It’s an almost unassailably universal opinion that money doesn’t buy happiness. The notion is deeply ingrained in popular culture, which abounds with cautionary tales of miserable plutocrats, from Ebeneezer Scrooge to Charles Foster Kane in fiction, and J Paul Getty and Howard Hughes in real life. Held up
It’s very fashionable these days to witter about the “Islamic Golden Age” and ‘indigenous’ science. No doubt the type of people who bandy such nostrums about fondly imagine that they’re being terribly cosmopolitan and graciously ‘anti-racist’, or some such nonsense. What they’re really being is ignorant
Gary Moller garymoller.com A health professional wrote to me: “What is the latest word on ivermectin? Siouxsie Wiles quotes a 2023 study and others that appear to throw cold water on its efficacy against Covid.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300814481/siouxsie-wiles-ivermectin-is-for-parasites-not-
It’s a funny thing, but even the most hardened people who’ve developed a thick skin to the suffering of their fellow humans will turn into incandescent balls of rage at cruelty to animals, especially dogs. Which is why some of the most gut-wrenching scenes in the miniseries
Peter J Morgan BE (Mech.), Dip. Teaching, Hon. CEO & Chair, Environomics (NZ) Trust (PJM.forensic.eng@gmail.com) In the mid-1980s, groups of climate scientists began developing computer climate models of the atmosphere. These models are now known to not properly model key climate parameters. One fundamental error
Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com I’m not sure whether to be amused, depressed or angry at the reaction to the article by Richard Dawkins in The Spectator recently. Richard Dawkins wrote the piece after his visit to New Zealand in late February. I heard him speak in Auckland and he
Back when I was doing my degree, I studied a subject called “Basic Scientific Practise”. It was, at the time, a one-of-its-kind subject although many other universities around the world were taking an interest in it. Why on earth would a university science course have to offer
Whenever the “IFL Science!” bros started beating their chests about the infallibility of The Science™, I like to gently suggest that these honking loons read Walter Gratzer’s The Undergrowth of Science. This invaluable little tome is an antidote to not only incipient Scientism but the uncritical worship of “experts”
If Netsafe are serious about tackling fake news and Covid misinformation, they should start with the New Zealand government, the mainstream media, and the Jacinda Arderns, Siouxsie Wiles’ and Shaun Hendy’s. After all, it was Jacinda Ardern who claimed to be “your sole source of truth”. Except that almost
New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science nzdsos.com They are wheeling out the old guns to advertise the new bivalent booster against Omicron. Dr Petousis-Harris told everyone late last year that the data did not support it, and she wouldn’t be rushing out to get it. Perhaps
Remember Lushy’s Second Law of the Media? When an article claims, ‘science says…’ or ‘new study shows…’, assume that it doesn’t until proven otherwise. A recent spate of lurid media headlines provide yet another case study in why you shouldn’t take the legacy media at their word.
Owen Cumming particle.scitech.org.au Carbon dating is how we determine the age of fossils and relics from our past. But how does it actually work? WA is home to the earliest fossil evidence of life and human culture on Earth. But when an archaeologist reveals a relic or
Watching old sitcoms can be an instructive exercise: mostly in the continuing delusions of the leftists who’ve dominated television since the middle 60s. For instance, who can watch old episodes of All in the Family and not feel a nagging twinge that, on at least some essentials, “bigoted” Archie
Oh, boy: right again. Way back in May, 2020, I wrote that Wearing a Mask Is Useless Showing Off. For all the screeching from Pulpits of Truth about “harmful disinformation”, I was right. Especially about the “useless” bit. It’s not that I’m any great sage, or “expert”, either.
Frank Lasee cfact.org CFACT policy advisor Frank Lasee is an expert on energy and environmental issues. His articles have appeared in the Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Real Clear Energy, Town Hall. He has been a guest on TV and radio news. He is the president of Truth in Energy
Despite the incessant shrieking of the usual suspects, there’s little evidence that the Earth is in the grip of a “Sixth Mass Extinction”. There is, after all, no surer sign that an idea is completely and utterly discredited than Paul Ehrlich promoting it. But there may well be a
