14 August 2023
Hi there
It's been a very busy week for me, with various things happening, including recording the latest episode of our Yeah… Nah! podcast in which we interviewed Dr Siouxsie Wiles and Gwen Isaac about the Ms. Information documentary we've recently covered. It's well worth a listen (in my humble opinion).
This afternoon I watched the Oppenheimer movie, at the IMAX cinema in Auckland. It's an impressive movie, and it certainly sheds some interesting light on the moral qualms around the development of the atom bomb, and paints an interesting view of history and how it's viewed in hindsight, particularly with the panic at the time around fears of communism in the US.
I had heard that people were recommending seeing it in IMAX format. It may have been because we were quite close to the front of the cinema, but I did find that it was all a bit too large. But, the soundtrack was impressively seat shaking in parts.
Also this weekend, I attended a special viewing of Transgenerations, a NZ-made documentary following the lives of trans people of various generations. Rhi is one of the people featured in the documentary, and he and his girlfriend are good friends of my wife and me. It was wonderful to see him present his experience and positive vision for the future. The documentary is organised into a bunch of short episodes, with each one focusing on one trans person in New Zealand. You can watch it on the NZ Herald site here.
Conference tickets now available
As we've teased before, we've been busy planning our annual conference. It's going to be in Dunedin on the last weekend in November, at the fabulous Toitu Settlers Museum. We're now happy to announce that the conference website is live and you can book tickets.
The website is a work in progress at this stage - we don't have all the details up, but rest assured, we've got all our speakers booked, and we're just finalising the slots where they're all going to speak.
Our featured international guests will be Susan Gerbic and Melanie Trecek-King - both from the USA.
Anyway, we'd love to have you at the conference. Early bird tickets are now on sale, with a $10 discount for NZ Skeptics members. There's even a great accommodation option that we've arranged at the nearby St. Margaret's College. You can get a single room for $110 a night including a full breakfast the next morning.
Book your tickets here: conference.skeptics.nz
This week I have an item about an offer from Reality Check Radio and an interview with Dr. Sam Bailey. And I cover the recent revelations about political candidates with strange or extreme views. Finally, Mark graces us with the third and final part of his item looking at the Glo Flo movement.
Have a great week!