10 June 2024
When I first became interested in skepticism back in the 90s, I started finding communities on the internet (little did I know that we had our own skeptical organisation here in Aotearoa/New Zealand), and one of the prominent people I encountered was Michael Shermer.
18 March 2024
With the encouragement of Mark and Bronwyn from the NZ Skeptics committee, I attended a meeting about Effective Altruism at Rationalist House in Auckland on the evening of 13th March.
4 March 2024
In the news this past week has been the announcement of the potential closing of Newshub at the end of June this year.
5 September 2022
This week I'm taking a look at a cult-like organisation in Australia that's advertising itself on social media - The World Transformation Movement, or Human Condition. I'm left a little confused about how it's all meant to work.
7 March 2022
Speaking of Voices for Freedom, last weekend investigative journalist Melanie Reid from Newsroom did a video piece on the protest - Visit to Freedom Village - which featured the Voices for Freedom leaders in a very positive light.
11 October 2021
In the last newsletter I wrote, I discussed an open letter, penned by Mary Hobbs. Since publishing one of our contacts wrote to supply some more details. It appears that Mary and her husband are Scientologists, and deeply involved in that organisation, even making regular trips to Sydney to clear out a few Thetans, or whatever it is that they do. They even hosted Tom Cruise some time ago on a visit to NZ.
1 May 2019
In early January 2019, NZ Skeptics were alerted by an eagle-eyed supporter in Wellington to the almost unbelievable sight of a city-infrastructure employee apparently dowsing for water pipes on Willis Street! The employee was clearly wearing a 'Downer NZ' hi-vis jacket. Downer is an infrastructure company contracted by Wellington Water, the arm of the Wellington City Council which is responsible for maintaining the city's water system as a whole. Initially, we contacted the Wellington City Council, and were told they knew nothing about the dowsing. Our phone number was passed onto Downer, who contacted us, and seemed pleased to field enquiries which appeared to be other than complaints about noise. Downer eventually confirmed that the person really was an employee, and that they were indeed 'dowsing' for water pipes!
11 March 2018
The field of Artificial Intelligence is blooming at the moment, with companies like Google and Alexa delivering small, inexpensive devices to your living room for $75 that can listen to you talk and tell you the weather, order pizza and turn your TV on.
1 May 2007
Four Papua New Guinea women, believed by fellow villagers to have used sorcery to cause a fatal road crash, were tortured with hot metal rods to confess, then murdered and buried standing up in a pit (Stuff, 25 January).