CoastConFan Blog: PaleoBabble and A Breath of Rational Air

Sunday, June 19, 2011

PaleoBabble and A Breath of Rational Air

Just as James Randi debunks fake paranormal and circus phenomena masquerading as truth, PaleoBabble by Mike Heiser is a great site involved with debunking a smorgasbord of historical, archeological, anthropological, and scientific logical fallacies, some of which are long-standing, some obscure, and a number of “popular” bits of twaddle that inhabit the Nut-O-Sphere. Primarily, the method of debunking is simply using scientific method, good scholarship, and showing complete context of the object or subject. I highly recommend PaleoBabble to people interested in history, artifacts and have a bent towards rationality, logic and a belief in scientific method.

For those of you making props for the Call of Cthulhu RPG and film genre, this site is a great warehouse of information for mining in making objects for movies and games. Nobody making CoC props are attempting to hoax the scientific community or make wild claims about authenticity of these items, but it is nice to view some of the prime fake objects of the past to get a feel for the genre. We all have a lot of fun with CoC and props and I am sure that everybody involved in the gaming community really enjoys a finely crafted and presented gaming or movie props. Dig through PaleoBabble’s blog archives to see some exploded myths and hoaxes with a dash of scintillating repartee in the archaeological and scientific community.
CoastConFan

Update May 2014: Mike Heiser has moved PaleoBabble to new digs at http://drmsh.com/. The articles are still available at the old location, although comments have ended there. Lots of luck to his new new site.

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LINKS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

CoastConFan's YouTube Videos a page for my YouTube videos on YouTube on sundry subjects.

CoastCon Inc's Official Site CoastCon is a Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Anime & media convention that has been around for over 30 years

Michael W. Moses Pottery Site of unearthly pottery that brings to mind H. P. Lovecraft and the drawings of Ernst Haeckel

Propnomicon's Site a site dedicated to making props for Call of Cthulhu RPG

AboutSF is a resource center for speculative literature, science fiction, and education. They are also hosting podcasts of classic SF read aloud.

Reading for the Future is a grassroots volunteer organization whose aim is to help young people develop a love of reading and intellectual adventure through the vehicle of science fiction, fantasy and other speculative fiction.

S. T. Joshi's Blog A leading scholar on H. P. Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction.

The Steampunk Forum at Brass Goggles is a forum for Steampunk enthusiasts with an emphasis on physical props and how to make them.

AWOL - The Ancient World Online A fantastic conglomerate site about research on ancient

CITY OF DUST Primarily a site about New Mexico ghost towns and history

Gaslight and Gilt A clever look at steampunk from an arts and crafts standpoint

H. P. Lovecraft And His Legacy A site about HPL and his works

The Cat's Meat Shop Postings about Georgian and Victorian England, primarily London

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana An interesting view of comics from a Turkish point of view

The Tobacco Pipe Artistory The artistry and history of pipes

Tom Banwell—Leather and Resin Projects Clever props and masks

Warfare in the Age of Steam NeoVictorian wargaming

Fancyclopedia 3 A wiki by fans for fans. Learn about the heritage of fandom through the years.

Paleobabble Your antidote to cyber-twaddle and misguided research about the ancient world. Lots of people do research on the mysteries of antiquity. Some insights are valuable; others are insanely stupid, learn why.

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