camera, so we didn't see what initiated the cop taking the actions he took.

 

Movie Recommendation Ikiru (1952)

 

Toho Studios

 

This Akira Kurosawa classic follows an older man through the last days of his life. He learns he has stomach cancer and maybe six months left to live. He had been working in the Japanese government bureaucracy for thirty years and he realized he hadn't been living life. After an attempt to enjoy the excitement of the Japanese nightlife and spending time with a younger woman, a former co-worker, he determines to do something important in the days he has left.

This is a terrific film.

    

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Fight For Love' by 54-40 & 'Freak' by Bruce Foxton
Second ad break bumpers: 'Four Engines Burning (Over The USA)' by The Screaming Blue Messiahs & 'Freeze Tag' by Suzanne Vega
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 6-21-14

Does This Show Smell Stale?

Well, it is a week old. This was the show that didn't play last week. I gotta say it was nice not having to produce a new show this week. I did enjoy having some time off.

New Show Policy...

 

I have decided that, when appropriate, I will no longer stifle the "shits" and "bullshits" on the show. Sometimes there is no better way to describe the nonsense than to just say, "Bullshit."

You're an adult. You can handle it.

Getting Vaccinated. Well, Almost

 

Vaccination is a recurring topic on Dimland Radio. I believe it is important to keep getting the word out the vaccines are safe and effective and that they do not cause autism. Each year, I get my flu vaccine and this year I've been thinking it would be a good idea to make sure my vaccination schedule is current and to look into getting the shingles vaccine.

I had talked about it with my doctor last year. I've had chickenpox, so I do have the shingles virus in me. He advised me to check if my insurance covered the shot and, if so, get it. It took a while, but I finally looked into it.

I'm covered!

But, there's more to the story on the show.

Unsinkable Rubber Ducks

Who doesn't love a rubber duck? Well, in most cases, rubber ducks are just peachy, unless you're talking about the phrase I've been hearing lately.

Unsinkable rubber ducks refers to the likes of Peter Popoff, Uri Geller, Kevin Trudeau, and many others. As often as they are exposed as not being what they pretend to be, they keep popping up again. It's a lot like whack a mole or being a Dutch boy dealing with dikes.

Rubber ducks can also be objects, such as the ADE 651. You may recall that device. It's the dowsing rod that doesn't detect bombs or guns or anything else for that matter. But, despite its main seller, Jim McCormick being convicted and sent to prison for the fraudulent dowsing toys, security forces in Iraq, Pakistan, and Thailand are still using them or similar devices.

People are going to die needlessly, because of an inability to admit being wrong or an absolute belief that these piece of shit devices work.

How Is This Guy A Doctor Exactly?

I was fairly vague about this. I didn't want to be too specific about whom I was talking. I have a good friend who, along with a colleague of his, is working on another paranormal TV thing. Just what we need, right?

I mentioned that my friend is constantly referring to his colleague as Dr. So and So (I'm being vague, remember?). The only thing is, I can't find out how this fellow is a doctor. My friend had provided a couple links that were supposed to have biographic information.

One link I can, frustratingly, no longer find. It was that link that stated the doctorate was honorary. Honorary? Who goes around with an honorary doctorate calling themselves doctor? And the honorary doctorate was from a dubious source, not a college or university.

Look, I know my nickname is Dr. Dim, but at the top of every show I make it clear that I'm not really a doctor. And, as far as I can tell, neither is this guy. Not that an amateur in the field his is in (I'm not telling) can't make discoveries. And not everyone with a PhD is brilliant and infallible. I just wish I had more info on this guy. Where was he educated. What degree, if any, did he earn? In what field?

There is something I can find in abundance on the internet on this "doctor." When he does his "scientific" investigations he uses...DOWSING RODS!

Guys, you want to have a chance to be taken seriously by scientists in your paranormal TV show, if that's even possible, ditch the dowsing rods.

I will not link to any of this, because I want to keep this under wraps until the show actually materializes.

Another Gotcha Moment That's A Notcha Moment

Recently, a YouTuber "Truther" believes he's found a video of the second tower being crashed into by a jet airliner that proves no planes hit the towers at all. Yep, after several videos, professional and amateur, captured the plane hitting the south tower from multiple angles and, after thousands of eyewitness in the area and the millions watching on television, this nimrod finds one video he thinks shows a computer generation layering glitch, so, of course, that means no planes hit the towers. See the logic?

That's it! Throw everything else out! He's found a video showing the left wing of Flight 175 passing behind a pair of buildings situated behind the Twin Towers. How is that possible? It has to have been faked.

Even noted skeptic Dr. Steven Novella (an actual doctor) of the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast was wrong, although far more steadily standing in reality, in his explanation. He thought it had to do with the darkness of the wing and the buildings the plane passed in front of. In the video the wing merely looked like it was going behind the building behind the towers. (It should be noted that the actual explanation was given in the comments on Novella's blog and he acknowledged the validity of that explanation.)

But, that was wrong, Mike Hall of the Skeptics with a K podcast decided to figure out where those buildings actually were in relation to the towers. The reason the plane appears to fly behind those two buildings is because the plane flies behind them. The two buildings which appear to be behind (to the north) the towers are, in fact, several blocks in front (to the south) of them!

