Be the Early Bird

Mark Honeychurch - 30 September 2024

Today is the last day to get early bird tickets for our annual NZ Skeptics Conference, this year in partnership with the NZARH, in Auckland from the 15th to the 17th of November. If you’re keen to come and listen to some fascinating talks about skepticism, covering a diverse array of topics (and with something of a focus on religion, given this year’s partnering with the Rationalists), make sure you get your tickets today to save a little money. The regular authors of this newsletter will be there, as we’ll be recording a live episode of our Yeah… Nah! Podcast at the event. If you’re able to make it, be sure to come over and say hi to us as it’s always good to chat with people and make new connections at these events.

In this week’s newsletter, Bronwyn has looked into New Zealand’s connection to the now controversial practice of cult deprogramming. Katrina, hoping to write a series of articles on how to do good science, has jumped right in at the deep end with an article on multivariate data analysis. I’ve asked my kids about what the hell mewing is. Brad’s had a look at the amount of scientific evidence Ārepa has for their brain boosting drink (spoiler: not much at all). And, finally, both myself and Richard Alexander have received interesting scam emails, and tried to respond to them in a fun way.