29 April 2024
Last week I went to Australia for a holiday. Although tourist traps are not my idea of a good holiday destination, I have a family, and when you're a parent, holidays tend to be more about the kids than your own preferences. And so off we went to the Gold Coast - a place that was both warm and had lots of theme parks.
30 October 2023
I recently received a friend request from Judy Eliassan, the office admin for the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists - an Auckland-based organisation I'm involved with that fights for secularisation of our country. This friend request was odd, as I was a little surprised that I wasn't already friends with her. But at first glance the account looked legitimate, as we already had a mutual friend. So, not thinking too much of it, I clicked the Accept button. A couple of hours later I realised that, no, I was already Facebook friends with the real Judy, and the account I had just friended was a cloned account (the cloned account is on the right below):
1 February 2011
Creationism is not a new problem in New Zealand schools, as this article excerpt from_ NZ Skeptic 18 _(December 1990) illustrates.
1 August 2004
A couple of months ago we were visiting my brother, and got talking about a friend of his, who had enrolled in a counselling course. It turned out that the course had come to be dominated by some rather staunch Maori elements, and my brother's friend, as one of only two non-Maori on the course, was embroiled in a dispute in which racial lines were very clearly drawn. But he was confident he had ammunition which would knock the course leaders off their perch, in the form of a book, Ancient Celtic New Zealand (see Feature Article). This purported to show that Europeans had in fact colonised this country thousands of years ago, and had established a thriving neolithic culture, until they were displaced by Maori early in the last millennium.
1 November 2001
I'm pleased to welcome you officially to the 21st century, which I suspect will need Skeptics every bit as much as the last century, judging by the general level of activity over the past year.
1 November 2000
This year's Bent Spoon Award from the NZ Skeptics has been won by Wellington Hospital for encouraging their nursing staff to claim special healing powers through the laying on of hands.
1 November 1999
When the Holmes programme showcased the new "healing touch" service operated by Wellington Hospital, we swung into action with the following fax:
1 August 1998
Bernard Howard proposes an answer to a curly question.
1 August 1993
The programme for the 1993 Skeptics Conference is still under development, but it's shaping up to be really interesting. It'll be a rather omnivorous event, complete with meat and teeth. Come along for the usual humour and frivolity that make our conferences fun, but also be prepared to be challenged.
1 May 1990
You may be aware that 'crop circles' have been much in the news recently in the UK. In case you have not seen them, they are perfect rings or discs of flattened crops which apparently form overnight, sometimes in groups.
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.