Mike Hall is a Dimland Radio Science Hero

Here is more about this and a Sandy Hook "truth" story.

Movie Recommendation There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane (2011)

HBO

Why did Diane Schuler drive the wrong way on the freeway at 70mph with her two children and three nieces in her minivan, crashing head-on with a SUV, killing herself and seven other people? The lone survivor being her young son.

Diane was a model wife and mother, an excellent manager and friend. She seemed to have everything together, so why did this happen? She had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system, but her family insists she wasn't a drunk. A convenience store's security cameras caught her making a stop and asking for some pain reliever. She didn't appear to be drunk.

What happened? Was she a closet alcoholic? Did she have a stroke? What went wrong?

You can watch this tragic mystery here.

    

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Entre Nous' by Rush & 'Eliminator Jr' by Sonic Youth
Second ad break bumpers: 'Eye in the Sky' by Alan Parsons Project & 'Eighties' 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 5-24-14 show notes

 

 It's Live Show! Again!

As was the case with last week's show, I had another very busy week and couldn't prerecord my show, so live it was one more time. Maybe next week I'll return to prerecording my show. Tune in.

Struck A Chord

10 points to the person who came up with this one.

 

I wish I cold say I created the above meme, but I spotted it and thought it was brilliant. I had to share it on the Dimland Radio Facebook page. I do a lot of sharing of skeptical or science items on that page. It's just part of Dimland's public service.
 

Facebook let's me know how many people are seeing and sharing the items I post on that page. Most of the time, the numbers of shares and views is rather modest. Once in a while, a posting might get views in the low thousands, but that's fairly rare.

This meme must have struck a chord, because as I went on the air the views were over 16,000 and the shares were over 200. As of this writing the numbers have jumped to 35,000 plus views and more than 350 shares!

And Dimland Radio is now up to 85 likes!

News Item Follow-Up

 

Back on my 4-12-14 show, I told of the effort of young South Carolinian Olivia McConnell trying to get the Columbia mammoth adopted as the state's fossil. Well, the bill stalled on its otherwise clear sailing through the state legislature when some politician thought it would be a good idea to add God to the bill's language. Screech of brakes. (Any guesses which Party that fellow is a member of?) Someone hadn't heard about the separation of God and State.

The update is that Rachel Maddow had taken up Olivia's case and started publicizing the hold up and now it appears, with the God language removed, the bill will be adopted.
 

This makes Olivia McConnell and Rahel Maddow both Dimland Radio Science Heroes.

 

More Evidence That Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism

 

A meta-analysis of about 1.3 million vaccinated kids shows there is still no connection between autism and vaccines.

 

Speaking Of Science Zeroes

 

Well, as a yin yang thing, I will name a Dimland Science Zero: Vani Hari the "Food Babe" has pseudoscience down to a science. She has brow beat Subway to remove azodicarbonamide from their bread, because she found out that same chemical is in yoga mat and shoe soles. Next she'll be demanding dihydrogen monoxide be removed from Subway's bread.

 

Steven Novella had a few choice words for this pseudoscientist.

Dihydrogen monoxide is water and it is used in the production of bread and yoga mats.

Gluten Free Ain't All It's Cracked Up To Be

 

It's trendy now to eat a gluten-free diet, but is it necessary? For most of us gluten isn't a problem. For that small percentage of the population with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (as diagnosed by a doctor) gluten needs to be avoided.

 

Jimmy Kimmel has done yet another service to us all by showing that some gluten avoiders don't even know what gluten is. Find more info here and here.

 

Blue Man Group Spoiler?

 

I had contemplated letting the audience in on something that we had suspected about the recent Blue Man Group show we attended. Something that had to do with an audience volunteer. I decided not to spoil the moment, but I did let everyone know that we were right.

Urban Legend As Amusing Anecdote On Late Night Talk Shows

 

I've talked about these incidents before on the show, but I brought them up again because I had recently been featured as a guest blogger on the Yankee Skeptic. I've been posting on the site as a help to my friend Kitty as she deals with some personal stuff and this helps her maintain content.

 

You can read the blog here.

 

Coors Light Ads And Why So Cold

 

Coors Light has been running an ad campaign showing their beers being retrieved bu mountain climbers or deep sea divers. That lead me to two things. One: How much would that beer cost if that was really how they were retrieved?

 

Second: Any time you see a beer ad stressing how cold the beer is or needs to be, you should realize that once that beer warms a bit it will taste like piss.

 

And For Those Of You Who Dislike Variety, We Have Music Radio

 

It's an old complaint, but music radio sucks. It's not that the music sucks (although much of it does), it's that there is no variety. Oh, they'll say they have variety, but they play the same songs over and over.

 

When I only listen to one particular station once every few days and I keep hearing the same songs, that means no variety. So, if you don't like variety, music radio is for you. 

 

Movie Recommendation: None This Week

 

I spend too much time complaining about radio, so you are on your own.

    

Music heard on the show...

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

First ad break bumpers: 'Beatle Boots' by Love Tractor & 'Ballet For A Rainy Day' by XTC
Second ad break bumpers: 'Blue Bell Knoll' by Cocteau Twins & 'Big Mouth Strikes Again' by The Smiths
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.