After some false starts over the past three years, I finally had the opportunity to attend a Gnostic Mass. As far as Occult/Esoteric groups go, the Gnostic Mass is one of, if not THE, most accessible ... (1695 words)

Since the recent launch of Liz Gunn's new political party, NZ Loyal, I've been loyally watching all of her new party political videos, where she's been laying out her ideas for how she will run the ... (1449 words)

Back in November last year, I wrote a critique of a Safe ICT questionnaire I picked up at the Go Green expo. We recently received a copy of Safe ICT's most recent newsletter where they responded to ... (3329 words)

It's been a little while since I've checked in on the antics of the Voices for Freedom bunch, but, checking my email I have set up to monitor their comms, and from others who do the same, there's ... (1318 words)

Most kiwis will be aware that it's election year, with the general election only a few months away, scheduled for Saturday 14th October. Now, since NZ Skeptics is a charity we're definitely not in ... (610 words)

I've already discussed in my previous articles about the Global Flourishing, or GloFlo/∑±, movement. A few months ago I joined this group, which was claiming to be rationalist and have the answers ... (2505 words)

James Brown I read Fake Believe by Dylan Reeve earlier this year, and intended to review it at the time for the newsletter. But typically for me, life got in the way and I never got around to ... (506 words)

Okay, this one has me stumped, so I'm looking for some help. Robin Capper, from the Auckland Skeptics in the Pub group, messaged us recently to ask about a weird thing he'd seen on Google maps ... (524 words)

In part 2 of this study into the secretive group most commonly known as the Two-by-Twos (TBT), I'll give an overview of the current state of the sect and the numerous controversies it has faced in ... (1582 words)

As a reminder of what we covered in my last article on the Global Flourishing movement, also called ∑±, it's a new group setup in Auckland recently by a member of the New Zealand Association of ... (3109 words)

Recently on facebook a friend posted “Kambo, My first ceremony…” or some such, with an attached photo. Until then I'd not heard of this thing, but it seems it's been around in NZ at least since 2016. ... (660 words)

Last Sunday evening, my wife and I had the pleasure of attending the world premiere of Ms. Information at the Auckland International Film Festival. OK, that sounds a little more grandiose than it ... (690 words)

As I've commented in previous issues of the newsletter, I listen to the excellent podcast Be Reasonable, hosted by Michael Marshall (Marsh, as he's colloquially known). In the latest episode (#083, ... (1584 words)

Source| William Irvine (Center) and early followers The TL;DR version of this story is that the Two-by-Twos (TBT) is an international Christian home church movement of the protestant kind founded in ... (2324 words)

In no way was I properly attired for a prolonged counter protest. In fact, I was supposed to be all cozied up in the venue, catered with weak coffee and dry sandwiches, listening to Batchelor perform ... (908 words)

On 18 July 2023, a squad of undercover skeptics attended one of Julian Batchelor's “Stop Co-Governance” rallies. The evening proved dramatic. We passed through a gauntlet of counter-protesters to ... (1234 words)

Eastern Lightning began in 1991 as an offshoot of a Protestant church in Henan, China. In the late 80s and early 90s, other small independent Christian sects were sprouting up all over China that ... (1882 words)

When we first arrived at Julian Batchelor's Stop Co-Governance talk, I was stopped at the door. The attendant blocked the doorway and asked why I was there. I was flustered and momentarily forgot the ... (1808 words)

When I last wrote about Eastern Lightning, the strange Chinese cult I joined at the beginning of this year, I celebrated the fact that I had managed to get my hands on a couple of copies of one of ... (3482 words)

So, I'm a Diet Coke drinker. I don't drink hot drinks, and never have for my whole life. At least from my teenage years, when hot drinks were introduced in the form of tea, I always found them too ... (674 words)

As I mentioned in my introduction, my wife Susan and I have been on a month-long holiday in the US and Canada. I thought I'd give a few of the highlights which relate to skepticism that we ... (2198 words)

As I talked about in my introduction, I managed to catch an episode of Black Mirror on Netflix - an episode titled Joan is Awful. I'm going to discuss various plot elements, so SPOILER ALERT! In the ... (720 words)

Source | Douglas Metcalf The goings on of the late “Bishop” Douglas Metcalf and the Full Gospel Mission/God Squad/Camp David have been on my list to profile for awhile. When I'm able to steer the ... (3471 words)

Max, one of our regular podcast listeners, messaged us to let us know that Groundswell NZ has recently sponsored a visit by climate denier Dr Tom Sheahen. Groundswell, as many people will be aware of ... (944 words)

Dan Ryan wrote an article a few weeks ago about our visit to a Freedoms NZ event, where Brian and Hannah Tamaki, Sue Grey and others extolled the virtues of their new umbrella political party. ... (955 words)

Back in early 2021, Paul (I won't give his last name), a member of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists in Auckland - known as the NZARH, or just the Rationalists - was entrusted ... (2167 words)

It's been a couple of weeks since the final episode of this season's (!!) Sex.Life podcast aired with a less than revealing Q&A. The poor folks at the Culty Conversations facebook page have had ... (1445 words)

Music is an amazing phenomenon. It's something probably every neurotypical person feels connected to. You rarely hear someone say “I hate music” or “that person hates music” and, if you do, I suspect ... (1581 words)

When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time hanging around at my best friend's house. His family were committed Christians, and I was a young atheist. This was a time before I converted to ... (2089 words)

About 10 years ago a friend asked me about binaural beats. I had to admit at the time that I was oblivious, and had never heard of them. He proceeded to describe a fun audio effect, one that only ... (1372 words)

As a skeptic I love a good mystery - the kind of puzzle that Arthur C Clarke would write a book or make a TV show about. A couple of weeks ago I found a set of YouTube videos about a contrived ... (919 words)

For every Bill Gothard who terrorises his followers into believing that music with a fast beat will bring them closer to the devil, there is a Sri Chinmoy who is driven to play music, albeit ... (1664 words)

I was in JB HiFi the other day and noticed that vinyl records have made a comeback. There were rows and rows of new releases on vinyl LP, selling for between $50 and $60 a piece. It reminded me of an ... (1178 words)

After the legal troubles and tabloid journalism of the 1980s, as I documented in my last article about ZAP, the furor around ZAP died down to barely a whisper. While the group claimed membership in ... (1155 words)

Reading some of the latest research on chronic pain management led me down a rabbit hole of further reading, and the discovery of just how damn weird and counterintuitive pain is. I can totally see ... (1475 words)

Amazon Prime released a 4-part docu series titled Shiny Happy People on June 2nd, 2023. If you are of a certain age, you can hear this image No, it's not about REM. Although you may want to use that ... (3692 words)

Al Blenney Following on from my last article, I decided to see if I could ferret out more “light workers” in New Zealand – the sort of people who worship Trump, and who believe the golden age is ... (2587 words)

I received a text from radio host Graeme Hill the other day, alerting me to a Newshub Nation piece on UAPs (Unidentified Aerial/Anomalous Phenomena) - the new, more “serious” name for UFOs. In the 10 ... (1691 words)

Inside Freedom NZ's Bizarre Gathering of Outlandish Ideas A group of skeptical friends (Bronwyn Rideout, Mark Honeychurch and Tim Atkin) invited me to attend a political event, the “Take Back Your ... (1876 words)

Bronwyn suggested I do a bit of psychology myth-busting. So here goes. There are so many I could write a book, so I've picked five. You will notice I haven't included any that relate to actual mental ... (891 words)

In last week's newsletter, I set as best of a scene as I could with regards to who John Dalhoff/Ultimate was up to the early years of ZAP. In short, Dalhoff was the only son in a very wealthy ... (3920 words)

A few weeks back I published an item that reviewed the book A Manual for Creating Atheists, by Peter Boghossian. In that item, I added a note that I was hesitant to recommend Peter Boghossian to ... (530 words)

No doubt everybody knows about the news of late last week about the indictment of former US president Donald Trump on various federal charges relating to his wilful retention of classified documents, ... (702 words)

The last time I wrote the newsletter, I announced our NZ Skeptics conference happening in Dunedin on the weekend of 24th - 26th November, at Taito Otago Settlers Museum. We can now reveal that, in ... (186 words)

John Dalhoff and the Zenith Applied Philosophy (Z.A.P), Part 1 The further I explore the rabbit hole of fringe groups, the more I find out about the kiwis who were a large part of the fabric of these ... (1759 words)

We've ragged on “apostle” Brian Tamaki many times in the past, but this week has seen a new crusade emerge. Brian's co-leader of a new political party Freedoms NZ, along with another long-time topic ... (361 words)

The 2023 remake of The Little Mermaid, recently released in cinemas, has sparked significant controversy and divided opinions on social media platforms. One particular point of contention revolves ... (854 words)

On the 26th of May Elon Musk's brain chip firm, Neuralink, announced that they had received FDA approval to launch their first in-human clinical study of a brain implanted device. This is just after ... (1703 words)

Today I'd like to bring something slightly different to this august newsletter, by discussing crank economics - something that exists in abundance, but can be a little difficult to discuss in venues ... (1070 words)

“An auditor and client using an E-Meter”, or the longest running stitch up in New Zealand History - you decide. The Beginnings of Scientology: Organisational Flux Throughout the 1940s, L. Ron ... (3229 words)

In the past, we've covered the Disinformation Dozen - a group of twelve people internationally who were/are responsible for promoting a lot of mis- and disinformation, who rose to particular ... (1073 words)

As many readers will know, NZ Skeptics hold an annual conference. We hold these in various locations around the country, and this year we're holding it in Dunedin. The dates will be November 24th - ... (198 words)

You'd have to have been living under a rock to not have noticed the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) technology recently. It seems that hardly a day goes by without some new announcement about ... (960 words)

By Al Blenney Sierra Roberts is a New Zealand-based ambassador for the Galactic Federation of Light. She is a dedicated “light worker”, committed to helping humanity ascend from a 3-dimensional ... (1230 words)

Having published Al Blenney's article a few weeks ago about a local “School of Prophets”, and then talking with him on our podcast about how there are several groups in New Zealand that promote ... (1457 words)

Because it has been a hot second since I wrote about Highden/ISTA, I thought it was time to provide an update on what's been happening since RNZ published their piece on Sacred Sexuality in October ... (1826 words)

It all started with an email: Dear Mark, I was so pleased to hear on your latest podcast that you are interested in becoming a scrapbooker and/or card maker! It's a great way to preserve your ... (2527 words)

Book review - by Paul Docherty A Manual for Creating Atheists, Peter Boghossian, 2013, Pitchstone Press. Peter Boghossian, a former philosophy professor, has created a toolkit for how to have ... (617 words)

Sorry, but I'm going to write again about Tesla cars… It's been reported fairly widely on various news sites (here, here, and here, for example), that Tesla has been forced to recall over a million ... (563 words)

Part 2 This week, we will look at how Franklin Jones led his followers through to the new millennium (including the legal tumult of the 80s), the New Zealand side of the story, and where the group ... (2908 words)

As I mentioned in my introduction, this week I was interviewed about superstitions on the RNZ Nights programme. You can listen to the item here. What prompted this discussion of superstitions was ... (718 words)

Having been a member for many years, I think it is about time that I made a confession, which I am told is good for the soul even if it is not very good for my continued membership. I am a committed ... (334 words)

Part 1 In the book that keeps on giving (to me at least), Robert Ellwood's Islands of the Dawn: The Story of Alternative Spirituality in New Zealand includes a two paragraph profile on the Johannine ... (2258 words)

I wrote an article a couple of years ago about a new group based on the Sovereign Citizen (or SovCit) movement. The group was planning to take ownership of Abel Tasman national park, using the ... (1207 words)

Aleh Tsyvinski is a professor of economics at Yale who has been researching Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the last few years, in a bid to understand where the currencies sit within an ... (1286 words)

If only it was that simple. Curiosity is part of the human condition, and we are always seeking out information. We devour it. But the world is overflowing with information, and it is really hard to ... (1179 words)

What is it? The ketogenic (keto) diet is based on reducing carbohydrate intake drastically, usually to less than 50g a day, and increasing protein and particularly fat intake. This diet creates a ... (1141 words)

Part 2 Since publishing Part 1 last week, I've had the opportunity to do further investigating into the backgrounds of Paul Foster Case and Ann Davies. Some parts became verifiable facts, while ... (3276 words)

Part 1 Builders of the Adytum, or BotA, is a Western Mystery School that teaches esoteric psychology, tarot, Qabalah, and other new age practices via correspondence. It was established in the United ... (2094 words)

I'm still a member of the Eastern Lightning, aka the Church of Almighty God religion, along with Mark Honeychurch, and it has been a fascinating experience learning how this religion ticks. We ... (1979 words)

Jonny Grady, a long-time committee member, sent an image he'd taken of a “UFO” to the committee last week: Sadly he accompanied the image with a link offering a mundane explanation for this ... (174 words)

Al Blenney The School of Prophets Aotearoa has this year's annual training school on 4th-6th May in Christchurch, and the fees are very reasonable ($180) - although you have to pay for dinners and ... (2518 words)

A New Zealand focused anti-vaccine “documentary” has recently been released, called Silenced. It focuses on broadcaster Peter Williams, as well as ex-GP Anne O'Reilly and sociologist Jodie Bruning, ... (364 words)

The last time I wrote my newsletter, I wrote about the NZ Skeptics $100K challenge. We'd just launched it, in conjunction with the NZARH (New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists), who ... (1249 words)

An unjolly look at a company that broadcasts right-wing, anti-vax, and transphobic advertisements in major NZ cities Jolly Billboards is an NZ media company that was incorporated on October 20, 2020 ... (1462 words)

Of late I've been seeing some very scammy advertising online for a product that makes astounding weight loss claims. Yes, I know, there are a ton of them out there! One of the things I enjoy doing is ... (806 words)

In my previous articles about Eastern Lightning, the Chinese cult group that I've joined to get an insight into how they operate, I've talked about: the message they're spreading, that God has ... (3391 words)

