RationalWiki:Websites
From RationalWiki
(Redirected from Alma Geddon)
This is a list of websites that help further our mission.
[edit] Our sites!
- You might want to visit our Facebook page. It's excruciatingly fun.
- Human Thoughts (http://www.humanthoughts.org): A random "thought" according to the website's owner.
- We couldn't make this up... (http://cpmonitor.wordpress.com): Psygremlin's blog.
- (Palaeonictis's Homepage) A "small website" according to the website's owner.
[edit] General research
- http://tafkac.org, better known as the Alt.Folklore.Urban and Urban Legends Archive, is one of the oldest references on the Internet for urban legend debunking[1]. At one time they were a competitor to Snopes (David Mikkelson also came from the Usenet world), but they're not nearly as well-known now.
- FactCheck, competitor to PolitiFact.
- Hoax-Slayer (http://www.hoax-slayer.com): Like Snopes but
not as goodfocuses more on chain emails. - Insolitology.com is an archive of kooks run by François Tremblay and Alleee Randall. François just barely made our List of Internet kooks, but he and Alleee are still excellent writers on crackpottery.
- Donna Kossy's Freeze Dried Kooks Museum, a popular 90s collection of, well, kooks.
- Odd Books, run by UK amateur psychoceramicist and collector of strange tomes Alfred Armstrong.
- PolitiFact (http://politifact.com) is a generally pretty good site owned by the Tampa Bay Times that fact checks the statements of US politicians. (It sometimes skews a bit towards the militant middle though.)
- Snopes (http://www.snopes.com): Excellent debunkers of the endless flow of urban, rural, and cyber myths (make sure you have JavaScript disabled and a good ad blocker).
- Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com): Like Snopes in a question-and-answer column format.
- TruthOrFiction.com performs a similar function to Snopes, even vouching for them when American wingnuts called Snopes' voracity[2] into question.
- Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org): "the encyclopedia any teenager can vandalize," which usually has better information than what one may find on a basic Google search. Note the some of the non-English articles are much better.
[edit] General rationality
- LessWrong (http://www.lesswrong.com): A community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality.
[edit] Skepticism
- Center for Inquiry (http://www.centerforinquiry.net).
- Holysmoke (http://www.holysmoke.org): Textfiles from the FIDONET days, kept alive on the web for posterity. Perhaps a bit amateur by today's standards, but the old Holysmoke echo was sort of the RW of two decades ago. If you really have a lot of time on your hands, or are just feeling nostalgic, there is also a searchable archive of Holysmoke posts.
- The James Randi Educational Foundation (http://www.randi.org).
- Skeptic magazine (http://www.skeptic.com).
- Skeptic Report (http://www.skepticreport.com/sr/).
- Skeptics Annotated Bible/Koran/Book of Mormon (http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com): A skeptical look at these texts.
- Skeptics Dictionary (http://skepdic.com).
- Skeptics on the Net (http://skepticsonthe.net): An attempt at a comprehensive directory of skeptical sites and resources.
- Skeptical Inquirer (http://www.csicop.org/si) The premier skeptic journal.
- The Skeptic Tank (http://www.skeptictank.org/) Textfiles from the FIDONET days. Affiliated (sort of) with Holysmoke.
- NMSR (http://www.nmsr.org/)
- Australian Skeptics (http://www.skeptics.com.au/)
- The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (the former CSICOP)
- The Skeptics Society/Skeptic Magazine
- Answers in Creation -- yes, you can be a Christian without subscribing to insanity. Good to know.
- Metabunk (https://www.metabunk.org/): A discussion forum dedicated to skeptical debunking and creating re-usable refutations to bunk.
[edit] Science
- Bad Astronomy (http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy.html), popular science writer Phil Plait's pro-science, and occasionally anti-anti-science, blog.
- NeuroLogica (http://theness.com/neurologicablog/), Yale neurologist Steven Novella's blog reflects the breadth of his interests, not just neuroscience.
- Retraction Watch (http://retractionwatch.com/) - Scientists make mistakes. This blog shows them being fixed.
- Science-Based Medicine (http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/author/steven-novella/), a number of articles by Steven Novella (and others).
- Starts With a Bang (http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/), mustachioed Lewis and Clark College professor Ethan Siegel's blog: an excellent primer on cosmology.
- Palaeos (http://palaeos.com/) The best catalog for paleontology and phylogeny out there (well, a very respected source that is). Even sourced, and recommended by Science.
- Museum of Paleontology, UC Berkely (http://ucmp.berkely.edu/) A well respected source on stratigraphy and paleontology, it deserves a spot on the list.
- Fossil Works (http://fossilworks.org/) A database of extinct organisms and their respective ages, sub-epochs, epochs, and periods.
- GeoWhen (http://www.stratigraphy.org/bak/geowhen/) A database of geological ages, epochs, periods eras and eons. Very comprehensive on stratigraphy.
- Darwiniana (http://darwiniana.org/) A directory on science (mainly biology and geology) as well as creationism.
