Jess Macfarlane

I like to sum up my style as a combination of brevity and rambling. This time the newsletter will be of the former persuasion. Jess Macfarlane ... (25 words)

Late last year we were contacted by Sina Nasiri, who had written a heart-felt article about his journey to atheism while growing up in Iran. His article explored the risky business of finding people ... (180 words)

In a world where for some 2021 is already giving 2020 a run for its money, I'm trying to appreciate my freedoms. That includes the freedom to relax, drink cocktails and enjoy the balmy weather, and ... (57 words)

There were many false claims made on 14th January, by Billy Te Kahika and his supporters outside the Beehive in Wellington. The most dangerous claim was that Covid-19 is no more deadly than the flu ... (264 words)

In a win for skeptics everywhere, On 11 January 2021, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) in the U.K. moved to suspend accreditation of the Society of Homeopaths (SoH), because they found that ... (239 words)

The author of my Bible – The Vagina Bible, Gynaecologist, columnist and author Dr. Jen Gunter was on Twitter recently, again, to educate people about how a vagina is able to self-clean, without any ... (258 words)

What day is it? Is it still 2020? Damn. Jess Macfarlane. ... (10 words)

What's the harm in viral conspiracy theories? This bbc.co.uk blog investigated the people who had been affected by and involved in the spread of misinformation in 2020. The piece touches on ... (167 words)

Dr. Siouxsie Wiles wrote on twitter recently about a NZ Herald article which wondered if New Zealand's response to the pandemic was an overreaction. While pointing out that she hadn't read the ... (299 words)

In the very first verse of The Grinch, we learn that the Grinch hated Christmas, and then Dr. Seuss writes “Now please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason”. My young self always wondered ... (387 words)

In other news, Australian ex-celebrity chef Pete Evans has finally been kicked off Facebook for spreading conspiracy theories about Covid-19. He had previously been fined $25,000 for trying to sell a ... (181 words)

It's been a very busy few weeks for me of Birthdays, training, events, and Christmas tree decoration. My irrational rage at people who erect festive trinket dust collectors before December 1st has ... (55 words)

Business insider finds that YouTube's algorithms are still sucking people deep down into whirlpools of misinformation, however, anti-vaccination messages aren't among those messages. Unfortunately, ... (206 words)

Scoop.co.nz published a survey looking at New Zealanders perceptions of misinformation. One finding was “The majority of New Zealanders surveyed agree that disinformation has the ability to greatly ... (77 words)

The ABC News website published a story about a keto pill scam using a famous (in Australia) NZ born TV Doctor (Dr Brad McKay) to promote their nonsense without his knowledge. Dr McKay was not happy ... (209 words)

Understanding marketing tactics is a good way to learn how to be more skeptical about them. Knowledge can help you take off that wool you didn't know had been pulled over your eyes, and see the truth ... (313 words)

It was show weekend here in Canterbury. Another long weekend to squander in the garden and pottering about the house. I've also been thinking about why on the Xbox game Assassin's Creed Valhalla my ... (94 words)

Good news! We have found someone who has a copy of the video (VHS tape) taken of James Randi speaking at Canterbury University back in 1993. Next steps will be to check if it's good to digitise, and ... (51 words)

In Homeopathy news, Edzard Ernst, retired academic physician and specialist in complementary and alternative medicine (and skeptic hero) has created a “challenge for all homeopaths of the world”. In ... (263 words)

Climate change denial is a big topic among skeptics. It is the NZ Skeptics Society view that the science is in, burning fossil fuels and releasing the carbon captured in those fuels into the ... (200 words)

I've been binging on Netflix again and am looking forward to the next series of Ratched, a psychological thriller based on a character from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a book by Ken Kesey. Be ... (262 words)

On 6th November this year, after the US president used the word ‘hereby' to claim, without any evidence whatsoever, that he had won the state of Michigan in the US election, NZ Skeptics thought, to ... (260 words)