Despite my regular attempts to unsubscribe from some of the more egregious nonsense I receive in my email, spam still gets through - at this point it seems there's a mailing list that I signed up to ... (1576 words)

It has been a while since I wrote about an MLM properly and, in some ways, Prüvit is both the best and worst MLM to dip into. The health and wellness claims it makes are of great interest to ... (2718 words)

Bronwyn, being the troll that she is, asked if I'd be writing about EV fires this week, after seeing news articles, here and here posted about a fire on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, which involved an ... (600 words)

At the beginning of this month, we launched our $100K paranormal challenge. The idea is that if somebody can demonstrate a paranormal ability or product, they get to claim the $100,000. Where is the ... (1062 words)

Al Blenney Do you think that QAnon is not ambitious enough in its scope? Then you need NESARA. The National Economic Security and Recovery Act (NESARA) was a set of economic reforms for the United ... (2607 words)

Part 4 - Ray Comfort - Part 2 Source | Ray Comfort preaching in Hawaii in 1985 Ray Comfort's life seems quite blessed. His office in Regent Street survived a fire; footage confiscated from Comfort ... (2205 words)

Part 4: Ray Comfort Finally, we've reached the end of this series profiling major evangelical and fundamentalist Christians and their connection to New Zealand, whether they are home grown (like ... (2310 words)

In my last two articles about Eastern Lightning, I've documented both the central tenets of the religion that they have been trying to teach New Zealanders over the last few months in their Level 1 ... (2651 words)

It's only been a couple of weeks since the closing of the Health Committee accepting submissions on their Therapeutic Products Bill consultation, but the committee have already been running follow-up ... (3100 words)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my experience of joining the Eastern Lightning group, a Chinese Christian sect that is currently trying to expand through spamming New Zealanders on Facebook, and ... (2504 words)

Part 3: Geoff Botkin, continued Due to circumstances outside of my control, the edition of the newsletter in which Part 1 was published had to be removed from MailChimp - there were issues with a ... (2298 words)

How the Labour government gave $90,000 to a “ghostbuster” When we started the NZ Skeptics Calendar project last year, the first place Mark Honeychurch and I turned to was our own archive. ... (1604 words)

I've written about Voices for Freedom many times in the past. For review, they're a group of anti-vaxxers and “freedom” lovers and generally anti-government agitators. They started back in 2020 ... (680 words)

By Bronwyn Rideout Due to a special request by chair Craig, I have delayed part 2 of my article on Geoff Botkin to write about a member of the Duggar family. I previously referenced the Duggar family ... (1437 words)

By Katrina Borthwick This is about my unexpected adventure in skepticism a very long time ago in a galaxy not so far away. So winding the clock back to around September 2011, I was a regular ... (962 words)

There's been a recent hubbub around the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of infectious diseases, with Covid being the most obvious one. Back at the end of January, the Cochrane Library (also ... (884 words)

Dear Mr Hall, I visited your admirable monument to early astronomy today as one of a party. You may remember that someone asked if you could source your comment that at some time since Christianity ... (1319 words)

I received a company wide email at work recently from a colleague, where they were recommending an app to help people concentrate during work hours by minimising distractions. What caught my eye, ... (451 words)

by Byron Clark Review by Sara Passmore Having been a follower of Byron Clark since I became aware of his work exploring Aotearoa New Zealand's far-right and alt-right extremism landscape, I have had ... (329 words)

In late January this year, committee member Katrina Borthwick messaged our NZ Skeptics committee chat channel about a spam message she received on Facebook inviting her to join a fellowship meeting: ... (4403 words)

Have you ever received spam messages from an obscure Christian church on Facebook? I did, and it led me down a rabbit hole into the mysterious world of Eastern Lightning. I started investigating ... (796 words)

First, a disclaimer. The Church of Almighty God (全能神教会) aka Eastern Lightning (东方闪电; EL) has made a big enemy out of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).While it initially avoided the official ... (2910 words)

Last Friday I attended a service for Robert Woolf. Long time members of NZ Skeptics would recognise Robert's name as a committee member, and conference attendee. He also attended Skeptics in the Pub ... (815 words)

We've written about Liz Gunn before. For a refresher, she's a former lawyer, then broadcaster/presenter on Television New Zealand (Breakfast and Good Morning shows) and Radio New Zealand. She ... (897 words)

If you live in Aotearoa/New Zealand, which most of our readers do, it's time for the 5 yearly census. The census papers have been delivered by mail - I received mine a few days ago. But most people ... (547 words)

We've been promoting making submissions to the Therapeutic Products Bill. The NZ Skeptics committee has met and put together its official submission, and I've put in a personal submission. We ... (96 words)

Part 3: Geoff Botkin - Part 1 Source | Geoff Botkin Geoff Botkin is a man with many titles, labels, and accolades you could attach to his name. With a significant portion of his career lost to the ... (2382 words)

P-hacking is a data analysis technique that can be used to present patterns as statistically significant when there is really no underlying effect. It is a misuse of statistics and a ... (1077 words)

The proposed Therapeutic Products Bill is currently at the Select Committee stage in parliament, and the committee is looking for feedback via its submissions process. For the first time maybe since ... (1957 words)

The NZ Skeptic's committee has been busy working on our submission for the new Therapeutic Products Bill introduced last year. This new bill aims to regulate therapeutic products in New Zealand, ... (1395 words)

Part 2: Nancy Campbell Colin and Nancy Campbell If you listened to the February 8th episode of the Yeah…Nah Podcast, then this profile should not come as a surprise. If only because I gave spoilers ... (2641 words)

It's 12th February as I write this. Happy Darwin Day! (And, a day before my birthday) Darwin Day celebrates the birthday of Charles Darwin and is generally used to promote science and the ... (355 words)

I began my weekend on Friday night with a trip into the Auckland CBD to try to catch roving fundamentalist evangelical preacher Lincoln Russ. Russ has been popping up on my social media feeds for a ... (1888 words)

Part of the fun of being on the NZ Skeptics committee is that we get sent emails from folk with some “interesting” views. In many instances the emails we get are provocative trolling messages, or ... (1242 words)

Part 1: Bill Gothard Bill Gothard I was in 9th grade in Canada when Columbine occurred, and alongside that tragedy came a burst of energy in Christian youth culture that arrived to save us poor ... (1680 words)

No, I'm not talking Skynet here or robots overrunning the earth. I'm talking about the more subtle tools in the background that tend to do a bunch of boring administration. You probably haven't even ... (1220 words)

I was frustrated and disappointed last year when Samsung refused to repair my Note 20 Ultra 5G under warranty. Despite my efforts to fight for what I believed was a just cause, Samsung gave me the ... (2078 words)

As most readers will know, I live in Auckland, which has been subject to torrential rain this weekend, resulting in wide-spread flooding, and three people dead, so far. It was certainly a ... (466 words)

One of the most frequent questions I encounter, whether serious or not, is about driving an EV in the rain, or through a carwash. Of course, EVs are well built, and the normal expectation of driving ... (479 words)

Over the past couple of weeks, people have been reporting getting unsolicited messages via Facebook Messenger from various religious accounts. I got one myself, and thinking it was just ridiculous, ... (152 words)

By Holly Blackler For years, my hobby has been to walk the streets and collect up religious propaganda – most commonly, multicoloured ‘Free Tickets to Heaven'. Designed to catch the eye and trick ... (498 words)

This past week has been quite sad for me. We had to say goodbye to our dog Darwin. I hope you'll indulge me in some reflections on the experience. Darwin, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was named ... (579 words)

By Katrina Borthwick Henry VIII was the sixteenth century Tudor king famously known for having six wives with mainly scandalous fates - divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, and survived. It ... (1407 words)

The New Zealand connections to Hare Krishna offshoot the Science of Identity Foundation By Bronwyn Rideout Content warning: This article will include links to Rama Ranson's blogs which include ... (1414 words)

An article in Stuff yesterday, reprinted from the Telegraph, showcased the efforts of a scientist to bring statistics to bear on the problem of cryptids. Floe Foxen has supposedly written a couple of ... (852 words)

Never meet your heroes… or take them too seriously when they're speaking outside of their wheelhouse. I was listening to Steve Hassan speaking on a podcast recently, A Little Bit Culty - hosted by ... (1097 words)

Part 1: The New Zealand connection to Hare Krishna offshoot the Science of Identity Foundation. In his book, Islands of the Dawn: The story of alternative spiritualities in New Zealand, Robert ... (2269 words)

By Al Blenney “All Scotsmen like whusky!” “Jock's a Scotsman, and he doesna' like whusky.” “Aye, but then he's nae true Scotsman” The “No true Scotsman” gambit is an attempt to make an unwanted ... (716 words)

By Bronwyn Rideout Source| Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar As Mark and I continue to chip away at the NZ Skeptical Calendar project, my search for fringe groups in the Papers Past database introduced me to ... (1707 words)

Today I satisfied one of my pleasures - watching horror movies - and viewed M3GAN (obviously pronounced Megan) which opened late last week. I'd categorise the movie as science-fiction horror with a ... (386 words)

There's a new bill being introduced to parliament that is intended to replace our Medicines Act 1981 and the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985. The bill is the Therapeutic Products Bill (TPB) and ... (2741 words)

Skeptics, rationalists, atheists, freethinkers and other secular folk often encounter an annoying rhetorical device when discussing politics, ethics or history with religious people. If conversation ... (625 words)

It was a relatively well known practice in WW2 (and possibly before) that if your torch/flashlight battery was getting a little flat, a few quick touches to a vehicle battery would restore a fair bit ... (550 words)

To restate the question in a way that may make more sense to some, does the new conversational Artificial Intelligence chat bot from OpenAI qualify as an Artificial General Intelligence, able to ... (1949 words)

I spend a lot of time on Youtube and I often opine, as others in the anti-MLM sphere do, that the Youtube algorithm loves to show me ads that are not reflective of my viewing habits. I've seen more ... (1400 words)

In the good news department, Billy Te Kahika and Vinny Eastwood, professional conspiracy theory grifters, who organised protests during the Covid lockdowns in August last year, have now been found ... (78 words)

Last Monday (12th December) there was a tragic incident in Wieambilla, Queensland, leaving six people shot dead. Four young police officers were attending the property for a routine matter (the exact ... (694 words)

It's been a while since I've written about the former president of the US, Donald J Trump, but he's recently announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections, likely in an attempt to ... (439 words)

By Al Blenney Until relatively recently Christian protestants had no problems with abortion. The only reference to it in the Christian Bible indicates that an abortion should be attempted if a woman ... (542 words)

You would have to have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks to not have heard about the case of the 4 month old baby at Starship Hospital needing heart surgery and, as part of that, ... (857 words)

At this very moment, there is a war going on in my body. It is a war of unimaginable scale, with billions of participants. It is a war that has been going on, not just in my body but in the body of ... (651 words)

I have a friend who I've written about before who, although she's always had pseudoscientific ideas (like giving her children homeopathic remedies), since the pandemic has fallen down the rabbit hole ... (1496 words)

I, along with some other electric vehicle enthusiasts, attended the Wai Wheels Featherston fundraising event for our son's school. There were 7 electric cars; a Tesla 3 Performance, a Tesla X, two ... (1333 words)

Recently I received an email that purported to be from the anti-virus company Norton that was blatantly a scam, but I decided to follow through as much as I could to see what the scammers were trying ... (1618 words)

Our year in NZ Skeptical History is still moving along, with the goal of getting it finished (or as close as possible) by the end of 2022. December 5th to December 11th is surprisingly full of ... (237 words)

YouTube creators revolt against Established Titles sponsorship Back in the distant past of … checks calendar… March 2022, I first wrote of a long running scheme of Scottish souvenir plots. In brief, ... (1075 words)

Cottagecore, but make it alt-right In her “purest form”, a traditional wife (or the more hashtaggable Tradwife) is a woman who takes a traditional gender role in their marriage and household, and ... (784 words)

The NZ Skeptics' Bravo and Bent-Spoon awards 2022 By Jonny Grady 2022 has been a hell of a year on the skeptical front. Following on from a year of growing COVID-19 vaccination conspiracy theories, ... (1513 words)

An atheist crashes the Franklin Graham gig in Wellington, New Zealand. This article was written by one of our conference attendees. He blogs at Atheist Addiction. If you like his work, please visit ... (6152 words)

On Wednesday evening I attended the Wellington leg of Franklin Graham's God Loves You tour at the TSB Arena. If the name sounds familiar, it's probably because Franklin is the son of Billy Graham, ... (1655 words)

Craig wrote last week about his experience at the Auckland Go Green Expo, and I also mentioned that myself and Bronwyn, along with Daniel Ryan, attended the Wellington Go Green Expo a couple of weeks ... (1723 words)

Many skeptics will be familiar with the practice of some Christian fundamentalists to stand on street corners warning the public of their impending doom in hell should they fail to repent and believe ... (447 words)

Last week we found out about a new short documentary that has been produced - Believing is Seeing. The documentary was made by Loading Docs, who we've featured before, having made a short ... (175 words)

This past weekend I visited the Go Green Expo, which is a show with the general theme of “green” or being ecologically mindful. Such things are usually a magnet for companies promoting bogus products ... (864 words)

As I am in the early- to middle-part of my COVID infection, I've decided that my contribution this week is essentially a redirection to a New York Times Opinion piece by Dr. Elisabeth Bik. Dr. Bik is ... (790 words)

Ok, the title doesn't really reflect this article as you think it does… On Facebook recently a member posted a comment about being sick of hearing the word “woke”. It generated more responses than ... (585 words)

I went for my walk a different way recently and came across a sign advertising the services of an Accredited Love Teacher offering “Loving angels close to you”. Thinking that sounded promising, if ... (939 words)

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Upper Hutt “Mind, Body, Spirit” Fair with Bronwyn, as well as Skeptics in the Pub regulars Alexander and Tim. We were there to gawk at the weird and wonderful ... (694 words)

