Russell Tomes was a longtime attendee of the Christchurch Skeptics in the Pub, and a member of the NZ Skeptics committee. He's possibly best-known for his driving license, which featured him with a colander on his head.
The Britt Hermes Story
1 August 2019
Britt Hermes is a former naturopath who left her profession, and now works actively with the science community to educate the public on the realities and failings of naturopathy. She earned her naturopathy 'degree' at Bastyr University in 2011 and went on to complete a one-year naturopathic “residency” at a private clinic in Seattle. After a few years of practising naturopathy in Arizona and around the US, she writes that she retired from her profession with a bang, and now lives in Germany, where she is currently a doctoral student at Kiel University.
A Disturbing Evening Of Woo And Emotional Upset
1 May 2019
In late March, representatives from NZ Skeptics attended an evening session of 'Psychic Healing' in Christchurch, as performed by so-called 'psychic-healer', Jeanette Wilson. NZ Skeptics Society was formed in part to examine and counter this sort of ridiculous woo, so we felt it was important to investigate and report on the sort of depths to which woo-sters will go.
NZ Skeptics investigate Dowsing!
1 May 2019
In early January 2019, NZ Skeptics were alerted by an eagle-eyed supporter in Wellington to the almost unbelievable sight of a city-infrastructure employee apparently dowsing for water pipes on Willis Street! The employee was clearly wearing a 'Downer NZ' hi-vis jacket. Downer is an infrastructure company contracted by Wellington Water, the arm of the Wellington City Council which is responsible for maintaining the city's water system as a whole. Initially, we contacted the Wellington City Council, and were told they knew nothing about the dowsing. Our phone number was passed onto Downer, who contacted us, and seemed pleased to field enquiries which appeared to be other than complaints about noise. Downer eventually confirmed that the person really was an employee, and that they were indeed 'dowsing' for water pipes!