On the weekend Bronwyn and I, along with my 12 year old daughter, visited an open home to see a house that's currently on the market - a little subterfuge, acting like a happy family, all in the name of skepticism. However Bronwyn's asked that I don't talk about any of the details yet, so all you're getting for now is this teaser!
In a recent Skeptics Newsletter, I was a bit miffed about what I see as a lack of scepticism around the so-called 'energy transition'. Patrick highlighted a blog projecting that global investment in renewables would soon be more than spent on fossil fuels. And then there was the link to rewiring Aotearoa. I think it's important for us to be a bit skeptical about this so-called energy transition - which isn't happening, despite all the hype. There has indeed been addition of renewable energy, but no transition because we keep using more energy (from 2021 to 2024 fossil fuel additions still outstripped renewables 2.6:1).
I appreciated the look at plastic detox ideas and highlighting other silly things, but felt like part of the main point of concern around micro plastics was missed.
I was intending to do further blogs on esoteric climate related subjects such as the recent articles from the Guardian on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) changes that may be responsible for very significant alterations in the climate over the next century. Ocean currents are very much in the climate change news, and are certainly altering - likely due to the climate crisis - and have altered in the past, contributing to ice ages in the North and warming in the Southern hemisphere, documented from ice cores and other evidence.
It cannot have escaped anybody's notice that this week there was yet another mass shooting at a school in the USA - this time in Uvalde, Texas.
One of the many effects of climate change is that the oceans are rising. This is going to be an increasing problem for coastal settlements and island nations. But one American political candidate who has worked for Trump in the past, Scott Pio, thinks he's figured out an answer to the problem, and posted his idea on Twitter:
In a world where for some 2021 is already giving 2020 a run for its money, I'm trying to appreciate my freedoms. That includes the freedom to relax, drink cocktails and enjoy the balmy weather, and not get stressed out about where to put cocktail flavoured suppositories to solve make-believe problems invented by the wellness industry.
As Skeptics we're not very fond of scammers, and we often try to protect the public from those who would rip them off with dodgy devices and ineffective products. The video below documents a feat of engineering, a device that targets the problem in the US of people who steal people's parcels - and it targets them in a pretty funny way. Although theft is not really a scam, it's still enjoyable to see unethical people get their comeuppance - and it's mentioned later on in the video that this device has also recently been used against scammers. And to be honest, I needed a good excuse to share this video!
Understanding marketing tactics is a good way to learn how to be more skeptical about them. Knowledge can help you take off that wool you didn't know had been pulled over your eyes, and see the truth behind the lies, and hopefully be able to make a better decision about where and how to spend your hard earned cash.
Lockdown made me think of what it would be like to travel to Mars. Stuck in familiar confines, the same people around every day. The same food. A slowly diminishing blue marble the only vibrant object in a black sky hung with tiny white stars.
In a frankly scary move, the WHO are legitimising unproven medical therapies by including them in the new edition of its "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems" - ICD11.
Breakfast on 1 recently hosted a physiotherapist advertising the Shakti Mat - a yoga mat covered in plastic circles, with each circle consisting of 20 or more sharp spikes. The mat is supposed to work like a bed of nails, activating acupressure points. I've seen the mat sold at shows such as the Go Green Expo, and have stood on one - the points are really sharp, and without socks it was especially painful.
A Napier based psychic has been convicted of indecent assault. Craig Wright, called the Spirit Whisperer, has been offering his services in NZ for several years, and has even worked on a pilot for a TV show with Sue Nicholson. Now he's been found guilty of indecent assault of a teenager after performing a "ritual cleansing". Craig's defence was that he puts his finger in someone's belly button to find out if they are possessed by an entity. When he asserted that the victim had this problem, he took him to another room to rid him of the spiritual attachment and that is when the assault took place.
Healing crystals have become very popular recently, with people buying many different crystals to either wear or place in their homes and help with physical and mental health issues, monetary problems and any other problem you could imagine. There are even water bottles with crystals in that are supposed to somehow "energise" the water you drink.
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God has been handing out cross shaped vials of a "holy oil" which it says have been blessed in Jerusalem and can "activate people's faith" in order to treat medical conditions such as depression, addiction, heart problems and chronic pain.
Antonin Scalia, a conservative Supreme Court judge in the US, died this week at age 79. Scalia took some strange legal views in his time, such as this one on evolution:
Every second Thursday in Wellington a group of eager skeptics meet in a local pub and work on Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints and other skeptical activism topics.
First, please don't panic! This article is about pseudoscience and those who practice it, and does not require knowledge of mathematics.
Keith Garratt finds the NZ Homeopathic Society is capable of change.
Is wellbeing a subject that can be approached scientifically? The following article is a based on a presentation to the 2012 NZ Skeptics Conference.
Jim Ring finds some material to pass the time on a recent flight.
This article is drawn from interviews with Allan Coukell on the NZ National Radio science programme "Eureka!" in 2001.
Another year, another millennium. We saw the old century out in a very quiet manner, watching Stanley Kubrick's 2001 with friends in Auckland. A few fireworks exploded from the top of the Sky Tower -- and then it was bed time. Given that this was the day when the old century really ticked over, there was far less hooplah this time -- the cockroaches were especially quiet.
In which John Riddell continues his pub night discussions.
Three sketpics go head to head with a creationist lecturer.
I was interested to read the letters by Jim Ring and Felicity Goodyear-Smith to my article with the above title [NZ Skeptic 47].
Some problems cannot be resolved by just "getting it all out of your system", reports Nigel Hawkes.
This is the second half of the article begun in the last NZ Skeptic
This article originally appeared in the excellent US magazine Skeptic_, edited by Shermer, (Vol 2 No 3) and also forms Chapter 4 of Shermer's book_ Hope Springs Eternal: How Pseudoscience Works and Why People Believe in It_. It's a thought-provoking piece which should be handy reference for any skeptic's library. This is part one of three._
It's a mindbending situation, but I guess you'd have to call me a skeptical believer. Like parapsychologist Susan Blackmore, personal experience inclined me towards the idea that supernatural events really happen.
Zealand Publishing House, Tauranga
Homeopathy could provide the answer to New Zealand's possum problems, according to Napier Mayor Alan Dick.
Keith Lockett, our hard-pressed and indefatigable Editor, has particular difficulty in getting good material for the NZ Skeptic and it turns out that he is not alone in his editorial problems. One overseas skeptics group editor has offered a free subscription to the US Skeptical Inquirer to anyone who agrees to write a regular column. Another editorial, from the Iowa group, complains that "material was in short supply, as was time" and that "sometimes the time involved in putting together a newsletter like this can become large". These problems, which Keith will recognise readily, meant that their Fall issue was late and had to be combined with the Winter issue. Even then it was about the same size as one of our regular issues.
For most individuals the result of a consultation with a psychic is a good laugh. But some get hurt.
I am making the transition from part to full time availability and thus need to expand the number of people who are aware of what I have to offer.