Skeptic Steven Novella recently published an interesting open letter to cranks. In it he speaks in a very forthright, honest way about people who email him and pronounce that they have figured out ... (675 words)

It seems like the answer should be pretty simple - Anne Frank, of course. But sadly not everyone seems to accept this. After a brief hiatus, I've returned to watching the god-awful series Europa, a ... (1107 words)

In depressing (but expected) news this week, it seems that it's highly unlikely we'll be able to constrain global warming to 1.5C, and that we're on a path of irreversible damage to the climate which ... (339 words)

Our annual NZ Skeptics Conference, being held in Wellington on 25th - 27th November is just weeks away now. We've got some great speakers, plus the opportunity to spend time with like-minded people. ... (65 words)

The last time I wrote about Highden Temple, I noted that Bruce Lyon had been able to escape public and media scrutiny despite Highden's association with the controversial International School of the ... (523 words)

This week the social media landscape changed. Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter, after a rather interesting historical timeline around the deal: Back in April, he revealed he was the ... (770 words)

Happy Halloween! Today, as this newsletter goes out, it's officially the day of Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, though, as I write this, in my neighbourhood, children are expected at my door this ... (522 words)

No Nut November In just a few days a curious annual internet event will begin: No Nut November (NNN). For those not in the know, nutting is a colloquial term for a man ejaculating - and No Nut ... (1072 words)

A notorious religious group from South Korea called Shincheonji (also known as Mount Zion) has apparently been actively recruiting in Auckland recently. Shincheonji has a long history in New Zealand, ... (585 words)

The brilliant successes of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica inspired scholars in other fields to methodological contemplation. Newtonian physics emphasised, among other things, mathematical laws, ... (1699 words)

We've covered Alex Jones many times in the past. Alex Jones is a fairly well-known far-right radio show host and conspiracy theorist. Most skeptics will be aware of his InfoWars website, which ... (1255 words)

We've talked about the local body elections over the past couple of months, and now the results are in. Local freedom, anti-vax and conspiracy theory group Voices for Freedom tried to sway the ... (228 words)

How is the company surviving the 21st century? In Part 1, I hoped to have painted a picture of Dr. Bronner as an Ideas man above all else. Sure, he had the skills necessary to make a decent soap ... (922 words)

I'm encouraged by news from the Center for Inquiry (CFI), a skeptical organisation in the US. They are suing the CVS and Walmart pharmacies for their placement of homeopathic products alongside real ... (426 words)

Part 1: The myth, the man, the label Newsletter readers and podcast listeners have probably picked up by now that my errand run takes me into stores and up aisles that many skeptics wouldn't tread ... (1310 words)

This week brings a welcome decision from the Supreme Court, in a case that the NZ Skeptics have been keenly interested in since the original court case in the 1990s. I won't rehash the details of ... (1323 words)

In preparation for our next podcast episode, where we plan to talk about Bronwyn's articles on Dr Bronner, I watched a documentary the other day called Dr Bronner's Magic Soapbox. The documentary ... (1551 words)

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Hey, I know that there are some skeptics in Auckland. We're holding our first regular (monthly) Skeptics in the Pub this Tuesday night (4th October, 7pm) at Dice & Fork at Victoria Park Market. ... (46 words)

The NZ Skeptics Conference 2022 is being held in Wellington on the weekend of 26th and 27th of November. We'd love to see you there, in person. We've got some great speakers lined up, and it will be ... (60 words)

This past week has been replete with stories related to climate change. Firstly, there's Hurricane Ian which has wreaked havoc and destruction and loss of life in Florida most recently, but ... (645 words)

In my last newsletter I mentioned the local body elections which are currently underway. The elections have some candidates standing who are aligned with various “freedom” and anti-vax groups. The ... (169 words)

One of our readers from the other side of the world, a Kiwi living in Ireland has told us about a Destiny Church in the UK. Unfortunately the article is behind a paywall, but from what I've been ... (114 words)

On the 28th of April 2020 Dr. Yan Limeng, a virologist from China, arrived in the United States requesting asylum and claiming to have evidence that COVID-19 was deliberately engineered and released ... (1952 words)

In June, I wrote about controversial haircare MLM Monat. The MLM has long been dogged by accusations that its haircare products caused haircare and skin damage, and was the subject of multiple ... (1211 words)

In this day and age, with the internet as a handy tool, it doesn't take long for an offhand comment on Twitter or Facebook to become a rumour, and from there to mutate into a conspiracy. Sadly, much ... (2745 words)

Finally this week, I received my local body elections pack. I have the opportunity to vote for candidates for the Mayor of Auckland, and members of the Auckland Council, for a local board, and also a ... (264 words)

Source At-home testing is not a new concept. More than likely you or someone you know tests their blood sugar levels regularly and needs to treat a low blood sugar at some point. Home pregnancy and ... (859 words)

One of our skeptical operatives informed us of a Voices for Freedom flyer that's been turning up in mailboxes across the country. This one concerns masking. It seems that they're obsessed with mask ... (221 words)

So, as I've mentioned Mark, Bronwyn and I paid a visit to the Mormon Temple in Hamilton, or as it's more formally known, the temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The temple ... (1331 words)

How much would you pay to be led in a chant before drinking a bitter cup of cacao? $33? $48? $55? $200 for a virtual, 2 hr ceremony? Maybe you want to lift your game (and thicken your wallet) by ... (793 words)

In the latest of my weird and wonderful ideas for websites that are fun and a little quirky, I've recently put together a page that has one simple purpose - to help you choose which god you should ... (726 words)

For anyone who wants to groan about how bad our local press can be, there's an article from the Telegraph, reprinted by the Herald and titled "Scientists discover humans produce invisible aura of ... (759 words)

The condition Irlen Syndrome is a popular diagnosis for children with learning issues, and is described as a perceptual processing disorder rather than an optical problem. It has failed in rigorous ... (1299 words)

It's been a while since the Auckland skeptics met for an evening of socialising, but at long last there's an event happening this Friday. As Bronwyn and myself are hoping to be in Auckland on Friday ... (124 words)

I'm English by birth, and in my youth had something of an unusual connection to the British royal family because of where I grew up, the Isles of Scilly. The islands are owned by the Duchy of ... (775 words)

This last week has been pretty astounding on the topic of conspiracy theorists. When I last wrote the newsletter, I mentioned the Fire and Fury documentary and how it had riled up those behind the ... (579 words)

Popping up on my various social media feeds over the past year or so have been ads for “THE Interview”. I'm going to take a look at this and the movement behind it. “THE Interview” itself is an ... (1374 words)

Skeptics, I'm mad. I mean, look at these headlines Stuff.co.nz: The Tupperware Party is over NZ Herald: After half a century, Tupperware closes lid on NZ operation But yes, it is true. Tupperware, ... (545 words)

Back in the March 21, 2022 edition of the Skeptics Newsletter, I wrote about the scheme/scam of becoming a fake Scottish Lord (or Laird as the case may be). One of the new sales tactics is to take on ... (1015 words)

Work on the NZ Skeptical calendar (our attempt to find a New Zealand skeptical event for every day of the year) continues apace, with 346 individual events recorded and now only 140 days remaining to ... (711 words)

At The Society for Science Based Healthcare we believe that public health measures in New Zealand should have a clear basis in science and evidence, and we work to counter misinformation in New ... (2353 words)

On Tuesday, Freedoms and Rights Coalition members converged on Wellington for another protest about our “freedoms”, and of course I was there to see what was going on. The prelude to the protest was ... (1499 words)

And now that I've just written about Chantelle Baker, the latest news is that her page, where she shared a lot of her content, has been removed from Facebook for violating community standards. It's ... (173 words)

Last week Stuff Circuit, part of the Stuff media organisation, released their Fire and Fury documentary. The documentary is a slickly produced piece of journalism, looking at the rise of the ... (1136 words)

Back in April's newsletter, Craig talked about David Farrier's investigative work uncovering alleged harms that happened within Arise Church. The lead pastor and founder of Arise, John Cameron, ... (878 words)

So in a couple of months we're all going to have the opportunity of voting in the local body elections, for our city, district and regional councils. And in some areas, there are elections for local ... (684 words)

By which I mean I recommend watching a new documentary called “Gloriavale”, which focuses on the infamous religious group. I most definitely don't recommend converting to their religion and moving to ... (990 words)

How the jewel of the Manawatū became a modern-day mystery school and the controversy currently embroiling its association with the International School of the Temple Arts. Part 2 Before you read ... (4025 words)

One of the more controversial treatments the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) currently pays out for is acupuncture. This is controversial partly because of the lack of clinical evidence for ... (555 words)

NASA recently held a press teleconference where they announced that they will be investigating UAPs - Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. This is a new term being used instead of UFOs, given that UFO ... (1359 words)

Alex Jones has been sued by parents for his claims on his TV show that the Sandy Hook school massacre was faked by the government as a way to take away people's gun rights. These parents are suing ... (1147 words)

It's nice to occasionally be able to talk about nonsense outside of New Zealand. In this case, the Sydney Morning Herald recently printed - and then retracted - an article about a supposed new form ... (531 words)

How the jewel of the Manawatū became a modern-day mystery school, and the controversy currently embroiling its association with the International School of the Temple Arts. Highden Manor House ... (1742 words)

New Zealand introduced community water fluoridation (CWF) in the 1950s, expanded its coverage rapidly in the 60s, and has been relatively stable until recently. In the past, local authorities have ... (938 words)

I've always been interested in IQ tests and how they work. There's an interesting, and deep, conversation to be had about the issues with IQ tests. Without going into too much detail, although IQ ... (2192 words)

I've been interested in the mention of “12,000m tonnes of water” to be shipped out every day. The figure is clearly ridiculous, but it is interesting to think of the logistics if it was to be true. ... (437 words)

Over the last couple of weeks I've been watching a documentary series called Europa: The Last Battle. It covers the history of Jewish communities around the world, and of the rise of Hitler. It's ... (1163 words)

Online news outlet Vice reported recently about a growing problem of witches, psychics and tarot card readers having their online profiles copied as a way to steal their business. I also found an ... (552 words)

This past week has seen the alarming heat waves in Europe, with the UK seeing highest ever temperatures, exceeding 40C. Of course, it's hot in Europe, but the scary thing is that heat waves will ... (359 words)

Just a friendly reminder that the Covid pandemic is not over. We continue to see cases and an alarmingly high daily death rate, which had an all time high of 32 people dying one day last week. And ... (665 words)

Last week some of our media engaged in an attack on Dr Siouxsie Wiles. Siouxsie, with her iconic pink hair, has been a leading voice globally, but certainly here in NZ/Aotearoa for a sensible, ... (627 words)

I know my contributions tend to call back to the prehistoric time of 2002 to 2006, when I was completing my first of three (and in three years, fingers crossed, four) degrees. This time, rather than ... (1811 words)

Regular readers of our newsletter will have seen the “adverts” for our official podcast - Yeah... Nah!, which we record on a fortnightly basis. Mark, Bronwyn and I discuss recent skeptical topics, ... (688 words)

In 2016, I made an Advertising Standards Authority(ASA) complaint against Weleda Arnica Cream and other arnica products about their misleading health claims on HealthPost's website. The evidence for ... (355 words)

Curses, Inc | Tristan Elwell Has anyone noticed that NZ stoner supplies mainstay, Cosmic Corner, has been taking a more witchy route as of late? Increasing its stores of tarot cards, smudge sticks, ... (1195 words)

There's something about bracelets that seems to attract pseudoscience. In the past New Zealand companies have been named and shamed for selling amber teething bracelets and necklaces that are not ... (825 words)

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I went to parliament to pray with a group of Christians recently. Simeon Brown was the only MP at this event, and he asked us to pray for Three Waters. He said ... (820 words)

In my last newsletter, I put a call out for people to help with a project investigating pharmacies and the pseudoscientific products they had on their shelves. We got a good response, with several ... (148 words)

I regret to inform you that the psychics have won. They've clearly demonstrated their abilities and the $100,000 challenge at Puzzling World in Wanaka is now over. Oops… that's not quite accurate! ... (838 words)

As one of the oldest treatises on medical ethics, The Hippocratic Oath is understood to be a reflection of the beliefs and practices of the ancient Greek physicians for whom it was intended. The ... (2090 words)

If you've been around skeptical circles for a while, you'll have no doubt heard of the Georgia Guidestones - a granite monument that was constructed back in 1980 in a rural area in the US state of ... (974 words)

I got into a conversation with some people on Twitter over this past weekend, after commenting on an article about people overdosing on vitamin D. The article talked about a man who overdosed on ... (714 words)

Warning: The subject matter of this article may be distressing to some due to discussions about children, death, and handling of dead bodies. Source At Skepticon 2021 (our combined conference with ... (1347 words)

Last week Craig mentioned a website I've built recently - weak.link. I figured I should probably talk a little about what the site is, why we think it's needed, and how to use it. I'll also geek out ... (1509 words)

(A: when it's Family First) One of the ways that I monitor unskeptical groups is by signing up for their newsletters - at the moment I receive regular emails from Voices for Freedom, Scientology, ... (1110 words)

This weekend we saw the first official celebration and statutory holiday for the Māori new year - Matariki. Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars known as the Pleiades. We can see the ... (509 words)

This weekend I took a look at the FutureFit website. This site is designed to make people aware of their carbon footprint - the amount that their household is contributing to climate change through ... (403 words)

NZ Skeptics has been running a project that investigates products sold in pharmacies that are based on pseudoscience - you know the sort of stuff - homeopathy, and various herbal remedies with scant ... (128 words)

Last week it was announced that the US Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade - the landmark case from 1973 that protected the rights of pregnant people in the US to have abortions. The ruling set ... (725 words)

I like to keep an eye on some of the more weird and wacky conspiracy theorists in New Zealand, as well as some of the more dangerous ones - I'm not sure why, but it feels like a disproportionate ... (1112 words)

