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 10-5-19 show notes

Some Follow Up On My Shingles Vaccination

I had received the second dose of the shingles vaccine before I recorded last week's show and I was experiencing the flu-like symptoms some can get as a result of getting the vaccine. I got them with the first dose, so I wasn't surprised they showed up again.

 

What happened after I recorded last week's show was pretty rough. At four in the morning, I woke having to pee. Man of a certain age, don't you know. And, oh boy! Did I feel like I had the flu. Some Tylenol and four more hours of sleep and I felt much better.

 

As I often say, I'd rather go through a little bit of that sort of discomfort than deal with a shingles outbreak.

 

And because I know of the importance of vaccination, I got my flu vaccination Friday morning.

 

Vaccinate your kids! Vaccinate yourself!

Pinstripe Fever

The Minnesota Twins, since 2003, have met the Hated Yankees in the postseason five times. Five times the Evil Empire was their first opponent. Five times the Bronx Bastards bounced my favorite team right into the off season.

 

And it's about to happen again. As I was recording this show, the good guys were in the process of losing the first of a five game American League Division Series (ALDS) against the most hated team in baseball, the New York Yankees. Before this show aired on Z Talk Radio on Saturday night, my poor Pinstripe Fever-ridden Twins just suffered another loss to the team that completely owns them in the postseason.

 

The series isn't over. Anything can happen. But...

 

It's over.

 

I smell sweep.

 

I refrained from getting into a rant on the show, after all, the Twins had only lost one game at that point. I will probably have more to say next week.

 

Cool Thing #1: The Minnesota Twins Are The All-Time Home Run Champs

Nelson Cruz hitting one out. Photo credit: MLB & MN Twins

Last Sunday was the last day of the regular season for the greatest game ever invented and, going into their final regular season game, the Twins trailed the Hated Yankees by one home run (305-304). I hoped for one thing: That no matter how many homers the Hated Ones hit in their final game, my Twins would hit two more.

 

The Damn Yankees hit one. The Twins hit three! The Minnesota Twins are the all-time home run champs with 307 dingers in one season.

2019: The Year Of The Home Run

 

League wide home run production was up (way up!) in 2019. Did pitching get worse? Did the hitters get better? Or did something happen to the ball?

 

It's probably a combination of those factors, but the ball may be the biggest factor. I went over some of the most astounding aspects of this year of the home run using this article by Jack Baer on YahooSports.

 

I also talked about the Dead Ball Era (pre-1920) of baseball and how hitting was approached then. And what happened to liven up the ball at that time.

Cool Thing #1, Subset A: The Twins' Home Run Record

 

The League officials have acknowledged the ball was different this season and that difference (a more centered core that causes less drag) is what led to all those home runs. There is talk that the League will address the issue in the off season. This means if the ball is toned down going forward the Twins' home run record could stand for a very long time.

 

That would be cool!

 

A Dimland Radio Pedant Moment: "The Ball Will Find You"

 

It's an old adage in baseball that means that you can't hide on the baseball field. Players need to keep their heads in the game and if a team has a lessor quality player out there, it will eventually be found out. And that means you better field the best team you can, because sooner or later the poor quality players will cost the team big time.

 

I'm good with that aspect of the old adage, but lately I've been hearing game announcers using the adage a little differently.

 

When they use the phrase they are referring to a player coming off the bench to replace a starter. Sometimes when that happens an opportunity to make a play comes to that player shortly after entering the game. They either make the play or they don't then the announcer says, "You know the old saying, the ball will find you..."

 

I pointed out this is fallacious thinking. The announcers pull out the adage only those times a play goes to that player, but they don't notice all those times the play doesn't. Say it's a player in right field sent in in the 8th inning and then the ball never leaves the infield for the rest of the game. He never touches the ball. In that case the phrase should be: "The ball will find you. Except when it doesn't."

 

Cool Thing #2: The Who Released Another New Song

Like a bonehead I forgot the write the name of the song in my show notes. I got close going from memory, but didn't quite nail it. The song is called All Music Must Fade.

Unlike Ball And Chain, which was a new Who song that was a cover of a Pete Townshend solo song from a few years ago, this song was actually brand new. And I like it!

It's not quite The Who anymore with John and Keith both gone, but there are strong Who elements to the song. It's catchy. Daltery's voice sounds better than it has in years. And I love the end of the song.

I'm even more excited for the new album to drop in December (the drop date has been pushed back a couple weeks).

Cool Thing #3 (And A Scary Thing): Deep Fake Of Jim Carrey In The Shining

There are four videos on YouTube that use deep fake AI technology to put Jim Carrey instead of Jack Nicholson in the role of Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's horror classic The Shining (1980). It is amazing how well the fakery is done. And the implications of deep fakes as the technology improves are very scary. Will we be able to believe any video?

WatchMojo did a top ten list of deep fakes. There are some good ones in there, but none are quite as good as The Shining fakes. However, the most troubling of WatchMojo's fakes is the one featuring Pres. Obama. This could be very scary indeed.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'YYZ' by Rush & 'This Charming Man' by The Smiths

Second ad break bumpers: 'Eight Miles High' by Husker Du & 'Empty Glass' 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

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 9-21-19 show notes

Shingles Vaccine Just As Rough The Second Time Around

I don't merely talk the talk. I walk the walk. Well, when it comes to vaccination, that is. I often talk about the importance of getting vaccinated on the show and I make certain I get my vaccinations. I also make certain my wife and son get theirs.

