Category Archives: Internet
Happy Anniversary!
The original "Sunburn" theme: Sept. - Nov. 2009.
This month marks the one year anniversary of this blog! As you probably know from the “About” tab this all began as a class project for Dr. R. Jeffrey Frost’s Myths and Mysteries in Archaeology class at the University of Texas in Arlington, and was continued in a limited sense after the class ended. Since September 25, 2009, I have posted thirty-four posts and three pages almost all entirely on the subject of ancient astronaut theory. If you are reading this you are certainly not alone, I receive a modest average of about twenty visits per day – not bad for a class project with a URL like http://ancientaliensinmassmedia.wordpress.com. In fact, most of my visitors come from search engine queries with people looking for information about the Transformers 2 movie and the pyramids in Alien vs. Predator. Also, I receive a lot of visits from people curious about crystal skulls, and not just of the Indiana Jones variety. Here’s an excerpt of what I saw one day last month:
Top Posts (the past week)
The Predator’s Pyramids 24 views
Transforming Ancient Astronaut Theory 13 views
(mis)UNDER(stood) GROUND! 2 views
Introduction to Stargate 1 views
Meet Erich von Däniken 1 views
Top Searches
ancient aliens, alien pyramid, pyramid avp, ancient astronauts stoned head, silver alien girl
I think my favorite search from the above is: “ancient astronauts stoned head.” Who knows, maybe that was just a typo? You’re still welcome to look around and hey, maybe I should do a post on the Moai of Rapa Nui (the Easter Island heads) soon.
September was a little hectic, so that is why this is just now being posted, but I will keep this blog going as long as time permits. I’d like to close by saying a special thanks to Dr. Frost for all of his support and encouragement especially in the beginning and thank you to everyone who has been reading, even if it was probably about the Transformers and Predator movies.
The second theme, "Regulus": Nov. 2009 - June 2010.
No References and Links for this Post.
Image is Everything 2
Here is a follow-up to the picture post entitled “Image is Everything” from June 8, 2010. Again the Google image search was for “ancient astronaut theory.” Sit back and scroll down through another six examples of weirdness.
http://seventyseveneightytwo.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
http://www.kasocomics.com/boasprints/heavymetal.html
http://www.mysterypark.ch/typo3temp/pics/4c87942b83.jpg
http://media.photobucket.com/image/ancient%252Bastronaut%20theory/mysticalmoon_2006/Fantasy/Fantasy/fantasy2.jpg
http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/mjr/art_gruenschloss_2006.html
http://www.jungfraupark.ch/index.php?eID=tx_cms_showpic&file=uploads%2Fpics%2FMaya_2.jpg&width=800m&height=600m&bodyTag=%3Cbody%20style%3D%22margin%3A0%3B%20background%3A%23fff%3B%22%3E&wrap=%3Ca%20href%3D%22javascript%3Aclose%28%29%3B%22%3E%20|%20%3C%2Fa%3E&md5=b20d6a49f663e4f27b6a769b7d7e8ee0
I hope you enjoyed those. I might post another picture post around the end of the year.
References and Links (All on-line information retrieved August 21, 2010)
http://ancientaliensinmassmedia.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/image-is-everything/
http://seventyseveneightytwo.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
http://www.kasocomics.com/boasprints/heavymetal.html
http://www.mysterypark.ch/typo3temp/pics/4c87942b83.jpg
http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/mjr/art_gruenschloss_2006.html
A Mix of Comics
This post is very similar to my post from June 8, 2010 entitled “Image is Everything” with the exception that the Google image search was for “ancient astronaut comics” this time. Here are a few of the more fascinating results.
http://www.madsciencecomic.com/comics/2009-08-13pacal.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/SecretSunBlog/marv-mangods.jpg
http://www.stomptokyo.com/scott/nerds/img/hngar18-20100409-220901.jpg
http://secretsun.blogspot.com/2008/01/silver-star-part-4-astronaut-theology.html
http://media.photobucket.com/image/ancient%20astronaut%20webcomic/Prankster36/Tintin14.jpg
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/03/30/king-kirbys-comic-conspiracy/
So that’s it for this picture post. I have some more images that I’ll post later in the summer.
References and Links (All on-line information retrieved June 22, 2010)
http://www.madsciencecomic.com/comics/2009-08-13pacal.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/SecretSunBlog/marv-mangods.jpg
http://www.stomptokyo.com/scott/nerds/img/hngar18-20100409-220901.jpg
http://secretsun.blogspot.com/2008/01/silver-star-part-4-astronaut-theology.html
http://media.photobucket.com/image/ancient%20astronaut%20webcomic/Prankster36/Tintin14.jpg
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/03/30/king-kirbys-comic-conspiracy/
Image is Everything
Instead of another wordy post, I thought I would share with you all a recent Google image search for “ancient astronaut theory.” Here are some of my favorites for the sake of sheer bizarreness.
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/images/alien_god.jpg
http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/06/15/looking-for-the-aliens-among-us/
http://www.ufoarea.com/pictures/ancient_astronauts.jpg
http://www.hotspotsz.com/Ancient_Astronauts_%28Article-415%29.html
http://www.blingdomofgod.com/2008/02/
http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/05/14/the-controversy-that-texas-forgot/
That was pretty fun! Maybe I will do something like this again.
