I love the summer because it means road trips. And road trips mean podcasts and audiobooks. And podcasts and audiobooks usually mean an hour or so of debate and discussion with whoever is unfortunate enough to be stuck in the car with me. Usually it's over something frivolous, like how an audiobook episode of Doctor Who couldn't possibly work because, you know, time travel. Other times it's something more serious, and then fun time is over.
Australian Anti-vaccination activist's 11 week old daughter hospitalised for whooping cough, which kills 1 in 200 children who pick up the infection.
There has been a major end of the world prediction about every 100 years or so from 66AD onwards. Then from 1500AD (16th Century) every 10 years, then by the 1970s pretty much every year.
This issue we have a Guest Editorial piece by Lisa Taylor. Lisa is a proofreader and writer for NZ Skeptic, and is an active member of Wellington's Science-Based Healthcare Activism and the NZ Skeptics Committee.
MagneSleep lost an ASA complaint about a magnetic bracelet they sell, and they don't like me
A crew member felt their trousers being tugged, the bottom of someone's seat was kicked, a chandelier prop worked intermittently, and a hat was knocked off
A blood moon is a new name for a lunar eclipse, where the earth travels between the sun and the moon. The full moon turns red.
A Southern Cross survey suggested some 1.56m New Zealanders regularly took the products. About 750,000 had done so for at least five years.
[A new website](http://asa.sbh.nz/?sbh) shows stats for ASA complaints. There are lots of companies making unsupported claims, such as Life Energy Designs - who tell us that the earth poisons us with Electromagnetic Waves ("Geopathic Stress…
Ahh, winter. The season when I stare forlornly out the window, looking at the rain and wind, my pockets filled to the brim with tissues, wondering how it can be that there are so many brainy people in the world and we still haven't found a cure for the common cold.
As a teacher, it's unsurprising that I often come face to face with issues to do with children. I don't pretend to be an expert on children, and neither am I a parent, pediatrician or psychologist. However, while the government is making their laws, and social media is debating the ins and outs, and parents are wailing about their parenting rights, I have been there with the kid who has nothing for breakfast, the kid who thinks hitting is a way to solve problems, and the kid who thinks a certain way because that's what his mum and dad think.
I found out what a skeptic is when I was living in London. My husband Mark listened to a weekly podcast called The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe hosted by a bunch of brothers and their friends. After Mark finally persuaded me to arrive at the 21st century and purchase myself an iPod, the first thing he did was subscribe me to the podcast.
It's about 25 years since I joined the NZ Skeptics, and eight years since I took on the editorship of this magazine. It's been fun, but it's time I handed the NZ Skeptic on to other hands, so this will be my last issue as editor. Thank-you to all who have contributed over the years; together we've covered a lot of ground. I thought I'd indulge myself a little here by looking back over past issues and some of the material in them.
So after a break of almost 13 months, fluoride is now back in Hamilton's water supply. It was 5 June last year that the council, after three months of public consultations, submissions and hearings, decided to cease fluoridation, despite clear support for the practice from the Hamilton populace and the medical profession. In doing so they bowed to pressure from a well-organised and well-funded lobbying campaign, and ignored scientific evidence, which they said they lacked the expertise to assess (for background on the funding of the anti-fluoride lobby, see Ken Perrott's excellent analysis at openparachute.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/who-is-funding-anti-fluoridation-high-court-action(.
The game is … on. I've recently rewatched the new Sherlock and my partner always reacts to that misquote.
And so another year begins, and as I write this on New Year's Day 2014 there is the opportunity, as with every new year, to reflect on past years and consider the prospects for the future. 2014 will no doubt be an especially busy year for recollections and commemorations, marking as it does the centenary of the start of World War I. Few could have had any idea, on that New Year's Day of a century ago, of what the next few years would bring.
In spite of the quality international line-up of scientists and science communicators at September's annual NZ Skeptics Conference in Wellington, it's probably not surprising that most of the media attention on the event focused on the presence of medium Sue Nicholson (see NZ Skeptic 93). Many in the audience seemed bemused to see her there, and Nicholson, for her part, didn't seem to have much idea of what the Skeptics were about. "My Dad was as sceptical as anybody," she said. "He had no time for black people."
It took Hamilton City Councillors about one hour to banish fluoride from the city's water supply on 5 June, a move Waikato Medical Officer of Health Dr Felicity Dumble said discounted the mainstream opinion of the vast majority of dentists and doctors in Hamilton and in New Zealand.
In Issue 100 of the NZ Skeptic I commented on how issues of concern to this society never seem to go away. A classic example of the moment is the case of Neon Roberts, the seven-year-old English boy whose New Zealand-born mother took him into hiding rather than have him subjected to radiotherapy along with chemotherapy to treat his aggressive brain tumour, and fought in the courts for her right to use alternative therapies instead.
Two of this issue's articles have a lot in common. Keith Garratt (p 7( and Michael Edmonds (p 13( both illustrate how individuals can make a difference through active skepticism, whether it be making a submission to a parliamentary select committee, or taking a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority. And Darcy Cowan, who writes the Scepticon blog, has scored a major coup by setting in motion a process which led to the Immunisation Awareness Society losing its charitable status (Newsfront, p 11).
If the beliefs of a sizeable number of people turn out to be correct, this will be the final issue of the NZ Skeptic. According to a survey of 16,262 people in 21 countries conducted by market research company Ipsos for Reuters News, two percent of respondents strongly agree, and eight percent somewhat agree, with the proposition that 21 December 2012, the end of the current cycle of the Mayan Long Count calendar, marks the end of the world. Perhaps surprisingly agreement is highest in China (20 percent), while the Germans and Indonesians (four percent) are relatively dubious. One could perhaps question the representativeness of the sample (comprised of people who have agreed to take part in online surveys), but there must be a lot of people out there who are really worried about this.
George Gwaze was first cleared of the murder of his adopted daughter Charlene Makaza on 21 May 2008. At the time I wrote in NZ Skeptic 88's Newsfront that it had taken since the first week of 2007 for him to be acquitted of a non-existent crime: Charlene had died from a massive Aids:related infection. Little did I realise the Crown would retry the case - the only time a Not Guilty verdict has been overturned in a New Zealand court - and Gwaze would have to face another four years to clear his name.
On a recent visit to New Plymouth I was rather taken aback to see a billboard outside a central city church posing the question: "Evolution? How come we still have apes?" It wasn't so much surprise that someone could know so little about evolutionary theory that they would think this was a persuasive argument - versions of this are often to be seen in the less sophisticated creationist publications - it was more that they should feel the urge to display their ignorance on a busy street corner.
A recent UMR Research poll has provided a snapshot of what New Zealanders believe about a range of paranormal subjects. More than half accept that some people have psychic powers; on the other hand, only 24 percent think astrology can be used to predict people's futures and two thirds do not believe aliens have visited the Earth.
The Natural Health Products Bill passed its first reading in Parliament in September. It appears to have wide support across most political parties, and those who follow such things expect it to pass into law next year without significant amendment (www.lawfuel.co.nz/releases/release.asp?NewsID=2763).