 

Vaccination may be the greatest achievement in medical science. They are safe and effective. When an anti-vaxxer is being your ear about them causing autism (they don't) just ask them, "Got polio?"

 

I will say this though. It's not an unusual reaction to get flu-like symptoms after receiving the shingles vaccine, which is given in two doses. A sore arm is also likely. However, not everyone reacts the same way. I did get flu-ish after both doses. In fact, at 4am the morning after I recorded this show, I woke up feeling as though I had full on flu. It was pretty bad.

 

I took some Tylenol and went back to bed. I was much better, but not 100%, when I got up later. I pushed through, because I'd rather have the flu-like symptoms for a couple days than shingles.

 

Here is more info on shingles and the vaccine. 

A Mysterious Power Outage Got Me Thinking

Last Sunday night, we had the power go out for just under an hour. It was usual in that there was no storm, no high winds, and the temperature was fairly moderate for a mid-September evening. So, it's a mystery about why the power would have gone out.

 

It was also usual in that in was pretty extensive. My parents, who live a mile away, also had no power and from what my dad could see the power was out as far as he could see. My son was online chatting with a friend in Tennessee, when we lost the lights. That friend said their power had just gone out, too!

 

That got my paranoid mind turning. What if it's another Carrington Event? Could it be a terrorist attack? What will we do without power?

 

No Monster In Loch Ness

 

 

A study of the environmental DNA present in Loch Ness showed what kinds of wildlife lives there. The evidence showed there are plenty of eels in the fabled loch, but they found no monster or prehistoric reptilian DNA. We can probably concluded there is no Nessie.

 

The news media jumped to the conclusion that Nessie is likely an eel. But Nessie could also be a misidentified boat wake or waves or a log or otters. Or it could be someone perpetrating a hoax as is the famous Surgeon's Photograph. It could be lots of things, but a monster? It doesn't look likely.

 

Uncropped and less impressive.

But there are tourist dollars to be earned, so the legend will undoubtedly continue.

Some Showed Up, None Stormed

 

The Storm Area 51 event came and went Friday. The turn out was just a bit less than the two million who said they were going on the event's Facebook page. The page was a joke, but it did seem as though many were serious and that was worrisome. If people really attempted to storm a military base that could result in some very unfortunate circumstances.

 

 

Well, attendance was underwhelming with maybe 3,000 people showing up.

 

Yes, but why bring the North Korean flag?

 Hey! There's always next year.

 

The world reacts.

In The Meme Time...

 

Not the official Pedantic Moment for this show, it's coming, I had to correct a couple things about this meme. First, the actual estimate of the number of people who attended Woodstock is closer to 400,000. It's the Joni Mitchell song popularized by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young that had the line "by the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong" that probably got people thinking there were 500,000 hippies in attendance. Eh, what's a 100,000 among friends?

 

Next, Jimi Hendrix played his legendary rendition of America's Nation Anthem at the crack of dawn on Monday. By the time he hit the stage, most all of the hippies had left. It's estimated that a mere 40,000 were present when he performed. Not a number to sneeze at, but certainly not half a million strong. It was the film that came out the next year that people learned by Hendrix's musical statement.

 

And brings me to my last point, which my wife clued me into. Sure, none of the hippies there protested the guitar god playing the anthem, but that's probably because Hendrix playing it, in the context of the event, was itself a protest.

 

Silly meme makers.

 

A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: The Name Of The Band Is The Who!

It's a variation of the famous "Who's On First" baseball comedy routine made famous by comedy duo Abbott & Costello. It's from the the FoxKids animated series Animaniacs (1993-1998). The characters are Slappy Squirrel and her nephew Skippy. Somehow they find themselves at Woodstock in 1969 and go into the routine. Slappy wants to know the name of the band onstage. Skippy answers, "Who." And we're off on a nearly two minute ride of pure, white-hot, pedantic aggravation.

Skippy. The name of the band is The Who! Not Who.

Yes, I know that precision would ruin the routine, but I can't help it. I'm a pedantic Who fan!

Yes, I know I didn't say The Who fan, but in that context it is understood. Just as when saying you are a Beatles fan or Rolling Stones fan. But when asked the name of my favorite band, I answer, "The Who." Because that is their name.

I also talked about the routine as done by Abbott & Costello. Abbott the straight man of the duo has the information about the unusual names of his baseball team. He doles out he names quickly and Costello is too slow to catch on. Abbott is either oblivious to his friend's slow uptake or he's just an asshole who likes to make the little fellow suffer.

Also, Animaniacs wasn't the first to use the greatest rock band in the world in a variation of the classic comedy routine. In the 1970s the comedy troupe The Credibility Gap did an expanded version of it. This version not only featured The Who, but also the rock groups The Guess Who and Yes. And The Credibility Gap acknowledge in the routine on their album that they are ripping off a classic.

 

And here's a video version of The Credibility Gap doing their routine.

Music heard on the show...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus 
First ad break bumpers: 'Your Phone Is Off The Hook, But You're Not' by X & 'Eighties' by Killing Joke

Second ad break bumpers: 'I Don't Remember' by Peter Gabriel & 'That's Entertainment' by The Jam

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.