The Wellington Astrology centre, a drop-in office in central Wellington, is struggling to make ends meet and has turned to Pledge Me to raise funds. It's been running since 2011, but now needs $3,000 to cover the next 3 months of bills.

Up to 80 kids - 1 in 4 - at Brunswick North West Primary School in Melbourne have contracted chicken pox. The school is tolerant or even welcoming of parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids. Newsletters have reiterated this view:

A Bronx priest stole more than $1M from two NYC churches, and used the cash on a wild S&M romance with his beefy boyfriend

Rod Parsley of the World Harvest church isn't relying on his healing abilities to treat his throat cancer but is seeking actual medical treatments.

An osteopath in Christchurch has been disciplined for treating a patient's toothache by touching her breast.

Australian Anti-vaccination activist's 11 week old daughter hospitalised for whooping cough, which kills 1 in 200 children who pick up the infection.

Former accountant turned psychic took $250 thousand from an elderly couple in a rest home who had been friends with him for 30 years. The money was taken over a period of 12 years.

During the recent visit of Pope Francis to the United States, in every city he visited, (Washington DC, New York City and Philadelphia,) there were people at the fringes of the largest crowds wearing bright yellow shirts, often carrying large yellow signs, handing out literature proclaiming the end of the world for October 7, 2015 from eBible Fellowship, led by Chris McCann.

House Network in the UK is offering a ghost-free home certification service, and they point to a report that says that:

MagneSleep lost an ASA complaint about a magnetic bracelet they sell, and they don't like me

Shepherd Bushiri has claimed in a video that he is walking on air.

The NHS are advertising for a spiritual healer.

Dr David Evans has found that, while the underlying physics of the model is correct, it had been applied incorrectly.

A bravo was awarded at last year's conference to Graeme Hill for his ongoing promotion of science and challenging of pseudoscience on Radio Live.

A new website shows stats for ASA complaints. There are lots of companies making unsupported claims, such as Life Energy Designs - who tell us that the earth poisons us with Electromagnetic Waves ("Geopathic Stress") and that we should purchase their devices to keep us protected.

The awards are hosted by the Pharmacy Guild of NZ and Pharmacy Today.

Most of the serious claims have already been removed, after I talked to them on the phone, but Resene still talk about crystal energy and other nonsense concepts.

Dr Mason is currently touring in New Zealand:

Waisake Naholo's miracle healing Waisake Naholo has a cracked fibula - the smaller of the lower leg bones (alongside the tibia).

There has been a major end of the world prediction about every 100 years or so from 66AD onwards. Then from 1500AD (16th Century) every 10 years, then by the 1970s pretty much every year.

Regent theatre, Dunedin, playing Phantom of the Opera.

A silly article on Stuff recently talked about the benefits of a haka before playing rugby:

NASA announced ahead of time that it would be holding a press release about an important discovery. Lots of speculation, as always. Maybe life on mars, although no hardware to test properly for life on Mars.

The Pharmacy Council is trying to change part of its Code of Ethics: Here is the old code:

One in 13 men will develop prostate cancer before the age of 75.

Matthew Dawson-Clarke, 24, from Auckland was in Peru and took part in a cleansing ceremony.

The Dalai Lama has spoken about his successor, and suggested that if it's a woman, they would have to be attractive.

Apparently the current drought in California is a conspiracy.

A blood moon is a new name for a lunar eclipse, where the earth travels between the sun and the moon. The full moon turns red.

Stuff published an article last week about Tamaha McDonald, from Blenheim, who is currently living in Mexico. Tamaha's wife, Jennifer, suffers from a lung condition which means that she needs a double lung transplant. They are currently raising money to help with this.

A Southern Cross survey suggested some 1.56m New Zealanders regularly took the products. About 750,000 had done so for at least five years.

There was a Republican candidate debate on Wednesday, and I thought it would be good to look at the wrong-headed thinking of some of the candidates regarding vaccines.

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people laugh, and then think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.