References and Links (All on-line information retrieved June 8, 2010)
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/images/alien_god.jpg
http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/06/15/looking-for-the-aliens-among-us/
http://www.ufoarea.com/pictures/ancient_astronauts.jpg
http://www.hotspotsz.com/Ancient_Astronauts_%28Article-415%29.html
http://www.blingdomofgod.com/2008/02/
http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/05/14/the-controversy-that-texas-forgot/
Comments From an Electronic Peanut Gallery
I always find it interesting to see what people think about the topic of space gods and their supposed invention of past civilizations. My stance is pretty obvious, just look at this blog. I like to think of myself as an open person, but I cannot resist to point out the behaviors and faulty logic of people I fundamentally disagree with. I have an imaginary checklist that I refer to when I encounter various forms of pseudoscience and its devout followers. When I start reading or listening to their comments, I start thinking about what the scientific explanation must be to their momentary “mystery.” I also look at the choice of words and tone of the message. Is it defensive, hostile, fanatical, etc.? Here the checklist comes into play: Is a distrust of scholars present? Is it more of a personal attack on another person, than a true argument? One of the realities of the complex world we live in is that many things that once seemed magical or unknowable are in fact, (no pun intended) very explainable. So many people cherry pick obscure facts and ignore huge volumes of established and tested data. To prove a point, they have opened a Pandora’s box of infinite questions. Remember Occam’s razor.
I found these comments from YouTube back on September 27th. of this year concerning the work of Erich von Däniken. I took screen captures to display their opinions of the theory, Erich von Däniken’s work and more importantly an insight into the reasoning of the opposition. A lot of praise is given to von Däniken, so much so, I had to wonder if at least some of these comments were written by von Däniken, himself. Many of the posters comment how Chariots of the Gods has changed their life in someway. What is most offensive to me is the treatment of the “timid” scientists or aggressive call (and I am paraphrasing in this instance) “to hear bullshit explanations from debunkers.” So, sit back and click away at the links to the screen captures. Maybe the YouTube comments section isn’t very much like the peanut gallery from a kid’s show, but the handling of the topic here is both naive and childish.
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/a/n/c/i/entaliensinmassmedia/2009-11/sb/evd4a-29576359.jpg
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/a/n/c/i/entaliensinmassmedia/2009-11/sb/evd2012a2-91279633.jpg
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/a/n/c/i/entaliensinmassmedia/2009-11/sb/evd2012b2-91977536.jpg
References and Links (All on-line information retrieved September 27 and November 29, 2009)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_D%C3%A4niken
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/a/n/c/i/entaliensinmassmedia/2009-11/sb/evd4a-29576359.jpg
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/a/n/c/i/entaliensinmassmedia/2009-11/sb/evd2012a2-91279633.jpg
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/a/n/c/i/entaliensinmassmedia/2009-11/sb/evd2012b2-91977536.jpg
What a Tangled Web!
I wanted to do a post with the three best and worst websites and/or blogs on the internet about ancient astronaut theory. The best sites being those of a skeptical or unbiased nature and the worst sites belonging to the most ardent proponents of the theory. As you may have guessed, it was a lot easier to find the pro-theory sites and surprisingly difficult to find a little healthy skepticism in all of this. Even with such words as “criticism for” and “argument against” preceding the term “ancient astronaut theory” in the google searches it took longer than I ever expected! First, let’s take a look at three of the worst sites in my opinion.
- Legendary Times @ http://www.legendarytimes.com This is Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, Erich von Däniken and other like-minded researchers promoting an association, a newsletter and their various books.
- Xfacts @ http://www.xfacts.com Jason Martell’s site detailing his Summarian focused research along along with a special emphasis on ancient technology that must have been influenced by extraterrestrial contact in the past.
- Ancient Astronauts @ http://www.crystalinks.com/ancientastronauts.html Physic Ellie Crystal weighs in on the topic with a lot of misinterpretted images and mythological tales presented as evidence for the theory.
The best skeptical or unbiased sites:
- Ancient Astronaut Theory @ http://ancientastronauttheory.com A vast collection of links to current blogs and websites mentioning ancient astronauts.
- UFO Religions @ http://michaelsheiser.com/UFOReligions/2009/10/intelligent-design-usurped-by-alien-astronaut-theory One of Michael S. Heiser’s blogs dealing with ancient astronaut theory, ufology and religion. He is also the man behind SitchinIsWrong.com.
- Ask an Amateur Scientist: Ancient Astronauts @ http://www.pinkraygun.com/2008/05/22/ask-an-amateur-scientist-ancient-astronauts Blogger Brian Thompson’s post from last year on the major problems of the theory. Recent posts concern other paranormal topics like the Ghost Cat and Indigo Children.
There you have it. Try a google search of your own to see what you come up with. I bet it will be full of sites that are full of… well, you know… Have fun!
References and Links (All on-line information retrieved November 1, 2009)
http://www.legendarytimes.com/
http://www.crystalinks.com/ancientastronauts.html
http://ancientastronauttheory.com/
http://michaelsheiser.com/UFOReligions/2009/10/intelligent-design-usurped-by-alien-astronaut-theory/
http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/
http://www.pinkraygun.com/2008/05/22/ask-an-amateur-scientist-ancient-astronauts/
