David Riddell revisits the 2008 NZ Skeptics conference.
The NZ Skeptics learned first-hand that strange lights in the sky can have rational explanations as the annual conference kicked off at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls in Hamilton on 26 September.
By taping LEDs to lithium batteries and placing them in helium balloons participants achieved dramatic results – all filmed for Jono’s New Show, on C4, though the segment as broadcast (www.c4tv.co.nz/C4Videos/JonosNewShowVideos/tabid/612/Default.aspx) focused more on the possibilities of having sex with aliens. Billed as a Paranormal Special, the show was a humorous but merciless evisceration of ghosts, alien abductions and alternative health products. It made being sceptical look cool, even if it did suggest that a Skeptics conference was not a good place to pick up women.
The conference proper got under way the following morning, with Matthew Dentith arguing it was logically possible for there to be psychic phenomena which weren’t amenable to scientific investigation, though this didn’t necessarily mean they existed. As with all presentations, this generated plenty of discussion at mealtimes!
In a weekend of highlights, Felicity Goodyear-Smith’s presentation of her research into now-forgotten epidemics of non-sexually transmitted gonorrhoea in young girls stood out as a work of major social significance. Expect to see this and other presentations in future issues of NZ Skeptic, following on from Nick Petousis and Alison Campbell’s in this issue.
As always, the conference dinner was a great opportunity to relax and catch up with old friends or make new ones. Young Auckland magician Mark Robinson astounded everyone as he materialised one dove after another, and taught us all a simple mind-reading trick. Next year’s conference in Wellington can’t come soon enough.