(but you wouldn't know it from the spree of hate crimes here in the land of the long, white cloud) On Friday, June 2nd 2022, homophobic and antisemetic slurs were grafittied on both sides of Glora of ... (687 words)

One of the types of AI that is progressing at speed at the moment, in places like Google's AI labs and at a company called OpenAI, is Natural Language Processing algorithms. These deep learning ... (1847 words)

On Friday night just over a week ago I went to a Save Our Children meeting. Now, most people will read that and think I've been a civic-minded citizen, going along to a charity meeting. Save Our ... (1022 words)

The title of this one's a mouthful, and it's an interesting one to pick apart - it includes some of my favourite technologies, one that I think is going to be an important part of our future and the ... (594 words)

Louise Wallace is a reality TV actor, most recently having appeared on The Real Housewives of Auckland - a show I've not seen, but the title of which puts me off immediately. She's also previously ... (741 words)

We've covered the Peter Ellis case before, and indeed, it was a particular focus of NZ Skeptics activity in the 1990s. For background, Peter Ellis was a childcare worker at the Christchurch Civic ... (567 words)

Website|Wikipedia|Facebook (AUS) Country of Origin: Doral, Florida, United States Year Founded: October 2014 Founded by: Luis and Rayner Urdaneta Year MLM established in New Zealand: Not established ... (1354 words)

I continue to monitor the emails sent out by the Voices for Freedom crowd. My reaction is usually a combination of disbelief and despair. My impression is that they're struggling to remain relevant. ... (643 words)

There are two theories about the nature of hypnosis – one that it is an altered state of consciousness (ASC) and the other that it isn't. Prof. Charles Spanos of Carlton University (Canada) conducted ... (1339 words)

I received an email last week with a stern warning: “Mark Honeychurch, STOP drinking water” The email continued: _Hello Mark Honeychurch, Don't drink another drop of water until you read this. New ... (1188 words)

Website | AUS/NZ website | No Wikipedia Page | Facebook (AUS/NZ| Country of Origin: Norway Year Founded: 1994 Founded by: Bjørn Nicolaisen Year MLM established in New Zealand: April 1st, 2015 ... (2102 words)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my visit to Counterspin's travelling roadshow (maybe circus is a better term?), but I figured that everyone might want some background - and an update on how their ... (1029 words)

I'd like to draw attention to the work done by Te Pūna Matatini. They have released an initial report on mis- and dis-information in Aotearoa New Zealand. Their website has a resources page with a ... (209 words)

Femtech, period trackers, and the threat to Roe V. Wade The Ishango Bone - photo by Joeykentin The Ishango bone, dated to at least 11,000 years ago, is considered one of the earliest examples of ... (1492 words)

It cannot have escaped anybody's notice that this week there was yet another mass shooting at a school in the USA - this time in Uvalde, Texas. There's been enough said in other places, and this will ... (337 words)

Over the past few months, I've been contacted a few times by one of our members sending information about Covid from the popular podcast TWiV - This Week in Virology. The podcast is hosted by Dr ... (769 words)

I watched a great video on YouTube the other day, the latest in a series of videos by Mark Rober where he uses glitter bombs to surprise scammers. His project started off using a device that targets ... (1130 words)

Accelerated Christian Education (known as A-C-E or ACE) is in the news, and for all the wrong reasons. ACE is a homeschooling curriculum from the US (Texas) which is accredited in New Zealand, and ... (1625 words)

Website | Wikipedia | Facebook (AUS/NZ) Country of Origin: Gilbert, Arizona, United States Year Founded: 2002 Founded by: Kathy Coover, Jim Coover, John Anderson Year MLM established in New Zealand: ... (2490 words)

Yesterday evening I attended an interesting Counterspin Media event in Wellington. Counterspin, for those not in the know, is an “alternative” media organisation in NZ run by Kelvyn Alp and Hannah ... (569 words)

Bill Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything, which I recently bought from a charity shop and have been reading before bed, contains a chapter on cosmology. Explaining the evidence for the Big ... (1169 words)

Late last week saw some carnage in crypto markets - dubbed the crypto crash. We've covered cryptocurrencies and their associated technologies, such as NFTs many times. We've previously written about ... (462 words)

I was interested to read an article about the unexpected death of babies. This used to be called Cot Death, but is now referred to as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). There's also a broader term ... (637 words)

Now for a bit of an amusing item. For some time, skeptical organisations around the world have offered prizes to people able to demonstrate paranormal ability. The Australian Skeptics have a $100,000 ... (345 words)

Reach out and touch gauze: The exposure of a Medium in 1890s Petone, NZ On May 17th, 1894, news of an arrest made in Petone the previous night hit the broadsheets and started spreading across the ... (2082 words)

Most of us will know Ken Ring both for his claim that he can predict the weather by looking at the moon, and his supposed ability to predict earthquakes. Here's Ken talking about how you can ... (458 words)

I received an email the other day from Joanne O'Brien, who according to her website is a Professional Organiser, Image Consultant and Health Coach. Now, I'm not going to deny that I am probably in ... (621 words)

(or Scamway, if you are so inclined) Official Site | Wikipedia | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube Country of Origin: Michigan, United States Year Founded: November 9, 1959 Founded by: Richard ... (2396 words)

Recently there's been a flurry of activity from a group in New Zealand who believe that they are Sovereign Citizens - that they have disconnected themselves legally from the laws of our country. ... (500 words)

Late last year Dr Nikki Turner appeared on TVNZ's Seven Sharp current affairs program to talk about the number of people who would be expected to have medical problems from being given the Pfizer ... (591 words)

Wikipedia Site | NZ website | Australia & NZ Facebook Country of Origin: Orem, Utah, United States Year Founded: 1980 Founded by: Petter Mørck Year MLM established in New Zealand: June 7, 2016 ... (1468 words)

(right through the night) I heard something interesting from my teenage daughter the other day, a story about some of her friends who have suddenly picked up a tic - a type of involuntary physical ... (892 words)

A friend (Gaylene Middleton from the New Zealand Humanists) contacted me on the weekend as she had been messaged by one of her Facebook friends about a Government Grants assistance program she is ... (699 words)

I've written before about how impressed I've been with the good work The Satanic Temple has been doing in the US and other countries, using the irrational fear of Satanism many Christians hold as a ... (1023 words)

Wikipedia site Country of Origin: Pleasant Grove, Utah, United States Year Founded: April 25th, 2008 Founded by: David Stirling, Emily Wright, David Hill, Corey B. Lindley, Gregory P. Cook, Robert ... (1582 words)

As I write this on the Sunday of Easter weekend, it was announced on Saturday evening that John Cameron, lead pastor at Arise church, had resigned his position on the board, though remains as an ... (683 words)

I might well be stealing Mark's thunder here, as he has written extensively on NFTs in the past. As you'll recall, Mark's opinion on NFTs is that they're basically a scam, with some nasty blockchain ... (347 words)

Trigger warnings: Mentions of Suicide and infant death Country of Origin: Lehi, Utah, United States Year Founded:1993 Founded by: Donald Gary Young and Mary Young Year MLM established in New Zealand: ... (2094 words)

It would be hard to miss that there has been some controversy in the science community in Aotearoa/New Zealand around the role of Mātauranga Māori (translated as Māori knowledge) in the school ... (339 words)

We're currently putting together a calendar of historical skeptical events relevant to New Zealand - and we're aiming to have at least one event for every day of the year. It's been a lot of fun so ... (303 words)

This evening I attended a meditation session with the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis - an occult group made famous by Aleister Crowley). I'm not sure what I expected, but the session was advertised as a ... (350 words)

Arise church is near to my heart - when I first arrived in New Zealand back in 2005, my wife joined the church while it was still small, and before it was even called Arise. Since then it has grown ... (1090 words)

There's a new convoy driving through the country at the moment, and this time it's heading not for parliament, but to Marsden Point. Yep, a bunch of cars (and, from what I can tell, no actual ... (260 words)

I recently had a clear out of my email inbox, as I'd reached about 20,000 unread emails. As a part of this onerous task, I unsubscribed from a large number of mailing lists. Many of them were from ... (656 words)

April is Autism acceptance month, and amidst the annual articles reminding everyone that lack of eye contact and an inclination for stimming isn't the worst thing in the world, the ghost of Andrew ... (683 words)

I've previously revealed that I keep an eye on Voices for Freedom by subscribing to their email newsletter, where they send out communications to their flock. I don't pretend that they're not aware ... (695 words)

Country of Origin: Texas, United States of America Year Founded:1963 Founded by: Mary Kay Ash Year MLM established in New Zealand: Opened in Australia in 1971/1992 in New Zealand Year MLM closed in ... (1449 words)

Has Putin come under the Rasputin-like spell of some mystic philosopher(s)? Is he mad, and totally out of touch with reality? Or… Is he just a totalitarian thug and bully who miscalculated the ... (555 words)

As a professional software developer, I'm aware of various ways in which websites can be hacked - and it's a constant battle keeping up with the latest knowledge and techniques to ensure safety. Mark ... (610 words)

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a catastrophe for Ukraine. Casualty figures at time of writing are in the tens of thousands, nearly four million people have fled to other countries, and ... (986 words)

While current geopolitical matters might have some Finns wishing they were a tad more invisible, at first pass this is hardly a skeptical topic. But this modern conspiracy is worth a chuckle, ... (363 words)

I've recently been seeing mentions of NESARA and GESARA online, in conspiracy groups, and also on a badly painted sign at at least one local protest. So I did a little bit of reading to find out what ... (577 words)

What do Avon, Tupperware, Doterra, and Arbonne have in common? They are all businesses in New Zealand that utilise multi-level marketing (MLM) strategies. If you aren't familiar with the names or the ... (1497 words)

Last week I had a couple of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Missionaries visit me. They called me a few days in advance to ask if it was okay to come round, and then I totally forgot about our meeting ... (1369 words)

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, propaganda raises its head. Propaganda has always been a tool of war (and peace) but we're seeing escalation to new levels. Recently, a video was shared on ... (950 words)

The New Zealand HPCA Act and what's in a name The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 intends to protect the public from serious or permanent harm while also protecting health ... (734 words)

The many Lords and Ladies of Glencoe and the matter of souvenir Scottish titles No true Scotsman…buys souvenir plots Advertisements for a small block of land and an accompanying Scottish title have ... (1106 words)

On March 13th Dr. Darren Saunders (Associate Professor of Medicine at UNSW, Cancer Biologist) made international headlines for his takedown of a new trend hitting social media: Methylene Blue. ... (521 words)

Over the last few months or so, while I've been perusing the crazier corners of the internet, I've seen occasional mentions of a really interesting conspiracy theory - in Facebook feeds of COVID ... (724 words)

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a video from a YouTube channel I keep an eye on for its coverage of cryptocurrency scams that looked interesting - the tale of Pixelmon, an NFT project that had ... (2128 words)

Last October, I reported here on Thames Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie and her anti-mandate stance. She said then that she was waiting for the Novavax vaccine. Now that it's available in NZ, she told ... (366 words)

__ The population of New Zealand is changing – and not just because there are more of us, including many new immigrants, or because people are living longer. The other great change is that fewer ... (745 words)

Just what are freedoms that the protest groups are saying are being trampled on and restricted? Two senior lecturers in Psychology at the University of Canterbury wrote a good piece on The ... (143 words)

Speaking of Voices for Freedom, last weekend investigative journalist Melanie Reid from Newsroom did a video piece on the protest - Visit to Freedom Village - which featured the Voices for Freedom ... (488 words)

Last Wednesday, the “anti-mandate” protest at the Parliament Grounds in Wellington, which had lasted for 23 days, came to an end. It was not an end that the protestors wanted, but was forced on them ... (879 words)

We don't often cover sports stories in our newsletter, and I'm certainly not one for writing them, but yesterday we heard the news of the untimely death of Shane Warne, the Australian Cricketer. ... (250 words)

I've written about Liz Gunn before. She used to be a respected broadcaster on TVNZ's One News, but has now gone well down the rabbit hole. Last year she claimed that an earthquake was Mother Nature's ... (195 words)

Despite the impromptu music festival happening on its front lawn, the New Zealand Parliament passed The Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, colloquially known as the Conversion Therapy ... (439 words)

Although Bronwyn's put together this week's newsletter, I couldn't help myself and wrote a small piece about the protesters' obsession with Nuremberg. The image above shows some of the less savoury ... (1412 words)

In Part 1, Sri Chinmoy (whose full name was Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, and who will herein be referred to by his initials: CKG) left his job at the consulate to seize an opportunity that awaited him amidst ... (2615 words)

This week, Gordon Hewitt, one of NZ Skeptics' founding members tells us why he's a skeptic. Take it away, Gordon… I had just turned 12 and was in my second month of secondary school when my father ... (442 words)

And now for something completely different… This week I've changed broadband providers. I was previously with MyRepublic and the service was fine, but I've been a 2Degrees mobile customer for some ... (754 words)

Adventures of a Psychologist by Michael Corballis 2021 published by Routledge. Available on Amazon. I was very fortunate to have known one of our most distinguished research psychologists ... (641 words)

I'm sure everyone is aware of the convoy that headed to Wellington on Tuesday. This collection of cars, campervans and the occasional truck has descended on our capital, supposedly as a protest ... (897 words)

The other day I noticed that the medical misinformation site NZDSOS - where a few anti-vaccine doctors promote their “alternative” COVID ideas - had changed its look. This is an issue for me, as a ... (907 words)

It's funny how things come around. Last week I watched a fascinating documentary on the Bogdanoff brothers. For those not in the know, the Bogdanoffs are a fascinating case study - two brothers who ... (1070 words)

Bronwyn Rideout investigates the connection between the Lotus Heart restaurant in Christchurch and Sri Chinmoy. The Lotus Heart Restaurant has been on my radar for almost as long as I have been ... (1181 words)

Another person I've written about in the past is Dr Sam Bailey. To refresh your memory, she's a doctor, previously practising as a GP, based in Christchurch. She appeared on a TVNZ medical show - The ... (447 words)

