NZ Skeptics Articles

Midwinter Musings

7th July 2025

I had a fun time this weekend with friends coming over to my house to celebrate Christmas. No, this email hasn’t been delayed six months, or arrived from the future - it’s July, not December. Like me, most of the friends that came over on the weekend are from the Northern hemisphere, and there’s something that just feels right about having a second Christmas celebration every year when the weather’s cold and miserable, just like it was in the “good old days”. We eat brussels sprouts and roast potatoes, drink mulled wine, and open presents - all while the TV plays YouTube videos with cheesy Christmas songs as the audio track and logs burning on an open fire as the video track. For one of our few Southern hemisphere guests, Aaron, not only is this mid-year “Midwinter Christmas” an alien idea, but he also never celebrated the usual December 25th Christmas when he was growing up. This is because he was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness, and they famously avoid celebrating events like Christmas, Easter and birthdays. I met Aaron through the NZ Humanists a while after he’d “faded” from the organisation, and it’s been great to be there to see him find his feet and move on with his life since then.

I mention Aaron because he’s written the first article in this issue of our newsletter, talking about a fun experiment he ran a few years ago seeing if myself and some friends could differentiate between a selection of diet colas. Being involved in a blind experiment, where we didn’t know which drink was which, was fascinating to me as a practical example of why blinding is important, and how much of our confidence in what we know is assumed, and at times can be unfounded. So, to try and explain this, I’ve attempted to write about what I learned from this experiment in my own article.

Bronwyn has done the work I should have done for my Ringing Cedars article a couple of issues ago, looking into whether this weird Russian “Anastasianism” group has made inroads into New Zealand. I’ve dug up the bones of a complaint I made to the ASA almost 10 years ago - a complaint that was disappointing not so much because of the fact that I lost (and then lost again in the appeal), but more because of what I learned from MedSafe about some of the bad decisions that were made back in 1981 when the Medicines Act came into force. And finally Bronwyn has looked into some of the weird and wonderful legal implications of cryonics and the ownership of dead bodies. One of the many things I learned from her article is that burial at sea is legal, which is great to know as I really like the idea of my dead body being disposed of in this way - no fuss, just unceremoniously dumped into the ocean.

Mark Honeychurch

Diet Coke Blind Test

Aaron Davies - 7 July 2025

Diet Coke Blind Test

My quest for finding and reviewing the cheapest products possible has taken an interesting turn. This time I roped in a group of friends to tackle a twist on the Pepsi challenge - testing an array of sugar free cola beverages, seeing what comes out on top and if the no-name brands can stand up to the titans.

Over-confidence and Cola

Mark Honeychurch - 7 July 2025

The article from Aaron Davies about blind testing diet colas is a really interesting one for me. As a little background info for you, Aaron is an ex Jehovah's Witness and was a NZ Skeptics committee member a few years ago. In the article I'm the “Mark” mentioned in the testing. So, if you've read the article already, you'll know that when challenged with picking out my favoured beverage, Diet Coke, from a line-up of identical looking drinks in identical looking cups, I successfully identified the Diet Coke.

Ringing Cedars in New Zealand?

Bronwyn Rideout - 7 July 2025

Ringing Cedars in New Zealand?

In the June 9th edition of the newsletter, Mark wrote about the Russian right-wing new religious movement called Anastasianism, or the Ringing Cedars. I won't retread what he and the fairly detailed Wikipedia page cover, but I'm here to report that, despite Mark's hopes, Anastasianism is not isolated to the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn; its adherents and admirers can be found throughout New Zealand.

Grandfathered Homeopathy

Mark Honeychurch - 7 July 2025

Grandfathered Homeopathy

Nearly a decade ago, I was in a local pharmacy and noticed that they had a flyer for a Weleda product that was making some pretty strong claims.

A brief history of immortality: 80 years of Cryonics Part 3

Bronwyn Rideout - 7 July 2025

A brief history of immortality: 80 years of Cryonics Part 3

While I remain unconvinced by the premise of cryonics, I've come away with the impression that most cryonics companies currently in operation have protocols that enable the ethical treatment of family members caught unawares by their loved one's unorthodox final wishes. In one Alcor case study, staff were reported as telling one family that the condition of their daughter's body made it hard to justify proceeding with suspension, as the cooling and freezing process would exacerbate the damage to the brain caused by autopsy and transport delays. While this should be a given, I think many skeptics will agree that when it comes to fringe and pseudoscientific enterprises, the bar for decency is all too often on the floor. However, the aftermath of the Chatsworth incident (in which 9 patients thawed out) revealed that such protocols really benefit the companies. It ensures that the majority of their customers are prepared, true believers.