Articles tagged with "explanation"

South Island UFO

24 April 2023

Jonny Grady, a long-time committee member, sent an image he'd taken of a “UFO” to the committee last week:

Triangular UFO “mystery” solved

27 April 2021

An interesting video has appeared on YouTube which gives a rational explanation for a UFO video taken by US Navy personnel.

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 Starlink, a company that is providing satellite based internet - with a few tens of thousands of satellites planned to be deployed over the next few years. There are valid questions about whether these devices are damaging to astronomy, and have the potential to clutter earth's orbit, but they're definitely not visiting aliens. If you are able to get out and see these satellites as they maneuver themselves into their operational orbits, I'd definitely recommend it. I saw them late last year, and it was an impressive sight - a real testament to modern technology.

Spontaneous Human Combustion in London

17 December 2017

In September, a 70 year old man apparently burst into flames in London. It's a sad event, and a horrible way to die. The press have started calling it a case of Spontaneous Human Combustion - the idea that people sometimes just randomly burn.

A French perspective on some old favourites

1 May 2006

Debunked! by G Charpak & H Broch, translator BK Holland. Johns Hopkins University Press, Reviewed by Bernard Howard.

Basket Case, or The Affair of the Disembodied Head

1 August 1997

EARLY in 1996 Mrs Carol McDonald and her family of Halswell, near Christchurch, were party to an apparent supernatural event, an event that became quite topical at Mrs McDonald's workplace, the Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre at Lincoln. This centre is home to a number of Crown Research Institutes, including the home offices of Landcare Research Ltd. and Crop and Food Research Ltd., branches of AgResearch and HortResearch, and a number of smaller organisations.

Comets

1 August 1997

THE other day I was doing a spot of painting with the help of a friend. She was telling me about a fancy dress party she'd gone to, and how some friends had dressed up all in green, as aliens.

Playing with Fire

1 August 1997

AROUND 40 years ago, at Hull Fair in England, I saw a man dip his fingers in molten lead. He also poured it into his palm and ran it through his fingers. He seemed to suffer no harm although it was real lead; I found a solidified splash and checked. In my vacations I used to work for one of the showmen at the fair, so I found my boss. "That fellow with the molten lead, why doesn't he burn his hands?"

The Forest of Flying Sheep

1 May 1996

It is rare that Nelson interests the world's news media. The "sheep suspended from pine trees" story was sufficiently bizarre to get their attention.

Magician Appears

1 August 1994

On 8 February 1994, Professor Clyde F. Herreid, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Buffalo, gave a talk in the Department of Zoology, University of Otago entitled "The Magician as Skeptic". Notices were circulated to zoology staff and senior students, other university departments, and to local skeptics. Some 40 people thoroughly enjoyed the talk. Professor Herreid demonstrated, using a variety of magical tricks, how important it is that a natural explanation should always be sought for an apparently paranormal phenomenon. If such is not immediately forthcoming, any attempt at an explanation should be held in abeyance.

Fossil Man Tracks in Texas Officially Rebuked

1 November 1988

The Creationists' tactics in getting their ideas accepted are not to promote their own (the biblical) version of creation but to attack the "orthodox" scientific view. A constant barrage of criticism of evolutionary theory and of geological theories on age and origin of the earth (and universe) is levelled with the aim of discrediting the theory or theories. Then, with a nimble leap sideways, it is concluded that "The Alternative" explanation is just as likely to be true, "the alternative" being of course the Genesis account. This ploy cleverly presents the biblical account as a viable alternative to an existing scientific theory thereby conferring upon the account the status of an "alternative scientific theory" and obscuring its real nature—that of a religious notion. This constant attack forces scientists into a defensive position—defending their theories by rebutting the creationist arguments.