I've written in the past about NFTs - Non-Fungible Tokens, as they're called, and Mark has written about cryptocurrencies and the scams that surround them. This week, David Farrier, of Webworm ... (352 words)

In another topic I've written about before, a Voices for Freedom spinoff group The ‘Hood NZ were taking a case to the High Court to attempt to stop the rollout of the COVID vaccine, specifically for ... (115 words)

…It Just Tells Dirty Great Big Fat Whoppers! by Anthony Wharton – St-Helens, UK MEIER UNDER THE MICROSCOPE /EXTRAORDINARY CLAIMS OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL CONTACT. I continue to be fascinated with the ... (3787 words)

This week, long time skeptic Felicity Goodyear-Smith tells us her story... NZ Skeptics used to be called the New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and was ... (488 words)

Sue Grey and Dr Matt Shelton have made some astounding claims about contamination of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. The specific claims are that there are undeclared nanoparticles in the vaccine. ... (441 words)

I'm not normally one for jumping on bandwagons, but when I saw friends posting on Facebook over the last few days that they were cancelling their Spotify subscriptions, I figured this was one cause I ... (892 words)

I'm sitting here writing this week's newsletter with music playing in the background - I've just listened to tracks by (and I'm name-dropping here) Malcolm Middleton, the Flashbulb, Madvillain, PJ ... (1329 words)

What do the Brontosaurus, Harry Houdini, and a phrenology bust have in common? Each played a part in my journey towards skepticism. I would wager that at one point in their lives, the readers of this ... (608 words)

Amidst a global pandemic it's sometimes easy to miss science news. But this one really piqued my interest. This week it's been reported that the Curiosity Rover on Mars has seen some intriguing ... (180 words)

As you read this you'll know that the country is now back into the red traffic light setting. The Omicron variant of COVID is now out in the community and, given its transmissibility, expected to ... (427 words)

Ending on a positive note (no pun intended) this week, NZ Skeptics committee member Brad MacClure was featured in an article on Stuff about piano tuning, and skepticism. There's a nice write-up and ... (444 words)

So, back to COVID vaccines. This past week has seen a huge amount of activity in anti-vax circles. Firstly, Brian Tamaki, leader of Destiny Church, and promoter of the prosperity gospel, is currently ... (883 words)

A week seems like a very long time at the moment! But just over a week ago, the island nation of Tonga experienced a huge volcanic eruption and resulting tsunami. The effect of the tsunami was made ... (323 words)

If you spend any time on social media you'll have no doubt seen fairly enigmatic posts with a grid of yellow and green squares in various combinations. This is Wordle - a daily word guessing game ... (513 words)

Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, more commonly known as Baba Vanga, was a Bulgarian psychic. Although she died back in 1996, she was kind enough to leave behind some predictions that may or may not ... (932 words)

I'm not a fan of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, the original and most "successful" of them, has not followed its creator's vision of being a decentralised currency that allows people to make payments to ... (1208 words)

I was scrolling through my emails today, looking to see if I had received any Why Are You A Skeptic responses from any of you. Sadly there was nothing I'd missed; no stories of how you'd found ... (1559 words)

If you're a Netflix subscriber, you'll be able to watch a movie that's been the topic of some discussion in science circles. That is Don't Look Up - a satirical look at science communication. The ... (644 words)

In my last newsletter I wrote about the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. Post launch there were many operations that it had to go through to be successfully deployed, the most ... (237 words)

This week it's been reported that University of Auckland scientists Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles and Professor Sean Hendy have taken a case to the Employment Relations Authority. They're ... (330 words)

Over the past week or so we've seen headlines separately related to the magnitude of the holiday road toll, and high number of summer drownings. To me, it seems that it's human nature to clutch at ... (541 words)

If you're a member of NZ Skeptics you should receive a reminder to renew your subs soon. If you're not currently a member, you can join us for a very reasonable cost. ... (32 words)

I can blame my skepticism on George Adamski. For those who do not know, that unworthy gentleman made money writing books about non-existent aliens. He even went to the extent of writing that his ... (279 words)

A surprising endorsement of COVID vaccines came out recently - from none other than Donald Trump. Trump has a spotty history when it comes to supporting good science, and he's well known to skeptics ... (277 words)

The Lotus-Heart restaurant in Christchurch has chosen to take a stand against vaccine mandates, by refusing to let customers know if they require a vaccine pass, not promoting use of their COVID ... (301 words)

As a programmer, I love a good story about buggy software. Maybe it makes me feel better about my own mistakes! So when I recently heard about a fun bug in the strategy game Civilisation, from way ... (866 words)

I think we have cause to celebrate. Despite not knowing what 2022 will bring, Aotearoa/New Zealand has a pretty high rate of vaccination - with over 91% of the eligible population having received two ... (204 words)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has successfully launched! The telescope project, 30 years in the making, is now heading to the L2 Earth-Sun Lagrange Point, about 1.5 million kilometres from ... (344 words)

Continuing on from Mark's item last week, long-time skeptic and former committee member Barry Lennox gives us his views… Why did I become a skeptic? Well, the first stirrings occurred at about 6 or ... (758 words)

Black Oxygen Organics is a recent craze in alternative medicine. Many people swear by it, saying that it can treat all sorts of conditions - from heart issues and ADHD to COVID and cancer. But what ... (824 words)

I'm sure most people know the story of the Tiger King, a documentary series which became required viewing last year around the world when many countries went into lockdown. The series followed Joe ... (450 words)

Last week Craig introduced a new section to our newsletter, which he's named Why Are You A Skeptic. We're keen to hear from each of you about why you're a skeptic, and to publish your stories in the ... (479 words)

Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital made the news last week, with an 89 year old man being charged for his part in the abuse of children who were under the hospital's care in the 1970s. Dr Selwyn Leeks, ... (464 words)

A couple of weeks ago I attended an online sermon from Destiny Church with a few friends. The sermon started off fairly tame, with Brian joking about viewers eating popcorn - so I went and grabbed a ... (426 words)

The Australian Skeptics have spent the last few years working hard on an amazing project, led by Richard Saunders, to find and analyse as many psychic predictions as they could find. The group ... (735 words)

No doubt this week you will have seen the “sting” executed by Paddy Gower from Newshub. If you haven't, Newshub journalist Paddy Gower organised an undercover investigation which revealed an ... (326 words)

Our recent Skepticon saw Richard Saunders, from the Australian Skeptics, present the results of The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project. Over the past 12 years, the Australian Skeptics ... (470 words)

It has emerged that there's a man who's been showing up to receive the COVID vaccine on behalf of other people (for which he's being paid), having up to 10 vaccinations in a single day. Obviously the ... (289 words)

We love getting feedback on the newsletter, and hearing others' perspectives. And, we think that others would like this too. We're starting a new section in our newsletter which shines a spotlight on ... (359 words)

NZ Skeptics occasionally received email asking about skeptical topics: English and grammar issues aside, our correspondent is asking what we think about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (the new term ... (387 words)

I was talking to a friend last weekend who works as a tradesman. He asked me, as a skeptic, what I thought of the coronavirus vaccine - did I think it was dangerous? And was COVID real? He's pretty ... (720 words)

The 96-hour fireworks industry is both a source of joy and dread for New Zealanders nationwide. Fireworks can only be sold privately in this country between November 2nd and November 5th, and while ... (1180 words)

Rex Warwood sadly died late last week. He was a long time reporter, and later editor, for the Franklin County News, and was apparently well liked. However in recent years he appears to have succumbed ... (622 words)

I was sent a funny article the other day about the benefits of aluminium foil on a website called Tips and Tricks. The website appears to be a prolific source of clickbait - articles with catchy ... (813 words)

If you've been reading the newsletter for any time you'll be aware of the joint conference we ran with the Australian Skeptics last weekend. I hope you had a chance to attend and to view the talks. ... (228 words)

Dr Sam Bailey has been in the news this week, which involved in a court case petitioning the High Court to stop the New Zealand Medical Council from investigating her. Sam Bailey is a prominent ... (372 words)

For those readers who are members of NZ Skeptics (as off 1st April 2021 - that was our cut-off date), you will have, by now, (hopefully) received your Skeptic Card in the mail, along with a couple of ... (290 words)

As I write this there's news breaking about a new variant of concern of the COVID virus, now named as Omicron. The Greek Alphabet, by Ben Crowder The naming of variants of concern follows the Greek ... (351 words)

Back on YouTube channels again - you may have heard of the YouTube channel Veritasium. This one is a generally good science channel which has nearly 11 million subscribers. This week I came across ... (332 words)

It's been revealed this week that you can wash disposable masks, and reuse them. The current advice from the Ministry of Health is that disposable masks should be used once then thrown away. A group ... (183 words)

NZ Skeptics has its Annual General Meeting on Sunday 12th December. We'll be holding this online, and we'd encourage any interested members to come along. We're looking for a new treasurer this year, ... (89 words)

So I want to talk about an interesting arrest that happened yesterday, but not the arrest of Brian and Hannah Tamaki. @youtube A woman called Vanessa Price was visited by the police yesterday ... (369 words)

Last night at about 1am a friend of mine sent me a link to a brand new COVID website called Wanaka Health Bridge. I clicked on the link, and saw that the site talks about the risks resulting from ... (566 words)

This weekend was our joint Australian and New Zealand conference, Skepticon 2021. Thank you so much to those of you who joined us, it was an amazing weekend with fascinating talks and I hope you ... (463 words)

Craig Shearer announced the winners of our annual awards at the beginning of the second day of our conference, and it was accompanied by the following press release: Every year the New Zealand ... (690 words)

Hot off the press, International Law lecturer Amy Benjamin has resigned from Auckland University of Technology this week. I wrote about Amy back in August, at the beginning of our second national ... (370 words)

For those who use Facebook - you may have seen a video advert recently using Jacinda Ardern as a way to promote a cryptocurrency. Obviously this is fake - Jacinda does not want you to “invest” your ... (914 words)

Astroworld is an annual music festival run by rapper Travis Scott in Texas. There was a tragedy at this year's festival, a few weeks ago, when a crowd surge caused a crush and resulted in the deaths ... (457 words)

In a recent Nature article, some researchers of Chinese origin describe their research into the effects of stimulation at various acupuncture points on the induction of inflammation by bacterial ... (321 words)

The BBC (in its travel section) has an interesting article on the Skirvin hotel in Oklahoma, supposedly the most haunted hotel in the US. The article talks a little about the hotel and the ghosts ... (924 words)

About a year ago Daniel Ryan and I wrote to Givealittle, an organisation in NZ that runs an online platform which allows people to fundraise for needy causes. We expressed our concerns about misuse ... (686 words)

QAnon is the recent conspiracy theory in the US that refuses to go away. Someone has been using the name QAnon, short for an Anonymous person with Q Level Security Clearance, since 2017 to post ... (426 words)

There's a rumour going around in conspiracy circles that the UN, and/or Italian soldiers, are due to come to New Zealand at the end of November, or that they might already be here. It's not obvious ... (370 words)

I'm sure everyone is aware of the protests that happened yesterday. I watched them from the comfort of my home, and didn't feel the need to visit this particular march on Parliament. There was one ... (478 words)

Covid-19 The Pandemic That Should Never Have Happened - by Debra MacKenzie 2020 (available on Amazon) MacKenzie is a journalist who has covered infectious diseases for New Scientist for several ... (335 words)

It continues to amaze me the lengths science deniers and anti-vaxxers will go to to try to convince people of vaccine harm. This week, Daniel published some pictures from an anti-vax group on our ... (180 words)

Last week Mark published an item from Stuart Landsborough, from Wanaka's Puzzling World about his recent epiphany about how we can deal with climate change. I found Stuart's item contained some great ... (601 words)

Over the past couple of weeks, I've seen articles about Dominic Bowden on a new podcast about “wellbeing” called WellBeings. Dominic Bowden is a bit of a celebrity - having appeared on The Bachelor ... (300 words)

In my last newsletter from two weeks ago, I wrote about the vaccine exemptions that anti-vaxxers wanted to use. They intended to use the wording of section 7A of the COVID response act to exempt ... (347 words)

…or up to 3 months after? Our fantastic online conference - Skepticon 2021 - in conjunction with the Australian Skeptics is fast approaching. We're online on 20th and 21st of November, but if you buy ... (160 words)

This coming week has the threat of action against the government with yet another protest organised by Destiny Church and its leaders Brian (variously adorned with the title of Bishop, or Apostle) ... (332 words)

One of the many effects of climate change is that the oceans are rising. This is going to be an increasing problem for coastal settlements and island nations. But one American political candidate who ... (287 words)

I was scrolling through my Instagram feed when a post by a favourite local café stopped me mid-swipe. The words “Christmas” and “shoebox” in the same sentence caused a brief moment of dread to call ... (1736 words)

Last week Craig told you all about a parody website I'd built, NZD-SOS, which copied the look and feel of an anti-vaccine site called New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science but changed the ... (391 words)

Whether I am good at getting epiphanies, I am not sure, but the question is: are the epiphanies sensible or stupid? I shall leave it up to you to decide. At the moment, my epiphanies are to do with ... (2778 words)

Last week we talked about how the Doctors Stand Up For Vaccination group had released its list of names of six and a half thousand doctors who have signed a letter in support of COVID vaccination. ... (527 words)

Our Prime Minister has quite a reputation around the world, but did you know she's also able to cause earthquakes? Well that's according to a video from former TV presenter, Liz Gunn, who now, it ... (123 words)

A recent article on the Ars Technica site details the story of a so-called ethical hacker who was employed by a company to build a pro-Trump fake news empire. (Note, this is the real fake news, as in ... (291 words)

If you're a regular reader of our weekly newsletter you'll know by now that we're running a conference in conjunction with the Australian Skeptics. Because of COVID-19 restrictions we made the ... (104 words)

Last week Sue Grey (lawyer) was back at the High Court challenging a “no jab, no job” order on behalf of aviation security workers who lost their jobs at the end of September for refusing the ... (360 words)

