31 March 2025
After having written in the last issue about the committee's hesitance to let people submit articles for inclusion in the newsletter that include significant AI content, I wasn't totally surprised to receive an email from Peter Harrison, who we've had on our podcast before talking about AI. What did surprise me, though, was the formal tone of his letter - which at first I took to be a little passive-aggressive. However, this and the Americanized spelling still didn't tip me off as to the real author of the email:
3 February 2025
In the first part of this article, I looked at some of the common archaeological misconceptions used to spread doubt about Māori being the first to settle New Zealand. Having spent some time debunking some of the more common ideas floating around on social media, which are supposedly covered up to hide the “truth”, this second part will be devoted to looking at the more widely accepted versions of historical events.
27 May 2024
On May 10th, New Zealand First MP Tanya Unkovich lodged a proposal for the Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill (https://bills.parliament.nz/v/1/667c1a87-e8f8-4ea7-8ab9-08dc70a23431). This is similar to recent laws put forward both in the UK and across the US, in that it would require separate single sex male only, female only, and unisex toilets in new buildings.
13 November 2023
In the last two weeks, since my last newsletter, I've been re-visited by Mormon sisters - who stayed to talk with me for an epic three hours, and have promised to come back again with more congregation members. I've also managed to catch COVID for a second time. Thankfully the second time round, although just as painful for the first few days, doesn't seem to have had the long-lasting after-effects (tiredness, lack of taste) that it did the first time.
2 October 2023
Crybully: “A person who engages in intimidation, harassment, or other abusive behaviour while claiming to be a victim” - Wiktionary
4 September 2023
For this week's newsletter, I bumped into a news story about Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist who seems to be making a career out of making unfounded claims of having discovered aliens. On the back of the recent David Grusch shenanigans in the US, it's not surprising that the public are hungry for alien stories, and Avi has a great one for them to feast on - it's just sad that it's likely going to end up being found to be nothing more than sloppy science and wild conjecture.
14 August 2023
Most kiwis will be aware that it's election year, with the general election only a few months away, scheduled for Saturday 14th October.
10 July 2023
We have some fun articles coming up in the next few weeks. Firstly, my time in the Church of Almighty God (Eastern Lightning) has come to an end, and not through my choosing. I'll be writing one final article about the group, as well as publishing a piece from Wellington Skeptics in the Pub member Tim Atkin about how the church managed to spread so widely under strict communist rule in China. Dan Ryan talked with me the other day about some spammy Facebook ads he's been getting recently for a hair analysis service, and as we looked into it at our regular Skeptical Activism meeting, we realised that not only could we have a little fun with this (I have a friend who works for Auckland Zoo who's on board for some interesting testing), but also digging deeper we realised some interesting information about the people running the scam. More on that soon, hopefully!
24 April 2023
The NZ Skeptics held an SGM (Special General Meeting) on the weekend to go over our proposed new constitution and vote on its adoption. We're doing this because there's an upcoming change in the law that will require Societies' constitutions to be aligned with the new law's requirements. Thankfully we have an active committee, and several members were willing to give up several hours in their weekends to go through the new constitution recommended by Companies Office (who administer Societies) and integrate the key parts of our old constitution with the new one. We also injected a few skeptically-themed easter eggs into our new constitution, so that it's not an entirely boring read. Thanks to everyone who turned up to our SGM and voted to accept our new constitution, and to those who suggested changes.
14 November 2022
We're now under two weeks away from our annual conference, being held in Wellington (25th - 27th November) - our first in-person meeting since the pandemic. We've got an exciting lineup of speakers, but the best part will be meeting up with fellow skeptics again and being able to share thoughts in person. I'm looking forward to it - you can find out more on the conference website. I hope to see you there.
17 October 2022
In just over a month we're having the gathering of the year - this year's in-person skeptics conference - our first since 2019.
3 October 2022
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. We'd love to see you there.
4 July 2022
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, Eckankar, Freedom Village, Transformation Into The New Paradigm and more. The titles of some of the recent emails I've received include such gems as:
13 June 2022
Way back when we first started writing the weekly newsletter, one of our earliest topics was the QAnon movement, and the shocking events of the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol in the US. This week, the committee investigating those events held its first public hearings on prime-time TV. I spent a little of my Friday afternoon with the live stream of it playing while I worked. There were some shocking revelations, though I'm guessing that many people already suspected a lot of what was revealed.
18 April 2022
I might well be stealing Mark's thunder here, as he has written extensively on NFTs in the past.
14 February 2022
I hope everyone is having a great Valentine's day, and that none of you are stuck in a muddy field somewhere dealing with sanitation issues ;)
27 December 2021
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has successfully launched!
18 October 2021
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.
5 July 2021
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 getting it published is likely to fuel anti-vax misinformation.
24 March 2021
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 technology.
15 March 2021
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. Apparently earlier this year, in January, she found both four and five leaf clovers.
4 January 2021
Welcome to the first newsletter of the new year. I think we can all agree that 2020 was a fairly exceptional year, and not in a good way. 2021 has rolled around, and the common expectation is that it's going to be much better than 2020! I feel we're falling for some cognitive effect that rolling over the calendar provides us - and that maybe it's not going to turn out that way.
4 January 2021
We're written about the Advance NZ political party in the past, and about their conspiracy-theory-driven policies and public statements.
