Hello
I've had a wee break off writing the newsletter for the past couple of weeks, as Brownyn and Mark have contributed lots of content, but it's my turn again this week - thankfully with some great contributions from the aforementioned Bronwyn - with a continuation of her look at the life of Christian Evangelist Ray Comfort, and also previous contributor Alistair Blenney, who takes a look at NESARA.
You'll be aware that this past weekend saw April 1st occur, and thankfully, without the usual silly April Fools Jokes in newspapers. That does seem to have become a thing of the past. Twitter though, was another matter, with various tweets popping up that promoted dubious “facts” that required an extra-skeptical eye to sift through them.
What we did do on April 1st, though, was launch our new $100K Paranormal Challenge. More details on that further down.
This Saturday, I went and got some more vaccines into my body - the newly released Bivalent Covid Booster (which makes the immune system create antibodies to the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and also the Omicron variant), and the annual Flu vaccine. This process was relatively painless - just a couple of pricks into my shoulder. A small price considering the protection that I'll receive. As I continue writing this on Sunday morning, I've got a bit of pain in my shoulder but I'm sure that will subside in the next day or so.
Seeing the availability of the vaccines announced on 1st April saw the usual reactions on social media from those less inclined to align with reality - that the vaccine is dangerous, or doesn't work, or that the photos of Chris Hipkins getting his jab were really just a saline solution.
I'm certainly keen to avoid getting Covid again, having had it in September last year. Sadly, it seems the world is waking up to the reality of Long Covid - that, for some people, the effects of a Covid infection last well beyond the typical one to two weeks of symptoms. Just today, I watched an excellent, but sad video from our skeptical friend Rebecca Watson about long Covid having had a devastating effect on another popular YouTuber Dianna Cowern - AKA Physics Girl. Her long Covid is so debilitating that she's unable to have a normal life, and at times her condition is potentially life-threatening. A friend of hers posted a video giving an update on her condition. It does seem that long Covid is very similar to ME/CFS. All good reasons to try to avoid Covid again - every further infection potentially does you harm.
And one more thing for NZ Skeptics members. You should have received an email giving notice of our upcoming Special General Meeting. We've been working on modernising our constitution to bring it in line with the requirements of the Incorporated Societies Act. If you'd like to take a read of our proposed new constitution, it is here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XrtIZN-GL7w1iNMgE3qmle8_7i5r28u2SkrJszv9WiI
If you pay special attention, you might discover some skeptically-themed “Easter eggs” in it!
Anyway, we'll be holding the SGM on the afternoon of Saturday 22nd April, 3pm, via Zoom. We encourage members to join and have their say.
Now, onto the topics for the week…