This week has seen the introduction of the Traffic Light System to replace the COVID lockdown levels currently in place. This will take effect once all of the country's DHB's achieve a 90% fully ... (241 words)

Late last week NZ Skeptics published a spoof website built by Mark Honeychurch (NZ Skeptics Secretary and past Chair, and alternating newsletter author). We've written about the NZDSOS site in the ... (345 words)

I'll preface this by saying that this is a topic I'm certainly not qualified to talk about. But this week has seen a couple of interesting stories. Local period underwear brand AWWA has been unable ... (273 words)

Mike Adams is well known to skeptics. For many years he's run the Natural News website, which started out as a source of medical misinformation paired with a shop selling expensive, useless ... (424 words)

One of the signatories to the NZD SOS declaration, Dr Matt Shelton, is an interesting case - he made the news a few weeks ago when he sent a text message to his patients saying: "Hi ---, your GP Dr ... (537 words)

It seems ridiculous, but a man in the US is suing a psychic he asked for life advice. The psychic, Sophia Adams, told customer Mauro Restrepo that his marriage was at risk because of a “mala suerte” ... (575 words)

Sandra Goudie is the Thames Coromandel Mayor who has been in the news for refusing the Pfizer vaccine, saying she will wait until she can receive the Novavax vaccine. Goudie is quoted in the NZ ... (347 words)

The government is really pushing the COVID vaccine at the moment, including with this weekend's Super Saturday - where around 130,000 vaccines were administered in a single day. What I've been ... (461 words)

I naively thought that the whole QAnon movement would fall apart after Trump lost his bid for re-election. For those who have somehow not heard about QAnon before, it's a conspiracy that started in ... (609 words)

There are many kinds, and some are, frankly, full of bulldust! So what am I, and what are the members of the NZ Skeptics? My answer to that, is that we are science based skeptics. That is, we do not ... (535 words)

Rumours have been circulating in the US that President Biden plans to fix the debt ceiling issue by minting a one trillion dollar coin. Although this sounds patently absurd, there's some logic behind ... (269 words)

In the last newsletter I wrote, I discussed an open letter, penned by Mary Hobbs. Since publishing one of our contacts wrote to supply some more details. It appears that Mary and her husband are ... (479 words)

This past week has seen an appeal of the Peter Ellis child sex abuse case being heard in the Supreme Court. The Peter Ellis case revolved around supposed ritual abuse of children at the Christchurch ... (632 words)

We've been promoting the up-coming conference in conjunction with the Australian Skeptics for a few months now. However, we've got some news. After reviewing the situation with COVID on both sides of ... (264 words)

Back to COVID seriousness now. It's been a frustrating week where we've seen the Delta variant now escape Auckland and head out to other parts of the country. The government has been in a difficult ... (322 words)

Last week I attended an I Ching meeting online, where I learned how to use the I Ching to help me to make life decisions. The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is a book of 64 different sayings which are ... (664 words)

I'm sure Alex Jones is no stranger to most skeptics. The Info Wars host has an illustrious history of pushing nonsense ideas about the US - from the ridiculous (chemicals in the water supply are ... (515 words)

The church was irresponsible with their recent protest, held during a level 3 lockdown in Auckland. The majority of those attending were without masks, and were not following physical distancing ... (370 words)

Retraction Watch has documented a recent debacle where an open access journal from Nature, called Scientific Reports, published an article titled “A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a ... (654 words)

As I write this on Sunday morning, we've now switched over to New Zealand Daylight Time, putting our clocks forward by one hour until early April next year. The touted benefits are that we can enjoy ... (335 words)

This week I came across an article about a COVID anti-viral pill. There's some hope that an antiviral (similar to the well-known Tamiflu) could work that would be used to treat people with COVID. The ... (249 words)

As everybody will know, the COVID pandemic is still here. This week we've seen the number of active cases continue to fall, and Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau has moved down into alert level 3. Professor ... (358 words)

As mentioned in the Mary Hobbs response above, there's now a group of doctors in NZ standing up for vaccinations, mostly it would seem in response to the handful of those who are against them. ... (144 words)

And speaking of anti-vaxxers, there's another one that's emerged from the woodwork. Writing on the NZDSOS site (and COVID Plan B), she's penned an open letter to the government. Mary Hobbs is a ... (2944 words)

Dr Samantha Murton, president of the Royal NZ College of GPs, has spoken out about the problems of social media "influencers" who spread wellness misinformation online. Although many influential ... (792 words)

Following on from our submission to the Justice Select Committee a couple of weeks ago on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill (outlawing conversion therapy), myself and Bronwyn ... (348 words)

I feel impelled to comment on Mike Alder's "While the Newtonian insistence on ensuring that any statement is testable by observation (or has logical consequences which are so testable) undoubtedly ... (449 words)

I have three school age kids, and so I'm no stranger to Blue's Clues. I've watched many episodes with both Steve (Steve Burns) and Joe (Donovan Patton) hosting the show alongside the animated dog ... (724 words)

In 2008, the This Week In Tech podcasting network had been going for three years and a number of related topic podcasts started up on the network including one called Futures in Biotech. Modelled on ... (418 words)

Saturday this weekend marked the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 in the US. Of course, because of time zones it was Wednesday 12th September here in New Zealand when it happened, just after midnight. ... (162 words)

Our annual conference is coming up in November, on the weekend of the 19th - 21. As we've previously publicised, we're holding it in conjunction with the Australian Skeptics. COVID willing, we'll be ... (396 words)

Billy Te Hakiha is in the news again. You'll recall that he was recently arrested, with his “partner in crime” Vinny Eastwood, for violating the lockdown, and holding a protest. Billy and Vinny spent ... (230 words)

In the good news department this week, it was announced that there's been a shakeup at the Magic Talk network - a radio station that specialised in talkback. Peter Williams announced that he was ... (148 words)

This week NZ Skeptics submitted our view on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill. This bill proposes prohibiting so-called conversion therapies which aim to change a person's ... (171 words)

I've written in the past about Sue Grey, the lawyer and past candidate for The Outdoors Party. She's an out and out conspiracy theorist and her Facebook page is a magnet for the most rabid ... (267 words)

As I've written in the past, NZ Skeptics often receive comments in our inbox and people often criticise us for parroting the mainstream media (usually abbreviated to MSM). Recent commenters have ... (189 words)

Obviously as skeptics we're pretty clued up on the idea of not using unproven therapies, especially when there's positive evidence that they don't work. It's been apparent for a while now that the ... (695 words)

We're currently looking for nominations for our annual awards. Specifically, we have a Bent Spoon award for whoever has “has shown the most egregious gullibility or lack of critical thinking” over ... (196 words)

Texas has recently introduced a draconian new abortion law, one that feels not only perverse (in that it allows for civil lawsuits where anyone can sue those who are involved in providing abortion ... (725 words)

The COVID Delta outbreak in Aotearoa New Zealand continues, with Auckland (where I live) and Northland being remaining in level 4 and the rest of the country moving to level 3 from Wednesday 1st ... (727 words)

Most skeptics will be aware of the Steisand Effect - so called because of the unintended consequence of trying to suppress information - which happened to Barbara Streisand back in 2003 when she ... (1208 words)

Finally this week, and related to the Streisand Effect above, comes the tale from David Farrier, of the popular Webworm blog. Recently, David wrote about a certain doctor in Auckland at an ... (158 words)

Of all the people who spoke publicly about this week's arrest, Amy Benjamin, a senior lecturer of international law at AUT, was the most surprising to me. Amy put out a video this week (which has ... (306 words)

This one's a little light hearted, and not overly surprising - Kelvin Cruickshank, one of our most famous local psychics, appears to have failed to have been warned by the spirits about the impending ... (125 words)

The not totally surprising result of these protests is that the police have been arresting protestors. However, they've not tried to arrest everyone, or to pick up just those who are the loudest or ... (991 words)

Last weekend I got my first shot of the COVID vaccine. Given my advanced age of 55 years, I became eligible to book a vaccine, which is done through the “book my vaccine” website. I found the process ... (640 words)

This past week has seen the release of the IPCC's 6th assessment report on climate change. The report is issued every seven years. It's become increasingly obvious with successive reports, that the ... (193 words)

On a lighter note, this week there were two earth-shattering events that were meant to happen. The first was the Global Prayer to End Atheism, and the second with the prediction of Trump's ... (236 words)

One idea I've been given is to find a large set of Deepak Chopra quotes, and use that to train an algorithm to create nonsense quotes talking about quantum realities and the collapse of the wave ... (72 words)

A couple of weeks ago I talked about the NZ Skeptics putting together a submission for the Ministry of Justice in response to their new Hate Speech proposals. You can read our submission on our ... (251 words)

Using an older algorithm, GPT-2, with a fairly small data set that it had been pre-trained on, I fine tuned this particular piece of software on the entire back catalogue of QAnon posts. Below are 6 ... (295 words)

This one surprised me a little. I fed GPT-2 about a dozen holy texts, with the intention of generating some text that was their distilled, combined wisdom. Instead, what I received each time I ran ... (770 words)

We've talked about purported psychic medium Thomas John before. He's a shady character whose real name is Thomas John Flannagan. Previously convicted of stealing security deposits from renters after ... (293 words)

In good news this week, Facebook has finally shut down the anti-vax, conspiracy-theory-mongering group Voices for Freedom's page. They're upset: “Facebook cancelled our Facebook page Wednesday, with ... (389 words)

Speaking of COVID grifters, an amusing take-down has emerged from the UK.Piers Corbyn is an anti-vax activist, and elder brother of the former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn is ... (243 words)

One of the interesting aspects of being part of NZ Skeptics is that we often get contacted by people to espouse views and theories that diverge from the mainstream, evidence-based views on things. ... (379 words)

Sensing Murder psychic Kelvin Cruickshank is currently touring the country. He's been down in the South Island recently, visiting Christchurch and a lot of smaller towns, and selling tickets at $65 a ... (497 words)

Allison Mack was once famous for her role in the TV show Smallville, a spin-off show about Superman. However, a few years ago she joined a group called NXIVM who promised to help her on the path to ... (586 words)

Okay, so I'm joking here - I actually know how to pronounce the name (it's said "Nexium"). But it's obviously a pretentious looking name, chosen for a pretentious, and dangerous, cult. One that ... (377 words)

Mahin Khatami looks at first blush to be a respectable scientist - she has a long history as a scientist spanning decades, she used to work for the NIH (National Institutes for Health) in the US as a ... (351 words)

There is an increasingly vocal sub-set of farmers around the country who are buying into conspiracy theories. A group called the Agricultural Action Group - AAG - have been touring the country in ... (402 words)

Over the past few weeks there have been various extreme weather events that are now being attributed to climate change, whereas once scientists were more cagey on the issue - saying that it's never ... (478 words)

Yes, the pandemic is still with us, and alarmingly new strains are emerging. Evolution does what evolution does. Currently the Delta variant is in the news, and it is more transmissible than the ... (195 words)

Sticking with the COVID theme, I reported in a previous newsletter about the website set up to allow medical professionals and “concerned citizens” to sign their name to the statement: “I support New ... (202 words)

The drug Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug (used on worms and head-lice), and has been touted as a treatment for COVID-19. On the anti-vaxx Facebook groups I monitor, it's frequently cited as the ... (359 words)

So, on the back of increasing effects of climate change this week saw the “Howl of a Protest” event run by Groundswell NZ - a group that purportedly represents farmers and tradies and ute owners who ... (325 words)

As I've written before, one of the main purveyors of vaccine misinformation is the anti-vax, conspiracy theory group Voices for Freedom. You will have seen their distinctive branding with their blue, ... (306 words)

I recently learned about the absolutely fun conspiracy that is “birds aren't real”. According to the theory, the CIA in the 1950s were trying to solve two hard problems. Firstly, they wanted to be ... (431 words)

I enjoy playing computer games, and own both a gaming PC (RTX 3060 Ti, i5-10400) and a VR headset (Quest). So when I heard about an ambitious new game for PCs, VR and phones, it piqued my interest. ... (760 words)

by Barry Lennox Last weekend I visited the Home Show in Christchurch. All the usual suspects were there, Bioptron, Shuzi and the Magnetic and Titanium healer. This was surprising as I had scanned the ... (313 words)

While trawling conspiracy websites and videos, as I tend to do for fun, I stumbled across a recommendation for a local kiwi numerologist. But the recommendation said that, unlike the usual mystical ... (1034 words)

An anti-vax paper was published recently in the open access Vaccines journal. “The Safety of COVID-19 Vaccinations - We Should Rethink the Policy”. The paper has now been retracted, though just ... (237 words)

Did you know that NZ Skeptics is running an in-person conference again this year (after not running one last year because of COVID). This year we're running it in conjunction with the Australian ... (83 words)

In the good news department, YouTube has de-platformed local misinformant Vinny Eastwood, also joining another local, Damien De Ment, also banned. Vinny Eastwood was king of promoting conspiracy ... (91 words)

You may be aware that there's currently a bill before parliament to change the way that fluoridation of our drinking water is handled. Presently District Health Boards have the individual power to ... (326 words)

It is with great sadness that I have to report that Russell Tomes, a NZ Skeptics committee member died last week. Russell unfortunately had an undiagnosed heart condition and died of a heart attack. ... (298 words)

This past week saw the release of a report on misinformation, on research conducted by the Classification Office Te Mana Whakaatu. The Classification Office is traditionally responsible for ... (258 words)

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about lawyer Liz Lambert's effort to claim a small part of New Zealand - the Abel Tasman National Park - as her own property, which she's called New Freeland. Well, it ... (681 words)

(In)famous German psychic Michael Schneider made the news recently when he claimed to know the exact coordinates of Madeleine McCann's body. Madeleine, aged 3, went missing in 2007 while she was on ... (803 words)

There's a lawyer in New Zealand called Liz Lambert who thinks she has hit upon a legal loophole that allows people to claim any piece of land as their own. As background, there are two main forms of ... (748 words)