- Scholarpedia (http://www.scholarpedia.org/) A peer-reviewed wiki (mainly neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelliegnce).
[edit] Fundamentalism and Authoritarianism
- Anti-Defamation League (http://www.adl.org): Occasionally they take wrong turns, but on average they do more good than not.
- Hope not Hate (http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/): Keeping tags on UK haters.
- Media Matters for America (http://www.mediamatters.org): Run by David Brock, a former mouthpiece for the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (no, literally).
- Searchlight (http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/): the other ones keeping tabs on UK haters.
- Southern Poverty Law Center (http://www.splcenter.org): Keeping tabs on hate groups across the US.
- TheocracyWatch (http://www.theocracywatch.org): Run by the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy housed in Cornell University, keeps tabs on the influence of the religious right in US politics and organizations like the Family Research Council.
- Who Makes the Nazis? (http://www.whomakesthenazis.com): Rather extensive documentation of neo-Nazi, third positionist, and radical traditionalist attempts to co-opt alternative music scenes.
[edit] New Age
- The Enemies of Reason pt. 1 and pt. 2 episode one of Richard Dawkins's new mini-series. Covering psychics, astrology, alternative medicine, homeopathy, vaccine hysteria, and other New Age magical thinking.
- New Ages Frauds and Plastic Shamans (http://www.newagefraud.org): Debunking white phonies charging big bucks for a "taste of nativism", while laying claim to Native American ancestry or teachings.
- SIMPOS (http://www.stelling.nl/simpos/simpoeng.htm): Site in the Netherlands (in English and Dutch versions).
[edit] Creationism
- No Answers in Genesis (http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au): Includes one of the first public exposés of Kent Hovind's ludicrous "thesis."
- Pharyngula (http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula): PZ Myers' blog.
- Stones and Bones (http://stonesnbones.blogspot.com/): anti-creationist Gary S. Hurd's blog.
- Talk Origins (http://www.talkorigins.org): The website of the Usenet newsgroup talk.origins, and an archive of a vast repository of FAQs covering evolution and geology.
- EvoWiki This site shows the case for evolution against creationism.
- University of Ediacara (http://ediacara.org): A group website of many of the old regulars from talk.origins.
- Why Evolution is True (http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/), the blog of University of Chicago Ecology and Evolution Professor Jerry Coyne
- Naturalis Historia (http://thenaturalhistorian.com/): pro-science/anti-creationism blog written by a Calvinist professor of biology who describes himself, among other things, as a "lover of reformed theology," and "concerned that modern conservative evangelicals have increasing abandoned the study of natural revelation resulting in both a lack of appreciation for the “good” creation and the inability to assess the results of modern science." Nuf said.
- Questioning Answers in Genesis (http://questioninganswersingenesis.blogspot.com/): pro-science/anti-creationism blog of a Calvinist PhD student in geology. Both QaiG and Naturalis Historia are studiously written from a broad academic perspective that includes analysis of the science as well as factors contributing to YEC belief. Free of any of the shrillness or polemics of any of the blogs of popular "evolutionists.
- Talk.Reason (http://www.talkreason.org/) A website founded by Mark Perakh and John M. Lynch. Describes itself as, "Arguments against creationism, intelligent design, and religious apologetics."
- Antievolution (http://antievolution.org/features/)
- BCSE (http://www.bcseweb.org.uk/) The British equivalent of the NCSE.
- ET Babinski (http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/) Edward T. Babinski's essays on creationism, evolution and atheism.
- The UD Network (http://www.theshrubbery.com/udn/) No description needed.
- Bioliteracy (http://bioliteracy.colorado.edu)
- Darwin Day (http://darwinday.org/)
- AtBC (http://www.antievolution.org/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?s=52ce42846447537d;act=SF;f=14) The forum for Antievolution.org, while in theory it's a dicussion board for cre-evo discussions, except for the rare loons found there (i.e. Ray Martinez, and G. Gaulin. Two of the only cranks found there, once in a while JoeG and Thrinaxodon, two far-out sons of bitches found in cyberspace, can be found there), is a dumping place for anything anti-ID. Particularly Evo News and Views, and for more commonly UD, through the ongoing Uncommonly Dense threads. Ravings from how Atlantis exists, to how cells constructed humans can be found there, but the trolls are usually stuck to their own threads to stop from spoiling other threads.
- The Panda's Thumb (http://pandasthumb.org/) The talk.origins group blog.
- Playing Chess With Pigeons (http://www.pigeonchess.com/) talk.origins veteran Troy Britain's blog.
- Icons of Antievolution (http://www.nmsr.org/iconanti.htm) A group project dedicated to refuting Well's book, Icons of Evolution.
- Tom Schneider's Rebutting Creationism page (http://users.fred.net/tds//anti/rebuttingcreationism.html)
- Tom Schneider's AntiCreationist Page (http://users.fred.net/tds//anti/anticreationist.html)
- Ken Miller's Evolution Resources (http://www.millerandlevine.com/km/evol/index.html)
- Burlington-Edison Committee for Science Education (http://www.scienceormyth.org/)
[edit] Sexism
- Big Bad Chinese Mama (http://www.bigbadchinesemama.com): No, MGTOWers, actually Asian women aren't subservient doormats.
