Links and resources

[RolandD]

How 'bout a single thread to share other websites? Here's my initial contribution:

http://skeptoid.com A weekly podcast by Brian Dunning. From the website:

Each weekly episode focuses on a single phenomenon — an urban legend, a paranormal claim, alternative therapy, or something just plain stupid — that you've heard of, and that you probably believe in. Skeptoid attempts to expose the folly of belief in non-evidence based phenomena, and more importantly, explains the factual scientific reality.

http://rationalwiki.org Others have mentioned it, so here's the link.

Our purpose here at RationalWiki includes:

1. Analyzing and refuting pseudoscience and the anti-science movement.
2. Documenting the full range of crank ideas.
3. Explorations of authoritarianism andfundamentalism.
4. Analysis and criticism of how these subjects are handled in the media.

We welcome contributors, and encourage those who disagree with us to register and engage in constructive dialogue.

It would also be nice to hear the opinion of others on the sites that are posted. I find that many sites present themselves as skeptical and rational, but in reality peddle bunk.

[Jay Reynolds]

I ran across this tutorial about effective google searches and shortcuts:
http://www.hackcollege.com/blog/2011...of-google.html

[Clock]

What a great idea for a thread! Not sure why we didn't see this before! So many sites... where to begin?

Skeptoid and Rational Wiki are great sites. Rational Wiki helps for a quick look up on the theories that your are looking for.

http://skepticproject.com/

Is a great website that was once a hotspot for debunking. The forums appear to be inactive these days, mainly because most of the key members that were once on the website retired from debunking. However, some of the Featured articles are very good. (It is also THE website that debunks Alex Jones)

http://thrivedebunked.wordpress.com/

This is where most of the members of Skeptic Project went on, (and where they retired) Of course it focuses on debunking the Thrive movie, it also clears up the confusion between many theories that are out there.

[Trigger Hippie]

Here are some links from my bookmarks...


Blogs, Forums, podcasts.

http://forums.randi.org/forumindex.php

• Full of really smart people saying really smart things about a lot of stuff.

www.theskepticsguide.org/

• The show features discussions of myths, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the paranormal, and many general forms of woo-woo, from the point of view of scientific skepticism.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/field_...ical_thinking/

• The mission of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry is to promote scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.

http://www.pandasthumb.org/

• The anti anti-evolution movement.

Critical Thinking, Logical Fallacies, etc.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19468...you-think.html

• 5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think.

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/

• A list of things I commit more often than I should.

[Mick]

Sources of bunk are sometimes also great sources of debunking. AboveTopSecret.com is surprisingly useful, especially for older conspiracies. You need to search it with Google though, by adding "site:abovetopsecret.com" to the query, and trying to be specific. Examples:

bird deaths site:abovetopsecret.com
wtc molten steel site:abovetopsecret.com
wtc 767 control flutter site:abovetopsecret.com

and most recently was very useful for this:
fake hotel saudi cnn platform site:abovetopsecret.com

You can often tell if it's going to be useful by looking at the Google snippet, then a quick scan of the tread often turns up useful stuff

[RolandD]

MikeC posted, in another thread, a link to an excellent article: "No, you’re not entitled to your opinion"

[Critical Thinker]

http://skepticalhumanities.com/categ...piracy-theory/

"About Skeptical Humanities

Someone new to the skeptical movement will immediately discover the large number of websites and discussions that are devoted to skepticism in science, and this is wonderful. It is important to realize, however, that the humanities also have scholarly standards that employ critical thinking and judgments based on the examination of evidence."



http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiratard/

http://illuminutti.com/about/

http://www.skepticsfieldguide.net/

[Pete Tar]

http://whatstheharm.net/index.html

Casualties of pseudo-science and misinformation...

Content from external source:

A bumbling, hooded commando calling himself the "Phantom Patriot" invaded the fabled grounds of the Bohemian Grove during the weekend hoping for a shootout.
...
He told The Chronicle during a jailhouse interview that he went to the Monte Rio retreat Saturday night intent on exposing child abuse and human sacrifice and punishing the perpetrators.
"I was expecting armed resistance and I would have fired back if I was fired upon," he said

haha.

[Soulfly]

I found this today.

Content from external source:

The World Wide Web offers information and data from all over the world. Because so much information is available, and because that information [can appear to be fairly “anonymous”, it is necessary to develop skills to evaluate what you find. When you use a research or academic library, the books, journals and other resources have already been evaluated by scholars, publishers and librarians. Every resource you find has been evaluated in one way or another before you ever see it. When you are using the World Wide Web, none of this applies. There are no filters. Because anyone can write a Web page, documents of the widest range of quality, written by authors of the widest range of authority, are available on an even playing field. Excellent resources reside along side the most dubious. The Internet epitomizes the concept of Caveat lector: Let the reader beware.
This guide discusses the criteria by which scholars in most fields evaluate print information, and shows how the same criteria can be used to assess information found on the Internet. Use the tabs on this guide to further explore and consider how to effectively evaluate online information.

http://guides.library.jhu.edu/conten...42&sid=1657518