Michael Stackpole and (165612) Stackpole
Posted on March 25th, 2008 by blue collar scientistMichael Stackpole came to my attention in the late 1980’s when I read of some of his research that debunked claims that role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons led to involvement in Satanic cults and killings. The research was eventually compiled into The Pulling Report in 1990.
For some years now, Mike has been the Executive Director of the Arizona Skeptics. Every year he and his fellows in that group compile a list of predictions, some of them serious and some of them humorous, that are of the style of the annual predictions that so-called psychics make. Year in and year out, the organization comes up with more accurate predictions than the psychics, by wildly huge margins.
Although I follow the predictions every year, it was from his appearance on Skepticality some time ago that I learned more about some other things Mike does - namely, he goes toe-to-toe with the crazies on radio shows, representing skepticism and rational thinking in the mass media, where the cards are stacked most strongly against you. After doing a bit of research last November, I put Mike on my list of people who needed to have an asteroid named after him.
So there I was at TAM 5.5 last January, eating dinner with a bunch of complete strangers, when Mike walks in and sits down next to me. Nobody else at the table seemed to have “made” him, so I brought up the Pulling Report and said something that probably sounded sycophantic. Mike and I later waxed nostalgic in the hotel bar - which contained an original Star Wars poster - and I ended up having lunch with him and a bunch of other great people on the last day of the conference. The whole time I’m sitting there thinking how much I’d love to spill the beans that I’d just written a proposal to name an asteroid after him - but couldn’t, because the process is supposed to be secret.
The citation I submitted for Mike reads:
Michael Stackpole (b. 1957) is a prolific and popular science fiction author, and is a popular advocate for science and rational thinking through media appearances, public speaking, and writing.
Tags: 165612 Stackpole, Arizona Skeptics, michael stackpole, Pulling Report
March 25th, 2008 at 6:06 am
[...] March 23, 2001, David Healy and Jeff Medkeff discovered an asteroid about a mile in diameter, in the asteroid belt on the Mars side of the solar [...]
March 25th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Good going Jeff!
Now we should have a get-together with all the Skeptics and Science based folk who have Astroids named after them by you! :)
March 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Now that is a cool story.
(One, I’ll note, of many on this journal…)
March 25th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Derek’s close- what we SHOULD do is get all of you together at TAM 6, and take cool photos. Does anyone know if Michael Stackpole will be at TAM 6?