Obviously India has been through the wringer recently with a huge increase in the number of COVID cases, and deaths, in the country. Thankfully the number of active cases is dropping, but at its peak ... (607 words)

Someone called Daryl Trask has recently placed a petition on change.org asking people to sign their support for an overthrow of our government. The petition says: "The people of NZ are being ... (691 words)

US Senator Louie Gohmert, from Texas, has recently asked the country's Forestry Service if they can look into a thought he's had about how to combat climate change: I guess Louie skipped astronomy ... (541 words)

Now that I've found out about Rebel Wisdom, I'm hooked. I usually have to go hunting for my nonsense, but the Rebel Wisdom website has everything in one place: Rupert Sheldrake (who has silly ideas ... (899 words)

Speaking of anti-vaxxers, they've recently set up a website which allows people, including doctors, nurses and allied health professionals (including alt-med practitioners) to register themselves as ... (112 words)

Last weekend saw the release of a new policy by the government called the Clean Car Discount. The scheme provides a rebate, starting on the 1st July, for purchasers of low emissions vehicles (Battery ... (1453 words)

We're still in the COVID pandemic but last week I had some cause for cheer. I've previously reported on the actions of anti-vaxxer groups, who seem to be made up largely of privileged (and entitled) ... (135 words)

Finally this week, in the bizarre category, I read an article by Ken Ham, of Answers in Genesis infamy - the arch-creationist and science-denying anti-evolution propagandist. Ken likely has an alert ... (177 words)

By Robert Bartholomew and Peter Hassall Although this was published six years ago, I think it is a classic reference book that will endure. It is available in some local libraries, including the ... (304 words)

As promised, myself and another couple of skeptics recently visited the Theosophical Society's building in Wellington to hear their National President, John Vorstermans, give a talk titled “The ... (484 words)

I've seen adverts pop up recently on news sites, such as NewsHub and YouTube, that are selling a device which claims to be able to cut your power bill by 90%. Now, wouldn't that be nice - if it were ... (780 words)

I've watched a few videos online from a recent panic where people show themselves sticking a magnet to their arm at the injection site of their COVID vaccine. The same magnet pushed against other ... (811 words)

We should be worried about the consequences of far-right conspiracy theories. In Belgium, Professor Marc Van Ranst has been the public face of science related to the COVID pandemic and the Belgian ... (162 words)

Sorry to harp on about anti-vaxxers, but there's another story this week that has emerged about prominent American anti-vaxxer Del Bigtree. Bigtree runs ICAN - the Informed Consent Action Network, ... (241 words)

We've mentioned Sue Grey in the past. She's the Nelson-based lawyer and co-leader of the NZ Outdoors party, and full on conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer. Her Facebook page is where she seems to ... (477 words)

I rarely watch broadcast TV, but on Wednesday night I happened to see a little of TVNZ's Seven Sharp programme. They featured a segment on acupuncture as an alternative to botox for reducing facial ... (224 words)

For a long time now I've been promising to take a friend of mine to a Christian Science church service. He's been interested in doing this because he was brought up in the church in America, but ... (641 words)

Over the next couple of months I'm hoping to visit a few interesting religious groups, to get a feel for them - what they believe, how they act, who attends their events. So, all being well, after ... (348 words)

Apparently a UFO was seen in Hawkes Bay late last week. Several people reported seeing a large rectangular shaped object in the sky at dusk, with green and red lights, moving strangely. A MetService ... (940 words)

I've watched a few videos from a recent panic where people show themselves sticking a magnet to their arm at the injection site of their COVID vaccine. The same magnet pushed against other parts of ... (792 words)

Yet another anti-hero of the COVID story is Dr Simon Thornley, of the COVID Plan B group who we've mentioned many times in the past. Thornley is an odd case in that he's an academic at the University ... (312 words)

If you've spent any time on the internet you'll likely have encountered Wikipedia - the community-edited encyclopaedia. Wikipedia gets a bad rap as it's possible for anybody to edit the content and ... (337 words)

The week before last we saw Sue Grey, a Nelson-based lawyer and co-leader of the NZ Outdoors party, bringing a case against the NZ Government claiming that the rollout of the COVID vaccine was ... (364 words)

I have a super-secret email account that I use to sign up to various mailing lists, including the Voices for Freedom mailing list. Boy do they put out some propaganda! From their latest email: ... (280 words)

From the hard to believe it's real category, we found out about a revolutionary product being offered in New Zealand - Vortex Water! From their website, they explain: “In nature, water on it's (sic) ... (240 words)

A recent major report into herbs and supplements for weight loss has concluded that they don't work, and that not enough is known about their safety. Erica Bessell, the lead author from the ... (469 words)

Sue Grey, Nelson lawyer and co-leader of The Outdoors Party (an anti-vax, anti-5g, anti-1080 political party), had her day in court last week, taking the government to court over their COVID vaccine ... (735 words)

There's a website in New Zealand promoting "Vortex Water". The front page of the site starts by saying: "Natures Design's revisited today and everyday....Billions of years of proven and valued ... (443 words)

The website of an organisation called the Maori Ranger Security Division is currently selling ID cards that they claim can help you avoid being arrested by police, protect you from Child Services, ... (792 words)

A week ago I opened the LinkedIn app on my phone, and noticed a comment on a post that was made by someone in NZ who was an “EvoRich Consultant”. His profile didn't seem to match what I'd expect from ... (825 words)

A video from “LADbible” has been doing the rounds recently, showing members of a Russian fitness group performing feats of amazing speed. The video shows several clips of them punching something or ... (578 words)

On Monday night I visited parliament, where a group called Jesus for NZ had been invited by National MP Simon Bridges to hold a church service called the Power of One. Jesus for NZ is a loose ... (569 words)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the situation in India with COVID and how bad it was there. It turns out that it's not the worst place in the world to be (though certainly not anywhere near the ... (206 words)

The Chinese launch vehicle - Long March 5B has been in the news over the past week. The rocket was launched at the end of last month to carry the living quarters of China's independent space station ... (378 words)

NZ Skeptics were recently contacted by a journalist in response to an Official Information Act request which revealed the numbers of people and their occupations entering the country under the guise ... (409 words)

I've been watching the Facebook page of Voices For Freedom. To me it's staggering the output of their page, with their frequent posts. often several a day. They have over 7,000 people following the ... (277 words)

A recent article from Radio NZ did a great job of pointing out just how useless online polls are, and raising concerns about how often New Zealand media outlets, including Newshub, the AM Show and ... (450 words)

A.C.E., or Accelerated Christian Education, is a Christian based curriculum used in New Zealand - both in some Christian schools, and by parents who homeschool their children. The curriculum boasts ... (484 words)

Normally I would be excited to hear that a prominent biologist is in New Zealand, but in this case the biologist in question is Dr Bruce Lipton - a figure who is well known to skeptics. Bruce “works” ... (319 words)

I've noticed an interesting, and worrying, shift with some of the more extreme online communities recently. On the one hand it's great to finally, and belatedly, see social media companies like ... (312 words)

An “alternative” health clinic in Christchurch, which specialises in colonic irrigation and coffee enemas, has announced online that it will not treat anyone who has been vaccinated within the last ... (421 words)

Essential oils are concentrated extracted plant chemicals that have a strong smell of the plant they were extracted from - their "essence". These oils are often heated in a diffuser, or evaporated ... (497 words)

TV psychic Maurice Amdur, in the UK, has a video featured on his public Facebook page - Maurice's Psychic World - where he performs a psychic reading of a car salesman while he's picking up a brand ... (273 words)

The Centner Academy in Miami, Florida has barred its teachers from being able to see students if they've been given the COVID vaccine, and will not be employing new teachers who have already been ... (318 words)

Essential oils are one of those trendy products that seem to be very popular at the moment, and they seem to be a great money-maker for their manufacturers and retailers, with the estimated market ... (175 words)

An interesting video has appeared on YouTube which gives a rational explanation for a UFO video taken by US Navy personnel. The UFO video, promoted by Jeremy Corbell who runs a website called ... (282 words)

TV psychic Maurice Amdur, star of UK TV shows Maurice's Psychic World and Four Rooms has been left to pay £100,000 in legal costs after attempting to sue an insurance company for his loss of his ... (224 words)

There's been a lot of talk recently in "alternative" circles about vaccine deaths. This has been prompted by the massive global rollout of several different types of COVID vaccines - mRNA (Pfizer, ... (898 words)

A friend sent me an article about a paper published recently in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion called: "Linking Evangelical Subculture and Phallically Insecure Masculinity Using ... (339 words)

An article was published by Stuff the other day about cosmetic acupuncture - a discredited idea that sticking needles in your face can be an alternative to paying for a face lift. Half way through ... (362 words)

The Exclusive Brethren is a "high control" church run from Sydney by Bruce Hales, the "Elect Vessel". "High control" is a term used to describe groups where the leadership exert a high degree of ... (336 words)

After chatting with Graeme Hill on Magic Talk recently about Sue Grey, co-leader of the conspiracy minded Outdoors Party, and her threat to sue the government, I found out that Sue was planning to ... (479 words)

Honestly, I don't think I could make up something this daft if I tried. Thanks to an astute member of our NZ Skeptics Facebook group, I now know about a New Zealand company - Hippo Health - who are ... (490 words)

I'm a bit late to the party with this one, but there is footage on YouTube from last year where the pope gives a blessing from an upper floor window. After the blessing the pope turns around and ... (341 words)

Kyle Chapman, ex head of the New Zealand National Front, is one of several people planning to distribute misleading leaflets about the COVID vaccine around New Zealand: Thankfully the claims in ... (377 words)

We have recently moved to Memberful to manage our membership, and so far the process has gone well; thanks to all who have paid your 2021 membership subs (either via Memberful or internet banking) It ... (161 words)

A work colleague reached out to me the other day with an interesting question. One of his close family members has fallen down a conspiracy rabbit hole, and now spends a lot of time talking about ... (860 words)

On the news of Prince Philip's death, my thoughts go out not just to the British Royal Family, but also to the members of the Prince Philip Movement in Vanuatu. This movement, a very small religious ... (220 words)

After talking about Sue Grey's threat to sue the government last week, I found out that Sue was planning to give a talk on the steps of parliament the next day. So during my lunch break last Thursday ... (395 words)

Disappointingly, despite the excitement, I'm sure many listeners will already have figured out what the rational explanation for this string of lights in the sky over Melbourne was: Elon Musk's ... (125 words)

One of our contacts noticed an item on TVNZ news on the 7th March detailing a product being developed by the University of Otago for prevention treatment of type 2 Diabetes. A complaint was made to ... (797 words)

Many thanks to the people who have paid their 2021 membership subs. This is a final reminder to members who paid subs in 2020, but have yet to pay 2021 subs, that the 2021 subs are now due. Memberful ... (184 words)

Last week Mark wrote an interesting item in the newsletter around Scientologists using deceptive means to lure people in to their “courses”. We got some feedback from a reader in the US - we love ... (305 words)

Research by the American Center for Countering Digital Hate has revealed that almost two-thirds of all misinformation about vaccines being spread on social media platforms such as Facebook and ... (213 words)

The Secular Education Network, a group of parents and others who are passionate about ensuring the Education Act's promise of secular education in schools is realised, have just released a document ... (1651 words)

The Outdoors Party's health spokesperson recently shared a video clip from the TV show Dexter, showing a scene where the serial killer protagonist of the show remembers being rescued as a child from ... (296 words)

I recently heard about someone who signed up on the MeetUp website for a conversational English course in Auckland, and when they arrived they found out that the course was being run by ... (364 words)

Stuff published an article recently about the dangers of LED light bulbs, arguing that the blue light from LED bulbs disturbs our circadian rhythm and disrupts our sleep, with wide ranging knock-on ... (563 words)

A new group called FACT (Fight Against Conspiracy Theories) has published an open letter to Plan B about their connection with Voices for Freedom. The letter calls on Plan B to distance themselves ... (397 words)

Thanks to some wonderful help from Susan Gerbic, we've now got a few of the 2019 conference talk videos up on our YouTube channel. There's now four videos up on a variety of topics from Jacinta ... (43 words)

If you're in or around Christchurch, you may be interested in attending the Christchurch Skeptics in the Pub. One of our NZ Skeptics committee members, Jonathan Harper, is giving a talk about ... (53 words)

A couple of weeks ago, I spent an enjoyable weekend away with some friends up in Russell, in the Bay of Islands. A couple of points from a skeptical perspective; firstly, one of my friends told me ... (554 words)

Apparently, back in 2016 dozens of American Embassy diplomats in Cuba felt sick, and this has been dubbed Havana Syndrome. I'd never heard of this, but it came to my attention through an article ... (173 words)

This week has seen the news of the ship (the Ever Given) that's been stuck for days in the Suez Canal. Interestingly, having glanced at the headlines and pictures, in my mind the ship was called the ... (203 words)

A UK company, Football Index, has financially collapsed over the last as its users have realised that the entire thing is nothing more than a pack of cards. Football Index created a set of virtual ... (1084 words)

On Saturday I attended one of several Freedom Rallies around the country. In Wellington, the rally was set for midday at the train station. It was a fairly low key affair, with flyers being handed ... (444 words)

A new astronomy paper suggests that the strange object named Oumuamua that passed through our solar system a couple of years ago was probably a thin disc of planetary matter, and not a piece of alien ... (380 words)

On Thursday evening last week I visited Parliament to pray for the future of our country. Now I'm not a Christian, so I'm pretty sure my prayers aren't going to make a difference, but it's ... (383 words)

A few weeks ago I wrote about big cats reported sighted in Canterbury, and opined that what had been seen was likely a feral cat. This weekend, Stuff did a piece about how Jesse Feary had actually ... (88 words)

NDEs were in the media this week. Radio New Zealand did an interview with Professor Bruce Greyson who has a book out After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond. ... (509 words)