- Blag Hag (http://www.freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag).
- Feministe (http://www.feministe.us).
- Feministing (http://www.feministing.com).
- ManBoobz.com (http://www.manboobz.com): Documents and comments on the many instances of idiocy, misinformation and misogyny within the MRA, MGTOW and PUA movements.
- Pandagon (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/category/pandagon/).
- Skepchick (http://www.skepchick.org).
[edit] Global warming denialism
- Skeptical Science (http://skepticalscience.com): Like a Talk Origins for denialism.
- RealClimate (http://realclimate.org/) A Pandas Thumb for climatology.
[edit] Medical quackery
- Cochrane Reviews (http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews): Huge collection of meta-analyses of evidence-based medicine. The only downside is that your access may be limited depending on your place of residence.
- Quackwatch (http://www.quackwatch.com).
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11570.cfm).
- Ratbags.com (http://www.ratbags.com Ratbags.com): Australian blogger Peter Bowditch's takedowns of altie garbage.
[edit] Crackpottery examined
- Crank.Net, a categorized link farm listing numerous forms of crankery from around the Internet
- Insolitology.org by François and Alleee Tremblay, mocking prominent Internet cranks (including Gene Ray and his Time Cube)
- Odd Books, a listing of reviews of books written primarily by people whose views are far outside the mainstream
[edit] Holocaust denialism
[edit] Atheism
- About.com: Atheism/Agnosticism (http://atheism.about.com).
- The Freedom From Religion Foundation (http://www.ffrf.org/index.php).
- Internet Infidels (http://www.infidels.org).
- Iron Chariots (http://wiki.ironchariots.org): Comprehensive Counter-apologetics wiki founded by Matt Dillahunty.
- Richard Dawkins Foudation for Reason & Science (http://www.richarddawkins.net).
- The Thinking Atheist (http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/)
- International Humanist and Ethical Union (http://iheu.org/) Self-explanatory.
- Atheist Nexus (http://www.atheistnexus.org/ An international community of atheists.
- The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (http://www.venganza.org/)
- Ace of Clades (http://freethoughtblogs.com/aronra/) Aronra's blog
- Everyone's "atheism" community on Google+ (https://plus.google.com/communities/117225067421969617764 or http://www.atheism-community.com/)
[edit] Religion
- Adherents.com (http://www.adherents.com): Lots of interesting data.
- BibleGateway.com (http://www.biblegateway.com): For Bible quotes in multiple translations and languages. Fully searchable.
- Evil Bible.com (http://www.evilbible.com): Dissection of non-Christian messages in Christian text.
- ReligiousFreaks.com (http://www.religiousfreaks.com): Open discussion between believers and non believers.
- ReligiousTolerance.org (http://www.religioustolerance.org). VERY informative and unbiased resource on various religions.
- Rick Ross (http://www.culteducation.com): One of the better respected cult watchers. Useful site.
- Jesus Never Existed, various counter-apologetics and biblical history articles by Kenneth Humphreys (http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/)
[edit] Pseudo-history
- This week in Christian Nationalism (http://freethoughtblogs.com/rodda/), Senior Research Director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation Chris Rodda's refutations of (mostly David Barton's) pernicious Christian Nationalist pseudo-history.
- In the Hall of Ma'at (http://www.hallofmaat.com): Touches on many topics, though it focuses mostly on pseudohistory, pseudoarchaeology, pseudolinguistics, and pseudomathematics.
- Bad Archaeology (http://www.badarchaeology.com/ ) from Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and James Doeser. Extraterrestrials, nationalism, and similar incursions in archaeology.
- Catchpenny Mysteries of Ancient Egypt (http://www.catchpenny.org/index.html) by Larry Orcutt. Mysteries of the pharaohs.
- Bad Linguistics (http://badlinguistics.wordpress.com/) blog.
[edit] Humor
- this page is as good a portal as any to this wonderful collection of humors. Found when posted by a troll on Conservapedia ("here's a Darwin caricature you might like to download").
- How to build your own woo (link courtesy of PalMD)
- Parody of fundy loons
[edit] Prophecy and prediction
- Alma Geddon: focuses on the theme of failed doomsday prophecies. Despite a rustic web design the lists are quite thorough, covering doomsayers from 633 BCE to modern times, as well as a side article on pop cultural interpretations of doomsday.
[edit] Buttons, t-shirts, stickers...
- Teach the controversy paraphernalia - pick your own controversy!
- Awesome Andy Accessories at Clueless Values.
[edit] Miscellaneous sites
- FreeRice.com. Feed your vocabulary while you feed hungry people. Can't get much better than that.
[edit] Footnotes
| Rational and irrational media | ||
|---|---|---|
| Blogroll • Bookshelf • Contact points • Ebook citations • List of Internet kooks • List of Poe's Law examples • Outside resources • Rational podcasts • Twitterers • Vlogroll • Webshites • | ||