Happy New Year!

9^th January 2023

I hope you all had a good Christmas, and that if you had a break that it was an enjoyable one. I was lucky enough to be greeted by the following passive aggressive email on Christmas Eve by a Catholic man who emails me occasionally to challenge my lack of belief in the Christian god:

Subject_: Merry Christmas Mark.

Hi Mark.

I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas.

May The one & only Truth bless you with the peace and joy that comes from wisely and humbly submitting oneself to Him.

All the best for a Happy New year 😊

Peace be with you._

Needless to say I will not be submitting to his idea of a god, at least not until he can provide good evidence that a) his god exists, b) his god wants me to submit myself to him and c) there’s a good reason for me to submit. Failing that, I’m going to continue to be a happy, fulfilled atheist.

In lighter and funnier news, Bronwyn messaged me recently to let me know that a picture of me subjecting Craig Shearer to a Scientology Auditing session with an e-meter has found its way to the Scientology in New Zealand Wikipedia page:

Craig and I were at the new Scientology “Ideal Org” building on its open day, hoping to catch a glimpse of David Miscavige, and while we were there we wandered around the building and got to see such sights as L Ron Hubbard’s office (from what I understand there’s one reserved for his “return” in every Ideal Org building), the Purification Rundown spa room, and the documents room holding notes from every Scientology member’s auditing sessions. Fellow skeptic Robin took the picture, but he’s not sure how it ended up on Wikipedia. However it happened, it tickled me to see it there!

In this week’s newsletter, we have a correction from Barry Lennox regarding my article before Christmas about boiling batteries to recharge them. Barry wrote to me saying that he was skeptical of my claim that you can’t recharge a disposable battery. Although he agrees that boiling definitely won’t work, he points out that technically you can recharge disposable batteries with the right equipment, and with some severe limitations. He also warns that “terms and conditions apply”, by which I presume he means he doesn’t endorse anyone trying this at home as it may be dangerous.

In other news, I’ve had a play with the new ChatGPT AI and ponder whether we’re seeing the start of something big, or if this new AI is all talk and no trousers. Alexander has been thinking about the No True Scotsman fallacy, and wondering whether skeptics can have it both ways. And finally Bronwyn investigates a local eBook seller who can make you rich, but who seems to have a patchy history with her own business ventures.

Mark Honeychurch

Recharging Disposable Batteries

Barry Lennox - 9 January 2023

It was a relatively well known practice in WW2 (and possibly before) that if your torch/flashlight battery was getting a little flat, a few quick touches to a vehicle battery would restore a fair bit of charge. This information became more public knowledge in the UK, post WW2 when times were tough, and a number of articles were published on it. I cannot now find any, but the earliest article I have read was a 1953 one in "Wireless World" by R W Hallows with some designs and an analysis of these simple methods.

Is ChatGPT an AGI? Is it alive?

Mark Honeychurch - 9 January 2023

To restate the question in a way that may make more sense to some, does the new conversational Artificial Intelligence chat bot from OpenAI qualify as an Artificial General Intelligence, able to perform a wide range of tasks as well as a human can - and could it even be self aware, or sentient?

Real Religion and Real Science: Pondering an Uncomfortable Comparison

Alexander Maxwell - 9 January 2023

Skeptics, rationalists, atheists, freethinkers and other secular folk often encounter an annoying rhetorical device when discussing politics, ethics or history with religious people. If conversation turns to some atrocity or scandal committed by adherents of some religion, members of religion often deny that it has anything to do with their “real” religion. Pedophile priests are “not real Catholics,” suicide bombers are “not real Muslims,” and so on.

Sophie Howard: Can you really get rich selling Kindle eBooks?

Bronwyn Rideout - 9 January 2023

I spend a lot of time on Youtube and I often opine, as others in the anti-MLM sphere do, that the Youtube algorithm loves to show me ads that are not reflective of my viewing habits. I've seen more than my fair share of business gurus using their outdoor voices to sell me limited time offers for unmissable business opportunities. Maybe it is due to being in the Antipodes, but instead of seeing Grant Cardone or Tony Robbins shilling their seminars, I get an affable kiwi who does her darndest to convince me that I too can make tens of thousands of dollars a month selling on Amazon, with the New Zealand mountains serving big “playground of the rich” vibes.