I read a very good article today in The Atlantic explaining some of the subtleties around the COVID vaccine. In particular we shouldn't be surprised when vaccinated people get infected. At the moment ... (163 words)

Big news this week is that the government is taking water fluoridation powers off local councils and giving it to the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield. This is a good decision as it ... (158 words)

We've just had the second anniversary of the horrific Christchurch massacre, and as skeptics it's sad to have seen over the last two years those in our country who have posted content denying that ... (683 words)

A group who monitor extreme Right Wing groups, Hope Not Hate, have published an article detailing a weird attempt to hijack the QAnon conspiracy. The new conspiracy theory, called Sabmyk, has been ... (224 words)

The AstraZeneca vaccine has made the news recently, as several European countries have halted its rollout temporarily due to reports of blood clots. These issues are real, but it's important to look ... (197 words)

Today I finally made it to the Builders Of The Adytum, a strange group whose beliefs combine Kabbalah and Tarot into an unusual, but enjoyable, philosophy. The meeting was fun, with incense, ... (485 words)

Following on from last week's stories about the Tamakis saying they won't be getting vaccinated, and Ken Ring saying he predicted our recent earthquake, there have been a couple of interesting ... (376 words)

Graeme Hill, longtime broadcaster and a good friend of science, skepticism and common sense thinking, now has an evening slot on MagicTalk radio. As part of his show, Graeme usually interviews ... (387 words)

Rebecca Booth, from Fairlie in the South Island, recently found a seven leaf clover. The Stuff article about this find mentioned that this is not the first clover-related find Rebecca has had. ... (265 words)

Today is the second anniversary of the horrific Christchurch massacre, and as skeptics it's sad to have seen over the last two years those in our country who have posted content denying that the ... (750 words)

I've recently read calls for high profile figures in New Zealand to endorse the new COVID vaccines, as a way to reassure the portion of the public who currently feel unsure about the vaccines' ... (304 words)

I'm guessing that Jami-Lee Ross, head of the failed conspiracy themed political party Advance NZ, has run out of money. Why else would he be planning to flog useless anti-5G pills to us? Charlie ... (338 words)

After last week's nocturnal earthquake, Ken Ring has been on Facebook proving how right he is. He's pointed out that he predicted the earthquake in his 2021 almanac: From the "Earthquake diary", on ... (1029 words)

I can't say we'll be having this every week, but I found this amusing little joke on social media this week: Q: How many conspiracy theorists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Do your own ... (36 words)

As everybody no doubt knows we're back in lockdown again - level 3 for Auckland and level 2 for the rest of the country. While the inconvenience is disappointing, as we've seen it is for the best. At ... (116 words)

Ken Ring is back selling his unproven weather, gardening, and best fishing predictions. You can also get his books on the global warming hoax, anxiety therapy, better parenting, and more on his ... (374 words)

Mark Honeychurch recently covered a Newshub story by Sarah Templeton in our newsletter (Reiki is Here To Save Us All) about a visit to a Reiki person by the reporter. (Practitioner, in my humble ... (326 words)

After some investigation it seems that this magazine (it's a stretch to call it a journal, a title which should be reserved for scientific publications) is being purchased by at least one public ... (259 words)

If you're a regular reader of our newsletter, you'll know that we're publicising annual membership of NZ Skeptics, which is extremely attractively priced being only $40, or $20 if you're unwaged. ... (165 words)

Lockdown timing predictions from a Hamilton based psychic, Sarah King, have been unearthed and posted to our Facebook group this week: Sarah said when she made these totally wrong predictions, back ... (198 words)

MP Grant Robertson was on Peter Williams' Magic Talk radio show this week when he was asked about the “Great Reset”. His immediate reaction was to quit the interview early, and he's subsequently let ... (417 words)

A member emailed us this week to share an unaddressed letter she received in her mailbox. Thankfully the anonymous author of the document has put in the hard work of joining all the unconnected dots ... (175 words)

Or, at the very least he's apparently quit politics. This one was a bit of a surprise to me, as the conspiracy minded Billy had only just announced that he was re-naming his Public Party to the ... (182 words)

The controversial conservative US radio host Rush Limbaugh died this week. Although this isn't something that the NZ Skeptics feel is okay to celebrate, we do acknowledge that Limbaugh was ... (110 words)

For those of you who like the work we do enough that you want to support us financially, it's that time of the year when membership subscriptions are due. Membership is only $40, or $20 if you're ... (221 words)

Creationism is what drew me into skepticism. Back in the 90s when I was lecturing in software development, I had a work colleague who was a young earth creationist. Seemingly rational in other areas ... (224 words)

NZ Skeptics membership runs on a calendar year basis and we're about to switch to a new system for collecting subs. If you're enjoying these newsletters and you're not a member, we encourage you to ... (395 words)

As no doubt everyone will be aware by now, there's been community transmission of COVID-19 in Auckland. Back to Level 3 for Auckland, and Level 2 for the rest of the country. Let's hope this is over ... (56 words)

One of the joys or risks (depending on your perspective) of writing these newsletters is that we sometimes receive negative feedback. A few weeks ago I wrote about QAnon and the realisations that ... (630 words)

In recent weeks there's been a bit of controversy on the airwaves in the form of talkback radio. Talkback radio's an interesting format - where else (apart from letters to the editor) do you get to ... (343 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)

Last week I attended, online, the funeral of Ngaire McCarthy, who died just over a week ago from cancer. Ngaire was an outspoken Māori atheist, humanist and rationalist who spoke to the NZ Skeptics ... (351 words)

I wish I was making this news story up - partially because it's getting a little bit tiresome writing about US politics. However, the recently elected Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor ... (357 words)

Or at least that's what NewsHub would have us believe, with an article published on Tuesday about the benefits of Reiki, an energy healing technique that involves the practitioner manipulating your ... (732 words)

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage with close to 100 million cases over 2 million deaths worldwide. As I've said before we can be thankful that we pursued an elimination strategy here in New ... (402 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)

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)

On the popular tech news YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips, Linus has evaluated a couple of small faraday cages that are sold in the US as a way to protect home users from the harmful radiation coming ... (105 words)

Billy TK held an anti-lockdown rally in Auckland on Saturday. The rally was accompanied by a variety of interesting flags, signs and chants: The flags were a mix of Trump 2020, the United Tribes of ... (546 words)

I'm sure many skeptics have enjoyed JP Sears' parody videos of the wellness industry, such as How to Become Gluten Intolerant and How to be Ultra Spiritual. It was a surprise to me, just before ... (159 words)

An image that has been making its way round the internet recently purports to be a circuit diagram for a 5G chip which is inside COVID vaccines. However, those who are technically musical minded have ... (251 words)

As you'll no doubt know, 2020 ended seeing the successful and record-setting development of a range of vaccines for COVID-19 from various companies. New Zealand is in the privileged position of ... (200 words)

Around this time of the year it's common to be spending time with extended family and friends. As we've seen over the last few years with the rise of social media, it's easy for unsuspecting people ... (152 words)

NZ Skeptics is a registered charity. If you're already a member now's the time to pay your subs. If you're not a member, please consider joining us to support the work we do. Membership is only ... (52 words)

At the start of each year, it's common for psychics and mediums to put out a bunch of predictions for the coming year. These predictions generally fall flat, although a common strategy for some ... (140 words)

We're written about the Advance NZ political party in the past, and about their conspiracy-theory-driven policies and public statements. It's come to NZ Skeptics attention that they're now promoting ... (201 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)

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 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)

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)

In one of our Facebook groups this week there was a recent discussion started by Donald Pettitt about his visit to a “crystal healer” to help with issues he's been having with his balance: _“I've ... (534 words)

Retraction Watch have written a nice summary of the year in retractions for The Scientist magazine. Unsurprisingly many of the scientific articles that have been retracted this year are on the topic ... (737 words)

As Skeptics we're not very fond of scammers, and we often try to protect the public from those who would rip them off with dodgy devices and ineffective products. The video below documents a feat of ... (115 words)

In the news this morning, it's been reported that our very own New Zealand monolith has appeared at Adventure Park in Christchurch. I'd love to think that this monolith could stay until I get a ... (136 words)

Renowned Otago researcher, Jim Flynn has died, aged 86. He discovered a very interesting effect - now named after him - the Flynn Effect, which states that IQ scores are increasing decade by decade. ... (126 words)

There was an interesting item this week on research by Kiwi scientists showing that Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, is a real thing and not psychosomatic. As a ... (71 words)

A few weeks back a monolith was discovered, in the desert in the state of Utah in the USA. Since then they've been popping up in various places around the world. The famous monolith from Kubrick's ... (210 words)

Last week (December 10th) TVNZ's Seven Sharp programme had an item featuring a Ponsonby-based psychic medium by the name of Kimberly Stewart. The story was based on the premise that because 2020 has ... (181 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)

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)

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)

I'm sure most people saw the intriguing news that a tall prism shaped metal structure, now known as the Utah Monolith, had been found by conservationists in the desert in the US, sticking out from ... (468 words)

There's an interesting article published by Dr Deane Galbraithe this week about Billy Te Kakiha's evangelical influence, and how this may explain his adoption of so many conspiracy theories in his ... (640 words)

For those who followed Craig's link last week to a colour therapy site, you may have thought that some of the claims on the site were pretty egregious - including such gems as “incurable means ... (251 words)

Thank you Mark Fletcher for letting us know that you had a copy of the video of James Randi's 1993 Christchurch talk. He'd even transcoded the video from VHS to DVD several years ago, which made it a ... (117 words)

The amazing members of the GSoW (Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia) group have struck again. In recent years the group have done some amazing work creating new Wikipedia articles and rewriting existing ... (175 words)

In recent weeks we've reported several times on election outcomes - and, of course the recent US election continues to dominate the news. Far from it being over with a clear victory for Joe Biden and ... (186 words)

The world continues to be gripped by the COVID pandemic. Given that most of us are unable to travel internationally it's difficult to experience first-hand exactly how the rest of the world is ... (129 words)

This week Richard Saunders, from the Australian Skeptics pinged me online with a video of relevance to NZ Skeptics. Back in the 1990s Australian journalist Mike Willesee did a piece on a New ... (160 words)

This past week has seen the news of development of successful vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. The vaccines have a claimed efficacy of nearly 95%. This is good news, and a triumph for science and ... (305 words)

My personal journey into skepticism began back in the early 90s before the internet was publicly available, but podcasts now form a significant chunk of the skeptical content that I consume. My ... (180 words)

This week saw Dr Siouxsie Wiles take the supreme winner award at the Stuff-Westpac NZ 2020 Women of Influence Awards. Siouxsie, along with her artistic partner Toby Morris, has done a fantastic job ... (75 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)

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)

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)

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)

The above title is my paraphrasing of a recent paper published in an Elsevier-owned scientific journal, Science of The Total Environment. The paper's actual title is: Can Traditional Chinese Medicine ... (471 words)

Last week Craig promised that we would give you a link to a video Haunted NZ were producing about their recent investigation at a house in Pukekohe. We have now been sent a copy of the video that you ... (83 words)

If the US election hasn't caused you enough stress, you could read a recent “take down” of James Randi titled The man who destroyed skepticism, published soon after his death on the popular Boing ... (445 words)

A reminder that our AGM will be held online at the beginning of next month, on the 6th of December, at 7pm. To connect to our meeting, if you are a member of the Society, please use the following ... (58 words)

The Luminate festival, held each year outside of Nelson, has always been a little out of touch with science. But, as David Farrier shows, things appear to be getting worse. The festival has been ... (351 words)

I'm sure most skeptics will have heard of QAnon by now - the anonymously named Q who posts online about shadowy organisations, and talks about how president Trump is fighting dark forces in the US. ... (393 words)

I've been keeping a close eye on some of the more fringe political parties in New Zealand's election, and it's been great to see that not many kiwis have been swayed by their radical ideas. In case ... (1451 words)

Here are some common medical myths that are easy to dispel: We Only use 10% of our brain This is a fairly innocuous start to the list. As with any truth claim, it's good to come at this one through ... (1686 words)

'Horrifying' impact of coronavirus misinformation for people with Asian background - Christchurch mayor Where: stuff.co.nz Who: Oliver Lewis When: 14/02/2020 Skeptic summary: Christchurch mayor ... (1264 words)

The Underground network of kiwis who fight anti-vaxx propaganda Where: stuff.co.nz Who: Michelle Duff When: 7/09/2019 Skeptic summary: The kiwis who are taking a stand against vaccination ... (507 words)

Homeopathic treatment claims to ‘cure' autism in NZ Where: newsroom.co.nz Who: Farah Hancock When: 15/08/2019 Skeptic summary: A brilliant piece on CEASE therapy, the bogus autism ‘cure' made from ... (1440 words)

The Cure for Pseudoscience? Clear Thinking Where: forbes.com Who: Helen Lee Bouygues When: 27/05/2019 Skeptic summary: Students took a test to measure their belief in pseudo-scientific ideas before ... (1164 words)

‘Spiritual healer' told dying cancer patient to stop medical treatment, authorities say Where: stuff.co.nz Who: Aisha Dow When: 25/01/2019 Skeptic summary: Despicable. When people are in a vulnerable ... (1283 words)

Anti-fluoride advert ruled 'socially irresponsible' Where: www.newshub.co.nz Who: Dan Satherley When: 3/11/18 Skeptic summary: Good work all those who complained. Fluoride is not a "Neurotoxin" and ... (849 words)

Cocksy, a celebrity builder on New Zealand TV, has cancer and is currently on an experimental new treatment. In an article on the NZ Herald, Cocksy spoke about how until recently he's been self ... (123 words)

The Crimes Amendment Bill passed its second reading in parliament this week, and it now looks likely that our blasphemy law will be repealed in the near future. This is great news, and is being ... (160 words)

SleepDrops is a New Zealand based company offering herbal/homeopathic products that are supposed to help you to sleep, although there's absolutely no evidence that they work. Last month SleepDrops ... (318 words)