18 September 2023
In the first part of this story from a couple of weeks ago, I described how I had accidentally made friends with a Chinese scammer on WeChat, the Chinese all-in-one social media app, before I was invited to move our conversation to Telegram, a secure encrypted chat app. In Telegram I was courted by a young Chinese “woman” (the quote marks are because I have a strong suspicion I was being catfished and was actually talking to a man most of the time) who proceeded to tell me about how rich she was, and how she could also make me rich by helping me to invest my money in crypto and precious metals. Her aunt had the inside scoop on when to buy and sell, and so long as we followed her instructions, we were guaranteed to make money. Under the guidance of my new friend, I made a practice transaction of “0.01” with fake money, just before the app crashed and we said good night.
1 August 2006
Warwick Don celebrated the 21st annual NZ Skeptics conference by presenting a potted history of the society.
1 February 2002
The Psychology of the Psychic, 2nd edition, by David Marks. Prometheus Books.
1 November 1987
Self-proclaimed psychic Colin Amery is suing the former leader of the sceptics society, Dr David Marks, claiming his tarot card reading business crashed after Marks publicly questioned psychic abilities. Marks was senior psychology lecturer at Otago University when he tested Amery's claimed extrasensory powers.
1 November 1987
It's thumbs up for Sunday News in a long running battle with self proclaimed psychic Colin Amery.
1 August 1987
The Evening Post, Thursday, October 2, 1986
1 May 1987
A Christchurch expert on the Shroud of Turin, Dr Denis Dutton, was yesterday elected chairman of the New Zealand Skeptics Society, which investigates psychic claims.
1 May 1987
You have as much to gain by showing that someone has paranormal powers. David [Marks] and I would win a Nobel Prize if we could prove that. We've nothing to gain by just refuting another case.
1 May 1987
By all accounts the first annual meeting of the Society at. Dunedin recently was a great success. This edition of the Skeptic has been designated as a conference special as we thought that members would welcome a permanent record of an historical occasion. The timing of the conference was determined by David Marks' departure and this meant that several of us were unable to go. 1 could not go because I had to supervise the dress rehearsal of the school play (If you want to know, Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco and a great success).
1 May 1987
Any medium who demonstrates communication with spirits under controlled conditions will be able to collect $232,000, Dr David Marks, the chairman of New Zealand Skeptics said yesterday.