Skeptical Thoughts
October 2017
Here are the topics I chose to talk about on RadioLive for the month. Some of them may not have been mentioned on the radio due to a lack of time.
Show
October 15, 2017
Doterra selling cancer cure in NZ
Doterra is a successful multinational company which sells innovative medical treatments - or at least that's what they'd have you believe. In reality, it appears to be
4 min read, 701 words. Continue Reading...a Multi Level Marketing scheme, based on Essential Oils, which preys on vulnerable people and makes dangerous untrue claims about their products . Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Doterra
Christchurch private detective offering lie detector test which is unlikely to work
The prevailing scientific opinion on lie detector tests is that they don't work well enough to be relied on in courts as evidence - in fact, they're probably not even a good way of discerning the truth. Unfortunately a Christchurch based private detective is selling tests to couples
1 min read, 104 words. Continue Reading...as a way of finding out whether a partner has cheated. Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Polygraph
Breast Milk Soap
A company is making claims
1 min read, 168 words. Continue Reading...about their soap made out of breast milk. Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Milk
October 8, 2017
Sun protection pill goes on sale in NZ
NZ now has its second ingested product
2 min read, 302 words. Continue Reading...for sun protection being sold. The first hit the market a few years ago, and is from a company called Osmosis Skincare. Their product contains "harmonised" water, which is described as: Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Sunscreen
New healing device about to go on sale in NZ
A couple of years ago I went along to a talk in Wellington about a new device called the QTB (Quantum TrailBlazer), now rebranded as a QSB - Quantum Scalar Box
2 min read, 227 words. Continue Reading.... Back then the device was made from a piece of sewage pipe spray painted black, with several blue LEDs around the top. We were told to believe that the device was emitting "scalar waves" (a pseudo-scientific idea) on the Solfeggio frequencies. I sat there for half an hour while the device went through a range of these frequencies, supposedly healing areas of my life. Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, QTB, QSB
Conspiracy Theorists waste no time after Las Vegas shooting
These days, with modern technology, it only takes a matter of days after most tragic events before conspiracy theorists have converged on an "alternative narrative". For the Sandy Hook massacre, there are people who claim it was a "false flag" operation where no children were actually killed. For missing flight MH370, the aeroplane was apparently re-routed to a secret military base.
4 min read, 608 words. Continue Reading...Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Conspiracy, Shooting
October 1, 2017
The Apocalypse has been moved
David Meade, who I spoke about last month as predicting the end of the world around the 20th of September, has given us all a reprieve
1 min read, 107 words. Continue Reading.... Obviously the world didn't end, but he now says that October the 21st is the real end of the world. Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Religion, Apocalypse
The FreeMan movement/Sovereign Citizens
I recently found out that a movement which is popular in America has reached our shores
3 min read, 444 words. Continue Reading.... The Freeman movement, otherwise known as Sovereign Citizens, consists of people who believe that it is possible to declare yourself no longer beholden to the laws of your country, and not liable to pay taxes. Normally the process involves filling in obscure government forms, opting out of government forms of ID such as driving licenses and passports and writing signed declarations using lots of very big legal sounding words. Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Conspiracy, Freeman
Some great common sense advice from Rob Stock at Stuff
The Pharmacy Council recently ran a consultation about a new proposed Code of Ethics, after they tried to weaken their code a couple of years ago to remove the requirement that pharmacists could only sell alternative medicines where there was evidence that they work.
2 min read, 387 words. Continue Reading...Categories: Skepticism , Tags: Pseudoscience, Pharmacy