8 July 2018
A seller of magic charms in Nigeria has been killed this week while demonstrating a bullet repelling charm. The sale of charms and potions is commonplace in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, and the charms are very popular.
17 December 2017
Adding legitimacy to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the first citizenship has just taken place with a new citizen wearing a colander on his head. Bjorn Oback, from Germany, wore a colander in Hamilton recently.
5 June 2016
Family first have confused correlation and causation in a recent report, and stated that unmarried couples are a major cause of child poverty.
14 February 2016
Hang bags of water around to keep flies away. Coins or bits of tin foil can be used inside the bags.
1 February 2015
Luke Oldfield discusses the art of engaging with a 'Non-Opinion'
1 November 2011
After almost 15 years of intermittently tagging along with her parents, Iris Riddell reports on her first official attendance at a NZ Skeptics Conference.
1 November 2009
THE 2009 annual NZ Skeptics Conference in Wellington was its usual mix of good times and thought-provoking material, though with some unique touches. The Kingsgate Hotel was a rather more luxurious venue than we're used to; the few problems that arose were mostly due to the high number of late enrolments, making this one of the largest gatherings in recent years.
1 November 2009
Gold gives the inside story of the beginnings of Skeptics in the Pub meetings in New Zealand.
1 May 2009
When the Sunday Star-Times decided to survey the nation on how superstitious New Zealanders are and about what, Vicki Hyde got used as a guinea pig. Part One of her responses was published in the last issue of the NZ Skeptic. This is Part Two.
1 November 2008
Modern skepticism owes a huge debt to ancient Greece. This article is based on a presentation to the 2008 NZ Skeptics Conference
1 August 2006
Jim Ring takes another look at Bishop Ussher's famous date for the creation.
1 August 2006
Warwick Don celebrated the 21st annual NZ Skeptics conference by presenting a potted history of the society.
1 February 2006
Research scientist Hamish Campbell spoke of his experiences as Te Papa's museum geologist at the 2005 NZ Skeptics conference.
1 August 2003
A Washington think-tank has announced a breakthrough in the search for a pattern in the seemingly random episodes of US military aggression since the war.
1 February 2003
A Feng Shui practitioner who died while on a life mastery course in Fiji was ready to leave his body, his widow believes. Stephanie Challis, pictured in the Nelson Mail (11 December 2002) smiling happily with her three children, told how her 41 year old husband Will had undergone a course of body cleansing which involved colonic hydrotherapy and drinking quantities of good quality water.
1 May 2002
University days are a great time to explore new directions. But sometimes you may end up a long way from where you thought you were going.
1 February 2002
The Psychology of the Psychic, 2nd edition, by David Marks. Prometheus Books.
1 May 1999
THROUGH various articles, books, radio and TV programs, most New Zealanders will be familiar with the name Richard Pearse. Many are convinced that Pearse flew before the first official flight in history, made by the Wright brothers on 17th Dec 1903. Some are indignant that Pearse has not received the recognition that he deserved. The best book on the subject is The Riddle of Richard Pearse by Gordon Ogilvie first published in 1973 and revised in 1994. Ogilvie provides an objective account and he personally discovered some of the most important evidence in this case. Nevertheless he draws some strange conclusions at times.
1 February 1999
Founding member Bernard Howard reminisces on the Skeptics' history in this guest editorial.
1 May 1997
NEW ZEALAND MYSTERIES, by Robyn Gosset; Bush Press, 1996; 208 pages; $29.95
1 August 1995
The Geller case has ended -- the "psychic" is to begin a court-ordered payment of up to $120,000 to CSICOP USA.
1 August 1994
Congratulations on featuring the superb contribution from Peter Münz in Skeptic 31. It seems to concur with a passage from Antony Flew I have just been reading. He says that to know something is "to believe what is in fact true, and to be rationally justified in that belief". Like most people shivering in the postmodernist shadow, my first reaction was to draw back, thinking that all seemed a bit too definite. Surely it's not still allowed to be definite about something?
1 May 1990
"Three Kiwi soldiers' shock claim 'ALIENS TOOK GALLIPOLI REGIMENT". So declared the front page of New Truth's 25 August 1989 issue.
1 November 1989
Thanks again to members who have sent me material. I now have so much, that for the first time, I shall have to hold some over until the next issue. Thanks to H. Ruis of Tokoroa who kindly sent me the reply from Irene F. Hughes. It now appears that the psychic never visited N.Z. at all and her facilities are only available from her Chicago office and not from Auckland. She was not willing to send out copies of her citations for crime busting.
1 November 1989
The education subcommittee of the US CSICOP is working on two projects: First, it is compiling materials on the scientific investigation of the paranormal, suitable for 6 and 7th form High school and for University level and second it is designing a'set of guidelines for tertiary institutions considering offering extension and adult courses on paranormal subjects. If you are interested in these topics and can suggest something that might be useful to them, you are urged to contact the Chairperson: Steven Hoffmaster, Education Subcommittee CSICOP, Physics Department, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, 99258, USA.
1 August 1989
Sometimes a programme really makes one think about how television defines what is important for us to know about.
1 February 1989
The first two NZCSICOP conferences enjoyed such success that they are difficult acts to follow ... but our third conference may prove the most lively of all.
1 November 1988
The Spectator, 20 September 1986