I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that Ken Ring, the moon forecaster, died on the 21st of October. If anyone had any dealings with Ken and would like to write an obituary for this newsletter from a skeptical perspective, I'd be happy to publish it. read more...
I was hoping to publish an article from our Skeptic of the Year winner, Lee Traynor, this week, but sadly there was no room for it and so you'll all have to wait a fortnight to hear the fascinating story of when he worked with James Randi to expose some woo peddlers. read more...
October's shaping up to be a great month for skepticism - not only do we have Halloween at the end of the month, with both spooky nonsense events and rival Christian nonsense events, but also on Tuesday the 13th it's International Skeptics Day, which is being celebrated this year by running the annual online Global Skeptics in the Pub event. And, if that's not enough, the Decult conference is happening on the weekend of the 24th and 25th of October. There are more details on both of these events below, including an awesome 2 for 1 deal for Decult tickets. read more...
I've just spent a few days away with my family, enjoying being in the middle of nowhere and ignoring my emails - I took my laptop with me, but it stayed in its bag for the entire trip. Now I'm back to reality, and sending this newsletter out a couple of days late as a result of my absence. read more...
Lance Kennedy's article from a couple of weeks ago seems to have put the cat among the pigeons. I messaged Bronwyn and Katrina the day before I sent out the last newsletter, saying about Lance's article on UV exposure “_Lance's might be a little pseudoscientific but we'll let our readers figure that out and respond_”. It turns out I could be “kind of psychic”, as we've received responses from not one but three readers. read more...
After our recent 40th anniversary celebrations, David and Liz wrote to say that they were unable to make it to our most recent AGM, held at our conference, but that they did make it to the first one! They sent me a picture of the program for the first conference, including the AGM at lunch time on the Sunday, as well as a picture of the book they purchased from speaker David Marks. read more...
A few days ago Craig Shearer messaged the rest of the NZ Skeptics committee with the below photo, and asked us all “What's a skeptic to do?”: read more...
It's less than two weeks until our conference in Christchurch, and we're busy sorting out the last few loose ends. We now have tickets available for our Saturday evening soiree, so if you're coming to the conference and want to chill out with other skeptics, the committee of the NZ Skeptics, the SGU and some of our other weekend speakers, make sure you grab your tickets soon! It's only $40 for an evening featuring entertainment, canapes, and cheap booze. read more...
After a dry spell of a few months, since early February, I was finally visited a couple of weeks ago by some new missionaries. After briefly chatting with them and asking them to come back last week, I also received a Facebook IM from one of the local overseers - a retired man who has come to New Zealand from Utah as a missionary administrator, and who helps to look after the church and the young missionaries arriving here from around the world: read more...
A few weeks ago, fellow Skeptics in the Pub member Tim and I went on a visit to an event run by a group in NZ called Thinking Matters. The event was an opportunity to meet and argue with an “atheist” - although in reality the atheist in question was Jonathan Noyes, a Christian from the US who used to be an atheist until his mid-20s. It was a really interesting evening, where the gimmick was that as soon as Jonathan put on his baseball cap he took on the persona of a slightly obnoxious but knowledgeable atheist. Apart from the occasional insult, using phrases like “ignorant goat herders” and “sky daddy”, he did a fairly good job of laying out some of the main reasons atheists have for not believing in God. read more...
…if you're a student. Come on, you knew there was going to be a catch! But, if you are a student or know one who might be keen, please check out Lee Traynor's article below where he explains a little about his very generous offer of covering the ticket costs for up to 20 students coming to our conference. Lee's been to some of our conferences in the past, visited us at the Wellington Skeptics in the Pub, and also helped out with our still-to-be-finished-off (and the fault here lies entirely with me) plagiarism project. read more...
This is the last week to pick up tickets for our conference in Christchurch at the end of July at a discounted price - from the 1st of June, the tickets will go up to their full price. So if you want to come and see the SGU, their entourage, and some engaging and informative local speakers, book now to avoid disappointment! read more...
Sara, one of our ex-committee members, messaged me last week, sending me a picture of a product she found in a shop in Wellington and saying “saw this and thought of you”. The picture was of a product called Pu$$y Power, by a company named MOOYAM. It's hard to read the label in the image, but the bottle describes the contents as “a crystal infused yoni and vaginal wash”, that contains “Rose quartz for the energy of love. Herbal & flower powered. Chemical free.” Underneath that it states: “Repeat after me: “My pussy is powderful”” (which I assume is a typo rather than a pun, as this is a liquid and not a powder): read more...
On the weekend Bronwyn and I, along with my 12 year old daughter, visited an open home to see a house that's currently on the market - a little subterfuge, acting like a happy family, all in the name of skepticism. However Bronwyn's asked that I don't talk about any of the details yet, so all you're getting for now is this teaser! read more...
It's always good when we get feedback to this newsletter, and it doesn't even have to be positive! Unlike many groups, we're the kind of organisation that relishes constructive criticism and correction - and so this week's first three articles are great to have received. Firstly Mike Joy has taken the time to expand on the concerns he had about an area of climate change and fossil fuel dependence that he thought we haven't covered very well in the past. Patrick Medlicott has responded to Mike's concerns, agreeing with him that renewable energy sources aren't currently replacing fossil fuels - they're just being added on top of fossil fuel use. On a tangentially related topic, Tyler has written about Katrina's treatment of microplastics, arguing that although we don't yet know if microplastics are a problem, it may be prudent to treat them as if they are. read more...
Last weekend I roped (no pun intended) my kids into a fun little project, making a mystery/conspiracy board as a decoration for our house. For the low cost of $22 for a cork board, $4 for a pack of 200 pins, $4 for a box of 400 sticky notes and $4 for red yarn (all from The Warehouse), along with a bunch of free community newspapers and promotional brochures, we spent a couple of hours putting together a great looking board: read more...